

Examination for Homesteads on National Forests 135 



value he made a survey of the land and estimated the amount 

 of timber per acre. On surveyed lands where the cover was 

 of value, listing could be recommended in rectangular plots 

 as small as two and one-half acres. Although the Act of June 

 11, 1906, reads that the tracts should not contain over one hun- 

 dred and sixty acres and should not exceed one mile in length, 

 the following construction of the Act was adopted: "Any 

 tract not exceeding 160 acres in area which may be contained 

 in a square mile, the sides of which extend in cardinal direc- 

 tions, is understood to be within the meaning of the law." 



"Surveys of tracts entered under this Act will not be 

 required when such tracts can be described as quarter-quarter 

 sections or lotted portions of surveyed sections, or as a quarter 

 or a half of a surveyed quarter-quarter section or rectangular 

 lotted tract, or as a quarter of a half of a surveyed quarter 

 quarter-quarter section or rectangular lotted tract. Only un- 

 surveyed lands and parts of lotted subdivisions of surveyed 

 sections which are not rectangular are to be surveyed, and 

 not platted subdivisions or aliquot parts of such platted sub- 

 divisions as are rectangular." 



Before October 11, 1911, when it was necessary to survey 

 the land to be listed, two surveys had to be made. Under the 

 Forest Homestead Law it was necessary for the Secretary of 

 Agriculture to recommend to the Secretary of the Interior 

 those lands which were to be listed for settlement, and listing 

 was not possible until a survey was made. Employees of the 

 Department of Agriculture were sent to ascertain the char- 

 acter of the land and find out if it would better suited to agri- 

 culture than to forests, and at the same time to make a survey 

 of it by metes and bounds if a survey was necessary. As this 

 survey was not under the supervision of the Surveyor General, 

 another survey authorized by the Land Department was nec- 

 essary before the title was considered legal. Under this ar- 

 rangement it was necessary for the settler to pay for the 

 second survey. Now by an agreement between the Secretary 

 of Agriculture and the Secretary of Interior the surveys made 

 by the employees of the Forest Service will be under the super- 

 vision of the Surveyor General so that they can be accepted as 

 final by the General Land Office and the 'applicant will be called 

 upon to meet only the cost of checking up and platting the 

 surveys by the Surveyor General. 



