28 THE NATIONAL FOREST MANUAL. 



The act provides that the person upon whose application the land 



is examined and listed, if a qualified entryman, shall 



' ^hf* of r settle 6 ^ iave ^ e P re f erence right of entry, unless there was 



ment S and entry f" a bona fide settler on the land prior to January 1 , 1 906, 



who has not abandoned the same, in which event the 



settler, if a qualified entryman, shall have the preference right. To 



exercise this preference right, application to enter must be filed in the 



local land office within 60 days after the filing of the list in that office. 



The law also provides that any entryman desiring to obtain patent 



to any lands described by metes and bounds, entered 



Survey and no- by } imi un der the provisions of this act, shall, within 



ve C ye S d Tnd^bel five y ears of the date of making settlement, file with 



fore patent. the required proof of residence and cultivation a plat 



and field notes of the lands entered, made under the 

 direction of the United States Surveyor General, showing the bound- 

 aries of such lands, which shall be marked by monuments on the 

 ground, and by posting a copy of such plat, together with a notice of 

 the time and place of offering nroof, in a conspicuous place, on the 

 land embraced in such plat during the period prescribed by the law 

 for the publication of his notice of intention to offer proof; and that a 

 copy of such plat and field notes shall be posted in the local land office 

 for a like period. -j 



Under a recent cooperative plan effected between the Department 

 of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture the original listing 

 survey may be made, if desired by the applicant, under the direction 

 and supervision of the surveyor general by a forest officer designated 

 by him. Such survey, when made, will be accepted as the final 

 survey for the issuance of patent, and will be without expense to the 

 applicant except a nominal sum required for clerical work in the 

 surveyor general's office. 



While the patenting of lands under the commutation provisions of 



the homestead laws is prohibited on entries made 



land^covere^ V Under the act f June U 1906 > ent . r y men shall > U P OZ1 

 entries. 07 y final proof, have credit for the period of their actual 



residence upon the land covered by their entries. 

 The Secretary of the Interior by letter of January 12, 1910, ruled that 

 the provision of section 1 of the act of June 11, 1906, which allows 

 settlers credit for residence on lands covered by their entries, has 

 reference to settlement initiated prior to the date of the act only, and 

 that residence under permit issued by the Forest Service prior to the 

 opening of the lands to settlement in the manner prescribed by the 

 act is not occupancy of lands within the meaning of the homestead 

 law and will not be credited as a part of the residential period required 

 to secure patent. 



The act also gives an additional homestead right of entry upon 



lands which have been listed as chiefly valuable for 

 Additional agriculture, to settlers upon such lands on January 1 , 

 gv?n St to d actual 1906 ' w . ho have alread y exercised or lost their home- 

 settlers prior to stead rights, but who are otherwise competent to 

 Jan. 1, 1906. enter under the homestead laws. Such entrymen 



must comply with the provisions of the homestead 

 law and must in addition pay $2.50 per acre for the lands entered. 



