SETTLEMENT. 29 



Settlement be- This act does not authorize any settlements within 

 fore opening is Xational Forests, except upon lands which have been 



opened to settlement under its provisions. 

 Lands within National Forests will be put to their highest use. 



Those which are more valuable for agriculture than 



for forest purposes or for public or administrative use, 

 and that are not essential for a reservoir site and that have no value 

 for power purposes, will be opened for settlement and agricultural 

 development by homemakers, under the provisions of the act of June 

 11, 1906. Such permanent settlers are a direct benefit to forest 

 administration and are desired, but the acquisition of timberlands 

 or other natural resources for speculative purposes will not be allowed. 

 The Secretary of Agriculture does not undertake to ascertain 

 Min ral char w ^ ie ^ ier l ancls are mineral in character which are 

 acter^Tl a n d^s described and listed by him as chiefly valuable for 

 listed not de- agriculture. Any contests between mineral claimants 

 termined by the and applicants for entry involving lands which have 

 Secretary of Agri- j )een }i s t e d under this act will be decided by the 



Secretary of the Interior. 

 The legal qualifications of an applicant as an entryman on lands 



listed under this act will not be passed upon by the 



Legal qualifi- Secretary of Agriculture. Such qualifications will be 



canT^as entry- P as ? ed "P on b y tne register and receiver, subject to 



man . ' review by the Commissioner of the General Land 



Office and the Secretary of the Interior, when appli- 

 cation for entry is made at the local land office after the land is 

 opened to entry. 



If any of the land applied for under the act is found to be chiefly 



valuable for agriculture, the application will not be 

 l is t^j a ' rejected in its entirety because the portion of the land 



that can be listed as agricultural seems too small to 

 warrant the applicant exercising his homestead right upon it or too 

 small to enable him to make a livelihood exclusively from its culti- 

 vation. In such a case the applicant will be given the opportunity to 

 state in writing whether he desires to exercise his homestead right on 

 the small area, and if it is his desire, the land chiefly valuable for 

 agriculture, even if only a few acres in extent, will be listed ; otherwise 

 his application will be rejected and the case closed. If, however, the 

 tract is subsequently listed, on the application of another, or other- 

 wise, all the facts in connection with the first application will be 

 set forth in the listing letter. 



While the Secretary of Agriculture may in his discretion list agri- 

 cultural lands of any area within National Forests, 

 Areas which such lands will be opened to entry by the Secretary 

 a an iication ted and ^ ^ ie I n ^ er ^ or m contiguous tracts not exceeding 160 

 entered 1011 wrier acres in area and not exceeding 1 mile in length, 

 the act. Any tract not exceeding 160 acres contained within a 



square mile, the sides of which extend in cardinal 

 directions, is within the meaning of the phrase "one mile in length." 

 The preference right of entry secured by any applicant relates only 

 within these limitations to the particular tract covered by his appli- 

 cation. 



