PART IV. CLAIMS, SETTLEMENT, SPECIAL USES, WATER POWER. 



CLAIMS. 



INITIATION OF CLAIMS ON NATIONAL FORESTS. 



Claims can be initiated upon lands within National Forests, or upon lands 

 withdrawn for National Forest purposes, only under the mining laws, the coal- 

 land laws, and the act of June 11, 1906. But claims of any description within a 

 National Forest initiated prior to the withdrawal of the lands, or their inclusion 

 therein, may be perfected and patents obtained by compliance with the law 

 under which such claims were initiated. 



SQUATTERS' CLAIMS. 



Squatters who settled upon National Forest land before its withdrawal and 

 who have maintained residence thereon, improvements, and cultivation in good 

 faith since settlement, and who are awaiting public survey to make entry, have 

 the same right to occupy and enjoy their holdings as homestead entrymen. 



Such a settler must make entry of the land claimed within three mouths 

 from the filing of the township plat in the local land office for the district within 

 which such land is situated. Failure to do so may forfeit his prior right of 

 entry. 



No rights can be initiated in this way upon land which has been withdrawn 

 for or included in a National Forest. 



A posted notice of claim to a tract of land is not the basis of title, and where 

 actual residence in pursuance of an intention to remain is relied upon as the 

 basis, failure to maintain it may result in the forfeiture of the claim. Squatters 

 may, at their option, await public survey or apply for the examination of their 

 lands that they may be opened to entry under the act of June 11, 1906 (34 

 Star., 233). 



RELINQUISHMENT OF CLAIMS. 



REGULATION L-41. No Forest officer shall, except as hereinafter provided, 

 request a homestead entryman to relinquish his claim or suggest for any reason 

 whatsoever that such a course is desirable. If any homestead entryman volun- 

 tarily offers to relinquish his claim, the Forest officer may suggest that the 

 relinquishment be transmitted to the local land office, but shall not encourage 

 this to be done. Forest officers who receive by mail relinquishments from 

 claimants must return the same, with the suggestion in every case that if the 

 entryman desires to relinquish he should send the relinquishment to the local, 

 land office. No Forest officer shall be a party to a compromise whereby any 

 claims or trespass case is settled by requiring the claimant to relinquish a 

 claim to the United States. 



When relinquishments are offered which cover lands needed for administra- 

 tive purposes, and when it is desired to pay the claimant for improvements 

 thereon, a recommendation, accompanied by the reasons in each specific case, 

 shall be submitted to the Forester, who may authorize the purchase of the 

 improvements upon the filing of the relinquishment in the local land office. 

 (Issued December 19, 1911, to take effect February 1, 1912.) 



EXAMINATIONS AND CONTESTS. 



The administration of the National Forests is a duty imposed upon the 

 Secretary of Agriculture by law. In order properly to discharge that duty, it 

 is necessary that he ascertain the status of all lands within the National 

 Forests. The examination of claims within National Forests by Forest officers 

 is made primarily in furtherance of this object. The information thus obtained 

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