36 CLASSIFICATION OF THE PUBLIC LANDS. 



entries and selections has already been described. In addition coal 

 lands are being classified and valued as rapidly as the funds at the 

 disposal of the Survey will permit, and oil, gas, phosphate, and 

 potash lands and lands valuable for water-power and reservoir sites 

 are being withdrawn from entry as rapidly as information regard- 

 ing them is obtained. It is proposed to explain here briefly the 

 history of the classification undertaken with respect to each of these 

 resources. 



COAX. XANSS. 



In the years 1905 and 1906 the general public began to realize that 

 large areas of valuable coal lands in the West had been obtained from 

 the Government by means of agricultural entries. The frauds thus 

 perpetrated were so great as to shock the public mind and to call 

 for some immediate action to prevent further similar looting. Ac- 

 cordingly the President, on June 29, 1906, directed the Secretary of 

 the Interior to withdraw from entry all valuable coal lands. The 

 Survey had previously been making special studies of certain western 

 coal fields and its geologists had assisted in unearthing some of the 

 coal frauds. It was therefore prepared to submit a list of lands 

 which should be withdrawn from entry, and on July 26, 1906, the 

 Acting Secretary of the Interior withdrew from all forms of entry 

 all the lands on the list submitted by the Survey. Other lists for 

 withdrawal were prepared by the Survey during the summer and 

 fall of 1906, and one very excellent list was prepared by the Forest 

 Service. These withdrawals, being" intended to prevent acquisition 

 of coal lands under agricultural entry, were made in such terms as 

 to prevent all forms of entry. However, on December 17, 1906, the 

 form of all outstanding orders of withdrawal was modified to apply 

 to coal entries only, so that the withdrawn lands became again sub- 

 ject to agricultural entries but were not subject to coal entry. Thus 

 fraudulent acquisition again became possible and was prevented only 

 by the activity of the field service of the General Land Office. On the 

 other hand, purchase of withdrawn lands as coal land became impos- 

 sible until after classification and valuation. From time to time 

 other withdrawals from coal entry were made until the spring of 

 1909, when many of the outstanding withdrawals were restored to 

 their original form and made eflFective against all forms of entry. 

 Soon thereafter Congress passed the withdrawal act of June 25, 

 1910 (36 Stat., 847) , and since that date coal withdrawals have pro- 

 hibited all forms of entry except entries on certain classes of land 

 which are exempted from withdrawal by that act and agricultural 

 entries for surface rights only. The policy throughout has been to 

 withdraw all lands on which there is a reasonable probability of the 

 occurrence of coal, to examine these lands as rapidly as the funds 



