HISTORY AND LEGAL BASIS. 37 



available will permit, and on the information gathered to base classi- 

 fications, the lands found to be noncoal land being restored to entry 

 and those found to contain workable coal being appraised at prices 

 not less than the minimum prices prescribed by the statute. 



For a time the withdrawals worked great hardship. The greater 

 part of the lands thus withheld were not good agricultural lands, but 

 the total acreage suitable for agricultural development was large. 

 The situation was finally relieved by the passage of three acts pro- 

 viding for agricultural entry upon lands withdrawn or classified as 

 coal lands, the Government retaining title to the coal deposits and 

 the right to prospect for and remove them. These three acts are 

 more fully discussed below under the heading " Separation acts " 

 (p. 45). 



The first regulations prescribing criteria for the classification and 

 valuation of coal lands were approved by Secretary of the Interior 

 Garfield on April 8, 1907. They provided for a maximum workable 

 depth of 1,500 feet and a minimum workable thickness of 2 feet, all 

 lands underlain by coals of less thickness or at greater depth being 

 classified as noncoal land. New regulations were adopted February 

 19, 1908, and these were in turn superseded by those of April 15, 

 1908, under which, although the minimum thiclmess remained un- 

 changed, high-grade coals were classified as workable to a depth of 

 3,000 feet and certain thicknesses of low-grade bituminous and sub- 

 bituminous coals to a depth of 2,000 feet. Under all these regula- 

 tions valuations were based on an estimate in which the number of 

 beds, the thickness of the beds, and the depth of the beds below the 

 surface were taken into account; but the methods of computing prices 

 were such that, for example, a 20-foot bed was valued at no higher 

 price than an 8-foot bed. On April 10, 1909, Secretary Ballinger 

 approved a new set of regulations, drawn on entirely different prin- 

 ciples. The minimum thickness was fixed at 14 inches and — a more 

 important change — computations of value were based on the tonnage' 

 of coal in the land rather than on the number of beds. The maximum 

 depth was retained at 3,000 feet. These regulations, while far in 

 advance of those preceding, were nevertheless open to criticism be- 

 cause they took little account of certain economic and mining engi- 

 neering features, such, for example, as the relations between lift and 

 haul, between thiclmess and mining cost, and between minimimi 

 thiclmess and workable depth. A new set of regulations has just 

 been made effective in which these features have been taken into 

 account and the maximum depth for the highest-grade coals has been 

 increased to 5,000 feet. The prices are based on tonnage, heat value, 

 depth, and thickness. These regulations are given in detail else- 

 where in this bulletin (pp. 96-97). 



