HISTORY AND LEGAL BASIS. 33 



new organization when created was not supplied with the funds to 

 carry forward a work of such magnitude. The classification of coal 

 lands and the segregation of lands valuable for oil, gas, phosphate, 

 potash, water power, and reservoir sites constitute a tardy and very 

 meager attempt to meet the need for a universal classification. 



In default of a classification of the entire national domain the 

 land department early adopted the expedient of requiring a classi- 

 fication of each tract of land at the time of its disposition. These 

 classifications in general originated from four sources — ^first, from the 

 applicant for the land; second, from deputy surveyors; third, from 

 members of the Land Office field service; and fourth, from the 

 Geological Survey. It is the present purpose to discuss the first 

 three types of classification somewhat briefly and the last in consider- 

 able detail, and to show the weight given to each type and the results. 



AGENCIES AND METHODS OF CLASSIFICATION. 



CLASSIFICATION BY AFFIDAVIT OF APPLICANT. 



Nearly every applicant for public land is required to submit an 

 affidavit that the land desired is of a character properly subject to 

 the proposed entry or selection. Every applicant under the agri- 

 cultural laws must set forth by his own oath and that of two wit- 

 nesses that the lands are nonmineral in character. The State in 

 selecting indemnity or " quantity grant " lands must make affidavit 

 to their nonmineral character. Mineral applicants must state under 

 oath the discovery of valuable minerals, and similar affidavits are 

 required of most if not all applicants. 



Less and less weight has been given in recent years to classifica- 

 tions so made. It has been found that the affidavits of interested 

 parties, whether furnished by individuals or submitted by sovereign 

 States, do not furnish a reliable basis for the disposition of public 

 lands. Furthermore, the determination of the mineral or nonmineral 

 character of a particular tract may be too difficult and too complex 

 a problem for solution by other than a special trained expert. At 

 present all agricultural entries except homestead and desert-land 

 entries on unwithdrawn lands are classified as to mineral character 

 and power-site or reservoir value either by examination on the 

 ground by the Land Office field service or by the Geological Survey 

 from information contained in its records or procured by special ex- 

 amination. Thus, although the affidavit of the applicant has not been 

 abandoned, it is of little importance. Similarly mineral claims in 

 national forests are subjected to examination before the applicant's 

 affidavit of discovery is accepted, and all along the line classification 

 by the entryman or selector is being replaced by classifications made 

 by the Government. 



78894°— Bull. 537—13 -3 



