LANDS COAL. 67 



benefit of such sections, either as an individual or as a member of any 

 other association, shall enter or hold any other lands under the pro- 

 visions thereof ; and no member of any association which shall have 

 taken the benefit of such sections shall enter or hold any other lands 

 under their provisions; and all persons claiming under section 

 twenty-three hundred and forty-eight shall be required to prove their 

 respective rights and pay for the lands filed upon within one year 

 from the time prescribed for filing their respective claims ; and upon 

 failure to file the proper notice, or to pay for the land within the re- 

 quired period, the same shall be subject to entry by any other quali- 

 fied applicant. 



Conflicting claims. 



Sec. 2351. In case of conflicting claims upon coal-lands where the 

 improvements shall be commenced, after the third day of March, 

 eighteen hundred and seventy-three, priority of possession and im- 

 provement, followed by proper filing and continued good faith, shall 

 determine the preference-right to purchase. And also where improve- 

 ments have already been made prior to the third day of March, 

 eighteen hundred and seventy-three, division of the land claimed may 

 be made by legal subdivisions, to include, as near as may be, the 

 valuable improvements of the respective parties. The Commissioner 

 of the General Land Office is authorized to issue all needful rules and 

 regulations for carrying into effect the provisions of this and the 

 four preceding sections. 



Rights reserved. 



Sec. 2352. Nothing in the five preceding sections shall be construed 

 to destroy or impair any rights which may have attached prior to the 

 third day of March, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, or to au- 

 thorize the sale of lands valuable for mines of gold, silver, or copper. 



Surface patents on good-faith entries of coal lands. 



Act of March 3, 1909 (35 Stat., 844), for the protection of the surface rights of 



entrymen. 



Agricultural entry for surface of lands classified or withdrawn as coal lands. 

 (Not applicable to Alaska.) 



Act of June 22, 1910 (36 Stat., 583), to provide for agricultural entry of coal 



lands. 

 Act of April 30, 1912 (37 Stat., 105), supplementing above. 



Coal-land laws extended to Alaska. 



Act of June 6, 1900 (31 Stat., 658). 



Amendments to coal-land laws in Alaska. 



Act of April 28, 1904 (33 Stat., 525). 

 Act of May 28, 1908 (35 Stat., 424). 



DECISIONS. 



Coal lands are mineral lands within the meaning of the act of June 

 4, 1897, and as such are subject to entry, when found in forest re- 

 serves, the same as other mineral lands within such reserves. (T. P. 

 Crowder, 30 L. D., 92 ; see also Brown v. N. P. R. R. Co., 31 L. D., 29.) 



Citizens in need of coal for their own use, who have not initiated 

 claims under coal-land laws, have no authority to take any coal from 



