LANDS TIMBER AND STONE. 69 



ciation of persons, at the minimum price of two dollars and fifty 

 cents per acre; and lands valuable chiefly for stone may be sold on 

 the same terms as timber lands : Provided, That nothing herein con- 

 tained shall defeat or impair any bona fide claim under any law of 

 the United States, or authorize the sale of any mining claim, or the 

 improvements of any bona fide settler, or lands containing gold, 

 silver, cinnabar, copper, or coal, or lands selected by the said States 

 under any law of the United States donating lands for internal 

 improvements, education, or other purposes: And provided further, 

 That none of the rights conferred by the act approved July twenty- 

 sixth, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, entitled "An act granting the 

 right of way to ditch and canal owners over the public lands, and for 

 other purposes," shall be abrogated by this act; and all patents 

 granted shall be subject to any vested and accrued water rights, or 

 rights to ditches and reservoirs used in connection with such water 

 rights, as may have been acquired under and by the provisions of said 

 act ; and such rights shall be expressly reserved in any patent issued 

 under this act. 



Mode of procedure. 



Sec. 2. That any person desiring to avail himself of the provisions 

 of this act shall file with the register of the proper district a written 

 statement in duplicate, one of which is to be transmitted to the Gen- 

 eral Land Office, designating by legal subdivisions the particular 

 tract of land he desires to purchase, setting forth that the same is 

 unfit for cultivation, and valuable chiefly for its timber or stone ; that 

 it is uninhabited ; contains no mining or other improvements, except 

 for ditch or canal purposes, where any such do exist, save such as 

 were made by or belonged to the applicant, nor, as deponent verily 

 believes, any valuable deposit of gold, silver, cinnabar, copper, or 

 coal; that deponent has made no other application under this act; 

 that he does not apply to purchase the same on speculation, but in 

 good faith to appropriate it to his own exclusive use and benefit, and 

 that he has not, directly or indirectly, made any agreement or con- 

 tract, in any way or manner, with any person or persons whatsoever, 

 by which the title which he might acquire from the Government of 

 the United States should inure, in whole or in part, to the benefit of 

 any person except himself; which statement must be verified by the 

 oath of the applicant before the register or the receiver of the land 

 office within the district where the land is situated; and if any person 

 taking such oath shall swear falsely in the premises, he shall be sub- 

 ject to all the pains and penalties of perjury, and shall forfeit the 

 money which he may have paid for said lands, and all right and 

 title to the same; and any grant or conveyance which he may have 

 made, except in the hands of bona fide purchasers, shall be null and 

 void. 



Sec. 3. That upon the filing of said statement, as provided in the 

 second section of this act, the register of the land office shall post a 

 notice of such application, embracing a description of the land by 

 legal subdivisions, in his office, for a period of sixty days, and shall 

 furnish the applicant a copy of the same for publication, at the ex- 

 pense of such applicant, in a newspaper published nearest the loca- 

 tion of the premises, for a like period of time ; and after the expira- 



