EIGHTS OF WAY. 79 



A railroad company acquires no title to land included within an 

 indemnity selection list prior to the approval thereof by the Secretary 

 of the Interior. (Sol. Op., Apr. 19, 1913.) 



A person holding a lease from a railroad company for lands em- 

 braced in an unapproved indemnity selection list, which lands are in- 

 cluded within a National Forest, is liable for any damage sustained 

 by the United States as a result of the occupancy under the lease, in 

 the event the indemnity list is canceled. (Sol. Op., Apr. 19, 1913.) 



A selection by the Northern Pacific Railway Co. under the act of 

 March 2, 1899 (30 Stat., 993) , is a " lawful filing " such as excepts the 

 land from a forestry proclamation. Should the selection fail, how- 

 ever, the land would become a part of the National Forest. (1 Sol. 

 Op., 463.) 



Neither the railway company nor its assignee has any right to cut 

 timber from an unapproved selection made under that act. (Id.) 



Land embraced in a bona fide settlement claim is not subject to 

 selection by the Northern Pacific Railway Co. under the act of March 

 2, 1899, and a selection allowed for land at the time covered by such 

 claim can not stand notwithstanding the settlement claim may have 

 been subsequently abandoned. (Frank et al. v. N. P. Ry. Co. on 

 review, 37 L. D., 502.) 



RIGHT-OF-WAY LAWS. 



Railroads and wagon roads. 



Act of March 3, 1899 (30 Stat., 1214.) 



In the form provided by existing law the Secretary of the Interior 

 may file and approve surveys and plats of any right of way for a 

 wagon road, railroad, or other highway over and across any forest 

 reservation or reservoir site when in his judgment the public interests 

 will not be injuriously affected thereby. 



Highways. 



Sec. 2,477. The right of way for the construction of highways over 

 public lands not reserved for public uses is hereby granted. 



Grant of rights of way for railroads. 



Act of March 3, 1875 (18 Stat., 482). 



The right of way through the public lands of the United States is 

 hereby granted to any railroad company duly organized under the 

 laws of any State or Territory, except the District of Columbia, or 

 by the Congress of the United States, which shall have filed with the 

 Secretary of the Interior a copy of its articles of incorporation, and 

 due proofs of its organization under the same, to the extent of one 

 hundred feet on each side of the central line of said road; also the 

 right to take, from the public lands adjacent to the line of said road, 

 material, earth, stone, and timber necessary for the construction of 

 said railroad; also ground adjacent to such right of way for station 

 buildings, depots, machine shops, side tracks, turn-outs, and water 

 stations, not to exceed in amount twenty acres for each station, to 

 the extent of one station for each ten miles of its road. 



