92 LAWS APPLICABLE TO THE NATIONAL FORESTS. 



was not sufficient to afford an allotment to each member thereof. All 

 applications for allotments under the provisions of this section shall 

 be submitted to the Secretary of Agriculture, who shall determine 

 whether the lands applied for are more valuable for agricultural or 

 grazing purposes than for the timber found thereon; and if it be 

 found that the lands applied for are more valuable for agricultural or 

 grazing purposes, then the Secretary of the Interior shall cause allot- 

 ment to be made as herein provided. 1 



TOWN SITES. 



Section 2286 and sections 2380 to 2394, inclusive, Kevised Statutes, 

 provide methods of acquiring public land for town-site purposes on 

 the vacant unreserved lands of the United States. 



Act of March 3, 1877 (19 Stat., 392), provides for additional town 

 sites. 



Act March 3, 1891 (26 Stat., 1101), provides for town sites on 

 mineral lands. 



There are also various acts applicable to individual States. See 

 circular Department of Interior of August 7, 1909 (38 L. D., 92). 



A town site actually settled and occupied before the creation of a 

 National Forest is excepted from the proclamation, even though the 

 land is unsurveyed; and an occupant of lands within the town site 

 can not be required to take out a Forest Service permit. (2 Sol. Op., 

 726.) 



ADMINISTRATIVE SITES. 



The withdrawal of an administrative site riparian to a stream does 

 not of itself reserve water for administrative uses on such site; and 

 the right to such water can be secured only by appropriation under 

 the State laws. (1 Sol. Op., 590.) 



The establishment of a forest reserve does not contemplate the 

 actual use or occupancy of any particular tract within the designated 

 boundaries of the reserve ; hence there is no incongruity in providing 

 that, after the creation of the reserve, lands may be prospected, and, 

 if shown to be mineral in character, located and entered under the 

 mining laws. The purposes for which the withdrawal now pro- 

 posed to be made (administrative site) contemplates and requires the 

 actual use and occupancy of each tract and the expenditure of money 

 upon each or most of such tracts, and this of necessity excludes the 

 operation of any other claim. Land not known at the time to be 

 mineral in character may be devoted to purposes recognized by law 

 as proper in the aid of the objects sought to be attained by establish- 

 ment of forest reserves, or coming within the purview of the appro- 

 priation acts for protection and administration of such reserves and 

 subsequent discovery of mineral therein will not affect its use for 

 those purposes or render it liable to exploration, location, or entry 

 under the mining laws. (Opinion of the Assistant Attorney Gen- 

 eral, 35 L. D., 262-268.) See decisions under " Operation," page 29. 



1 This section does not apply to the Minnesota National Forest. (Letter Secretary of 

 the Interior to Secretary of Agriculture, Sept. 27, 1912.) 



