94 LAWS APPLICABLE TO THE NATIONAL FOKESTS. 



act of June 25, 1910, can not be leased under the act of February 28, 

 1899, or their use permitted under the act of June 4, 1897, while the 

 withdrawal remains in force. (2 Sol. Op., 870.) 



The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to grant permits for the 

 occupancy of National Forest lands adjacent to mineral, medicinal, 

 or other springs. See act of June 4, 1897 (30 Stat., 11) ; act of March 

 4, 1915 (39 Stat., 1101), and that of February 28, 1899 (30 Stat., 

 908), for such authority. (2 Sol. Op., 1067.) See also Sol. Op., 

 November 1, 1915. 



CANCELLATION OF PATENTS. 



Act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat, 1093). 



That section eight of an act entitled "An act to repeal timber- 

 culture laws, and for other purposes " approved March third, eighteen 

 hundred and ninety-one, be, and the same is hereby amended so as to 

 read as follows : 



" Sec. 8. That suits by the United States to vacate and annul any 

 patent heretofore issued shall only be brought within five years from 

 the passage of this act, and suits to vacate and annul patents here- 

 after issued shall only be brought within six years after the date of 

 the issuance of such patents. And in the States of Colorado, 

 Montana, Idaho, North Dakota, and South Dakota, Wyoming and 

 the District of Alaska, and the gold and silver regions of Nevada 

 and the Territory of Utah, in any criminal prosecution or civil action 

 by the United States for a trespass on such public timber lands or to 

 recover timber or lumber cut thereon, it shall be a defense if the de- 

 fendant shall show that the said timber was so cut or removed from 

 the timber lands for use in such State or Territory by a resident 

 thereof for agricultural, mining, manufacturing, or domestic pur- 

 poses under rules and regulations made and prescribed by the Secre- 

 tary of the Interior, and has not been transported out of the same ; 

 but nothing herein contained shall operate to enlarge the rights of 

 any railway company to cut timber on the public domains : Provided, 

 That the Secretary of the Interior may make suitable rules and 

 regulations to carry out the provisions of this act and he may desig- 

 nate the sections or tracts of land where timber may be cut, and it 

 shall not be lawful to cut or remove any timber except as may be pre- 

 scribed by such rules and regulations ; but this act shall not operate to 

 repeal the act of June third, eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, pro- 

 viding for cutting of timber on mineral lands. 



DECISIONS. 



The United States can only avoid the self-imposed limitation of 

 the act of March 3, 1891 (26^Stat, 1099), which provides that suits 

 by the United States to annul patents to public lands thereafter 

 issued shall only be brought within six years after the date of the 

 issuance of such patents by alleging specific facts showing that its 

 failure to discover the cause of action within the statutory period 

 was due to concealment by the adverse party or that the fraud was 

 of a self-concealing nature and the failure to discover it was not due 

 to negligence or want of diligence. (United States v. Puget Sound 

 Traction, Light & Power Co., 215 Fed., ^36 ; see also United States v. 



