there are two classes of public lands subject to entry; one at $1.25 per acre, known as minimum, and one at $2.50, known as double minimum, the latter being the alternate sections along the lines of railroads. title may be acquired by purchase at public sale, or by “private entry,” and in virtue of the pre-emption and homestead laws.
at public sale.—lands are offered at auction to the highest bidder, pursuant to proclamation or public notice.
private entry.—lands subject to private entry, are those which have been once offered at public sale without finding purchasers. in order to acquire title to these lands, a written application must be made to the land register of the district in which the land is located, describing the tract desired. the register certifies the fact to the receiver, stating price, and the applicant then pays the money and takes a receipt, and at the[327] close of the month the register and receiver make return of the sale to the general land office, when a patent or full title issues on due surrender of the receipt, and will be delivered at the option of the purchaser, at the general land office in washington, or by the register at the district land office.
land warrants.—when lands are to be located with land warrants, application must be made as in cash cases, accompanied by an assigned warrant. when the tract is $2.50 per acre, $1.25 per acre must be paid in addition to the warrant. receipts are given and patents delivered, as in the preceding case. at the time of location, a fee of 50 cents for a 40 acre warrant, and a corresponding amount for larger ones, must be paid to the register, and a like sum to the receiver.
agricultural college scrip.—this may be used in the location of lands at private entry, but is only applicable to lands subject to entry at $1.25 per acre, and is restricted to a technical “quarter section,” and to three sections in each township of land. the proceeding to acquire title is the same as in cash and warrant cases, the fees being the same as on warrants. this scrip may be used in payment of pre-emption claims.
pre-emption.—any person being the head of a family, or widow, or single man over 21 years of age, and a citizen of the united states, or a person who has filed his declaration to become such, by settling upon and improving any of the “offered,” “unoffered,” or unsurveyed lands of the united states, may obtain a pre-emption right to purchase 160 acres so occupied, at the regular government price, whether it be $1.25 or $2.50 per acre. where the tract is “offered” land, the settler must file with the district land office his statement as to the fact of settlement, within thirty days thereafter, and within one year must make proof to the land office, of his actual residence and cultivation, and secure the land by payment in cash or land warrant. where the land has been surveyed and not offered at public sale, the statement must be filed within three months after settlement, and payment made within 21 months. where settlement is made upon unsurveyed[328] lands, the settler is required to file a statement within three months after the survey, and pay within eighteen months thereafter. no person is entitled to more than one pre-emption right.
the homestead privilege.—the homestead laws give to every citizen the right to a homestead of 160 acres minimum, or eighty acres double minimum. to obtain homestead, applicant must swear that he is the head of a family, or over the age of twenty-one, a citizen, or has declared his intention to become such; and that the entry is for his exclusive use and benefit, and for actual settlement and cultivation. when an applicant has made actual settlement upon the land he desires, he must make affidavit of the fact before the land register, and pay fees amounting, on 160 acres of minimum land, to $18, or an equal sum for eighty acres of double minimum, for which he gets a receipt; and after five years’ occupation and cultivation of the land, he is entitled upon proof of such cultivation to a patent or full title to the homestead. any loyal person in the naval or military service of the united states, may acquire a homestead by reason of his family occupying land and making the application in his stead. all officers, soldiers, and sailors who have served in the army or navy for ninety days and remained loyal, may enter 160 instead of 80 acres of double minimum lands. the fees above for entering homestead apply to surveyed lands in michigan, wisconsin, iowa, missouri, minnesota, kansas, nebraska, dakota, alabama, mississippi, louisiana, arkansas, florida, ohio, indiana, and illinois. in california, nevada, oregon, colorado, new mexico, washington territory, arizona, idaho, utah, wyoming, and montana, the fees are $22 instead of $18. a settler having filed a pre-emption declaration, may change his filing into homestead, and receive the benefit of the homestead laws. if a homestead settler does not wish to remain five years on his land before obtaining title, he may pay for it in cash or land warrants. lands obtained under the homestead laws are[329] exempt from liability for debts contracted prior to the issuing of the patent.
united states land offices are located at fort des moines, council bluffs, fort dodge and sioux city, iowa; menasha, falls of st. croix, stevens’ point, la crosse, bayfield and eau claire, wisconsin; san francisco, marysville, humboldt, stockton, visalia, sacramento, and los angeles, california; west point, beatrice, lincoln, dakota city, and grand island, nebraska; taylor’s falls, st. cloud, du luth, alexandria, jackson, new ulm, and litchfield, minnesota; oregon city, roseburg, and le grand, oregon; topeka, junction city, humboldt, and augusta, kansas; carson city, austin, belmont, and aurora, nevada; vermilion, springfield, and pembina, dakota; denver city, fair play, and central city, colorado; boonville, ironton, and springfield, missouri; mobile, huntsville, and montgomery, alabama; new orleans, monroe, natchiloches, louisiana; detroit, east saginaw, iona, marquette, and traverse city, michigan; little rock, washington, and clarksville, arkansas; boise city, and lewiston, idaho; chillicothe, ohio; indianapolis, indiana; springfield, illinois; jackson, mississippi; tallahassee, florida; olympia, and vancouver, washington territory; helena, montana; prescott, arizona; salt lake city, utah.
pre-emption laws.
a pre-emption right is the right of a squatter upon the lands of the united states to purchase, in preference to others, when the land is sold. such right is granted to the following persons: any citizen of the united states; any person who has filed his declaration of intention to become a citizen; any head of a family; any widow; any single woman of the age of twenty-one years or over; and any person who has made a settlement, erected a dwelling-house upon, and is an inhabitant of the tract sought to be entered—provided such settlement was made since june 1, 1840, and previously to the time of application for the land, which land must, at the date of the[330] settlement, have had the indian title extinguished, and been surveyed by the united states.
a person bringing himself within the above requirements by proof satisfactory to the register and receiver of the land district in which the land may lie, taken pursuant to the rules hereafter prescribed, will, after having taken the affidavit required by the act, be entitled to enter, by legal subdivisions, any number of acres, not exceeding one hundred and sixty, or a quarter-section, to include his residence; and he may avail himself of the same at any time prior to the day of the commencement of the public sale, including said tract, where the land has not yet been proclaimed.
where the land was subject to private entry, june 1, 1840, and a settlement shall thereafter be made upon such land, or where the land shall become hereafter subject to private entry, and after that period a settlement shall be made, which the settler is desirous of securing, notice of such intention must be given within thirty days after such settlement; and, in all such cases, the proof, affidavit and payment must be made within twelve months after such settlement.
the tracts liable to entry are embraced under the following designations: first, a regular quarter-section, notwithstanding the quantity may vary a few acres from one hundred and sixty; or a quarter-section, which, though fractional in quantity by the passage of a navigable stream through the same, is still bounded by regular sectional and quarter-sectional lines; second, a fractional section containing not over one hundred and sixty acres, or any tract being a detached or anomalous survey made pursuant to law, and not exceeding such quantity; third, two adjoining half-quarter-sections (in all cases to be separated by a north and south line, except on the north side of township, where the surveys are so made as to throw the excess or deficiency on the north and west sides of the township), of the regular quarters mentioned in the first designation; fourth, two half-quarter or eighty-acre subdivisions of a fractional or broken section, adjoining each other, the aggregate quantity[331] not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres; fifth, a regular half-quarter and an adjoining fractional section, or an adjoining half-quarter subdivision of a fractional section, the aggregate quantity not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres; sixth, if the pre-emptor do not wish to enter one hundred and sixty acres, he may enter a single half-quarter section (made by a north and south line), or an eighty-acre subdivision of a fractional section; seventh, one or more adjoining forty-acre lots may be entered, the aggregate not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres; and, eighth, a regular half-quarter, a half-quarter subdivision, or a fractional section, may each be taken, with one or more forty-acre subdivisions lying adjoining, the aggregate not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres. forty-acre tracts, or quarter quarter-sections, may be entered in the same manner that eighty-acre, or half-quarter sections, have been.
only one person upon a quarter-section is protected, and he the one who made the first settlement, provided he conform to the other provisions of the law. a person who has once availed himself of the provisions of the pre-emption act, cannot, at any future period, or at any other land office, acquire any other right under it. no person, who is the proprietor of three hundred and twenty acres of land in any state or territory of the united states, or who quits or abandons his residence on his own land to reside on the public land in the same state or territory, is entitled to the benefit of the pre-emption acts.
the approval of the tracts by the local land office is the evidence of the survey; but the land is to be construed as surveyed when the requisite lines are run on the field, and the corners established by the deputy surveyor. no assignment or transfers of pre-emption rights are recognized at the land office; the patents issuing to the claimants, in whose names alone the entries are made.
the following description of lands are not liable to entry: first, lands included in any reservation by any treaty, law, or proclamation of the president of the united states, and lands reserved for salines and for other purposes; second, lands[332] reserved for the support of schools; third, lands acquired by either of the last two treaties with the miami indians in indiana, or which may be acquired of the wyandot indians in ohio, or any other indian reservation, to which the title has been, or may be extinguished at any time during the operation of the pre-emption acts, by the united states; fourth, sections of lands reserved to the united states, alternate to other sections granted to any state for the construction of any canal, railroad, or other public improvement; fifth, sections, or fractions of sections, included within the limits of any incorporated town; sixth, every portion of the public lands which has been selected as a site for a city or town; seventh, every parcel or lot of land actually settled and occupied for the purposes of trade and agriculture; and, eighth, all lands in which are situated any known salines or mines.
persons claiming the benefit of the pre-emption acts are required to file duplicate affidavits, such as are specified by law, and to furnish proof, by one or more disinterested witnesses, of the facts necessary to establish the requisites mentioned in the first paragraph of this article; such witnesses having first been duly sworn or affirmed by some competent authority.
if adverse claims are made to the same tract, each claimant is to be notified of the time and place of taking testimony, and allowed to cross-examine the opposite witnesses, and to furnish counter-proof, itself subject to cross-examination. if, by reason of distance, sickness, or infirmity, the witnesses cannot personally appear before the register of the land office, their depositions, taken in conformity with the following regulations, may be received:
the notice to adverse claimants must be in writing, and served in time to allow at least one day for every twenty miles which the party may have to travel in going to the place of taking evidence. the proof, in all cases, should consist of a simple detail of facts merely, and not of broad and general statements. if the pre-emptor be “the head of a family,” the witnesses must state the facts constituting him such; whether[333] he be a husband having a wife and children, or a widower, or an unmarried person under twenty-one years of age, having a family, either of relatives or others, dependent upon him, or hired persons. all the facts relative to the settlement in person, inhabitancy, or personal residence, the time of its commencement, the manner and extent of its continuance, as also those sharing the apparent objects, must be stated. it must be stated that the claimant made the settlement on the land in person; that he has erected a dwelling upon the land; that he lived in the same, and made it his home, etc. in the event of a decision by the land officer against the claimant, he may appeal to the commissioner of the land office at washington.
no entry will be permitted until the affidavit required of the claimant is taken. duplicates thereof must be signed by the claimant, and the fact of the oath being taken must be certified by the register or receiver administering the same; one copy to be filed in the register’s office, and the other to be sent to the land office at washington.
a purchaser of public land is only required to make written application to the register of the local land office for the tract desired to be entered, and to pay to the receiver the purchase money therefor. blank forms of such application are furnished gratuitously at the land office where the tract is desired to be entered.
soldiers’ homestead law of 1872.
the following is the full text of the amendatory soldiers’ homestead bill, approved by the president on the 3d of april, 1872.
be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the united states of america in congress assembled: that every private soldier and officer who has served in the army of the united states during the recent rebellion for ninety days or more, and who was honorably discharged, and has remained loyal to the government, including the troops mustered into the service of the united states by virtue of the[334] third section of an act entitled “an act making appropriations for completing the defenses of washington, and for other purposes,” approved february 13th, 1862, and every seaman, marine, and officer who has served in the navy of the united states, or in the marine corps, during the rebellion, for ninety days, and who was honorably discharged, and has remained loyal to the government, shall, on compliance with the provisions of an act entitled “an act to secure homesteads to actual settlers on the public domain,” and the acts amendatory thereof, as hereinafter modified, be entitled to enter upon and receive patents for a quantity of public lands (not mineral) not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres, or one quarter-section, to be taken in compact form according to legal subdivision, including the alternate reserved section of public lands along the line of any railroad or other public work not otherwise reserved or appropriated, and other lands subject to entry under the homestead laws of the united states: provided, the said homestead settler shall be allowed six months after locating his homestead within which to commence his settlement and improvements: and provided also, the time which the homestead settler shall have served in the army, navy, or marine corps aforesaid shall be deducted from the time heretofore required to perfect title, or if discharged on account of wounds received, or disability incurred in the line of duty, then the term of enlistment shall be deducted from the time heretofore required to perfect title, without reference to the length of time he may have served: provided, however, that no patent shall issue to any homestead settler who has not resided upon, improved and cultivated his said homestead for a period of at least one year after he shall commence his improvements as aforesaid.
section 2. that any person entitled under the provisions of the foregoing section to enter a homestead, who may have heretofore entered under the homestead law a quantity of land less than one hundred and sixty acres, shall be permitted to enter under the provisions of this act so much land as, when[335] added to the quantity previously entered, shall not exceed one hundred and sixty acres.
section 3. that in the case of the death of any person who would be entitled to a homestead under the provisions of the first section of this act, his widow, if unmarried, or in case of her death or marriage, then his minor orphan children, by a guardian duly approved and officially accredited at the department of the interior, shall be entitled to all the benefits enumerated in this act, subject to all the provisions as to settlement and improvements therein contained: provided, that if such person died during his term of enlistment, the whole term of his enlistment shall be deducted from the time heretofore required to perfect the title.
section 4. that where a party, at the date of his entry of a tract of land under the homestead laws, or subsequently thereto, was actually enlisted and employed in the army or navy of the united states, his services therein shall, in the administration of said homestead laws, be construed to be equivalent, to all intents and purposes, to a residence for the same length of time upon the tract so entered: provided, that if his entry has been canceled by reason of his absence from said tract while in the military or naval service of the united states, and such tract has not been disposed of, his entry shall be restored and confirmed: and provided further, that if such tract has been disposed of, said party may enter another tract subject to the entry under said laws, and his right to a patent therefor shall be determined by the proofs touching his residence and cultivation of the first tract and his absence therefrom in such service.
section 5. that any soldier, sailor, marine, officer, or other person coming within the provisions of this act may, as well by an agent as in person, enter upon said homestead: provided, that the said claimant in person shall, within the time prescribed [six months from date of entry] commence settlement and improvement on the same, and thereafter fulfill all the requirements of this act.
[336]
section 6. that the commissioner of the general land office shall have authority to make all needful rules and regulations to carry into effect the provisions of this act.”
