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APPLICATIONS AND ENTRIES Continued
GENERALLY-Continued

individual without fraudulent intent and if there is no doubt as to
the identity of the individual, and an oil and gas lease offer in
which the signed name of the offeror differs from the typed name
of the offeror in the first block of the lease form is acceptable if,
in fact, the signature is that of the offeror and the offer is, in all

other respects, acceptable..
PRIORITY
1. The filing of concurrent homestead applications by an individual bars

the allowance of either so long as both applications remain of
record and, while the withdrawal of one will permit the allowance
of the other, such allowance will be subject to otherwise inter-
vening rights that have been asserted prior to the withdrawal of
the first application ---

269

477

BONNEVILLE POWER ADMINISTRATION

217

217

1. Electric transmission line easement which gives the grantee the right

to maintain and keep parcel of land “at all times free and clear of
trees and brush" includes right to spray small natural growth
conifers which have not reached such height as to threaten physical
or electrical contact with the conductor or which have not reached
such density as to block maintenance access along the right-

of-way---
2. The owner of an electric transmission line easement may fully use

the rights granted by the easement, including rights necessarily

implied or incidental thereto.
3. The owner of electric transmission line easement is not limited in

maintenance of the easement to those methods known or generally
practiced at the time of acquisition but may use methods of main-

tenance reasonably necessary under existing conditions-----
4. The provisions of the Bonneville Project Act which authorize settle-

ment of claims against the Bonneville Power Administration are
applicable to claims for breach of contract involved in appeals
taken to the Board of Contract Appeals from decisions of contract-

ing officers of the Bonneville Power Administration---
5. The Bonneville Power Administrator, acting as such and for and on

behalf of the United States Entity designated pursuant to the
Canadian Treaty, is authorized to execute appropriate exchange
agreements to effect the unconditional assurance of the delivery
of power agreed to be equivalent to Canada's entitlement to down-
stream power benefits in order to implement the exchange of rati-
fications of the Canadian Treaty and thereby acquire for the
benefit of the United States the advantages flowing therefrom----

217

253

316

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

1. The Director of the Bureau of Land Management has authority at

any time to take up and dispose of any matter pending in a land
office or to review any decision of a subordinate officer with or with-
out an appeal.-

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BUREAU OF RECLAMATION

GENERALLY
1. Nothing in the Reclamation Act of 1902 (32 Stat. 388) or its legisla-

tive history suggests that private landowners with water rights
could participate in a project, pay their share of its cost, but be
exempt from acreage limitation.---

497
CONSTRUCTION
1. Where a federal statute provides that the reclamation laws shall

govern the construction, operation, and management of project
works, the excess land provisions of the reclamation laws are
thereby carried into effect unless the terms of the statute provide
otherwise

496
EXCESS LANDS
1. Sections 1 and 4(b) of the Boulder Canyon Project Act (45 Stat. 1057,

1059; 43 U.S.C. secs. 617, 617(c)), which require the costs of the
main canal and appurtenant structures to connect with the Im-
perial Valley to be repaid pursuant to reclamation law, carry
into effect the excess land provisions of section 46 of the Omnibus
Adjustment Act of May 25, 1926 (44 Stat. 649; 43 U.S.C. sec.
423e)

496
2. The provision in section 5 of the Reclamation Act of June 17, 1902

(32 Stat. 388, 389; 43 U.S.C. sec. 431) that "no right to the use of
water for land in private ownership shall be sold” for more than
160 acres means that the use of project facilities shall not be
made available to a single owner for service to more than 160
acres. Sections 4 and 5 of the 1902 Act, read together, indicate
that the "sale" referred to is not merely a commercial transaction,
but is the contract by which the government secures repayment
and the water user obtains the range of benefits resulting from
the construction of the federal project----

496 497
3. Nothing in the Reclamation Act of 1902 (32 Stat. 388) or its legisla-

tive history suggests that private landowners with water rights
could participate in a project, pay their share of its cost, but be
exempt from acreage limitation ----

497
4. Neither the existence nor nonexistence of a vested water right is

itself determinative of whether the excess land laws are appli-
cable in any given case..

497
5. Under departmental regulations (May 31, 1910, 38 L.D. 646, para. 78;

currently, 43 CFR 230.110), a desert land entryman who owns a
water right can rely on his own effort to convey his water to his
entry without assistance from a government project, thereby
avoiding the requirements of the reclamation law, or he can par-
ticipate in the project. In the latter case he must observe require-

ments of the reclamation law, including land limitations------ 498
6. Where the claimants of existing water rights covering lands in the

Imperial Irrigation District have sought and obtained the con-
struction of a federal reclamation project to eliminate the hazards
of drought, flood and silt and to obtain a canal entirely within the
United States, they must accept the conditions imposed by the
reclamation law, including land limitations.-

498

Page

BUREAU OF RECLAMATION-Continued

EXCESS LANDS—Continued
7. Where Congress has deemed it proper to waive or modify the excess

land laws in certain projects, it has always found it appropriate
to enact positive legislation setting forth the exemption or other
modification in unmistakable terms.-

498
8. Privately owned lands in the Imperial Irrigation District, even those

assumed to have vested Colorado River water rights, are subject
to the excess land laws----

498
WATER RIGHT APPLICATIONS
1. The provision in section 5 of the Reclamation Act of June 17, 1902

(32 Stat. 388, 389; 43 U.S.C. sec. 431) that "no right to the use of
water for land in private ownership shall be sold” for more than
160 acres means that the use of project facilities shall not be made
available to a single owner for service to more than 160 acres.
Sections 4 and 5 of the 1902 Act, read together, indicate that the
"sale" referred to is not merely a commercial transaction, but is
the contract by which the government secures repayment and the
water user obtains the range of benefits resulting from the con-
struction of the federal project---

496-497

COLOR OR CLAIM OF TITLE

GENERALLY
1. A color of title application is properly rejected when a sale for taxes

to a governmental agency has interrupted the statutory period
of a 20-year holding in good faith adverse possession under claim
or color of title within the meaning of the Color of Title Act and
an action to obtain possession by the United States, the true
owner, has been instituted prior to the end of 20 years from the
date of the tax sale.

114

114

APPLICATIONS
1. A color of title application is properly rejected when a sale for taxes

to a governmental agency has interrupted the statutory period of
a 20-year holding in good faith adverse possession under claim or
color of title within the meaning of the Color of Title Act and an
action to obtain possession by the United States, the true owner,
has been instituted prior to the end of 20 years from the date of

the tax sale---
2. A color of title application is properly rejected where the deeds under

which the tract applied for has been claimed have a description
from which it is impossible to define and limit the tract applied
for with any certainty, and also where it appears that the appel-
lant cannot establish a holding of the tract in good faith for 20
years since she held it for less than that period and her immediate
predecessor-in-interest was aware of the superior title in the
United States when he conveyed to her since he had previously
filed a color of title application for the tract which had been re-
jected, and, therefore, his holding could not be tacked on to hers

to establish the requisite period.-
760-039—65—7

429

Page

COLOR OR CLAIM OF TITLE-Continued

GOOD FAITH
1. A color of title application is properly rejected where the deeds under

which the tract applied for has been claimed have a description
from which it is impossible to define and limit the tract applied
for with any certainty, and also where it appears that the appel-
lant cannot establish a holding of the tract in good faith for 20
years since she held it for less than that period and her immediate
predecessor-in-interest was aware of the superior title in the
United States when he conveyed to her since he had previously
filed a color of title application for the tract which had been re-
jected, and, therefore, his holding could not be tacked on to hers

to establish the requisite period.--
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
1. Under the Constitution the United States may acquire land for many

purposes, including wildlife refuges; may make all needful rules
and regulations respecting this land; and may delegate such
powers to the Secretary of the Interior. These rules and regula-
tions are superior to those of the State where there is a conflict--

429

469

CONTRACTS

384

GENERALLY
1. The general rules of law stated in the Uniform Sales Act and in the

sales provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code form part of
the general Federal common law applicable to Government con-
tracts, if not made inappropriate by such controlling factors as
Federal statutory law. One such rule is the principle of cumula-

tion of warranties.
ACTS OF GOVERNMENT
1. Under a contract for the construction of a transmission line contain-

ing the “Permits and Responsibility for Work, etc.," Clause of
Standard Form 23A (March 1953), as implemented by a provision
that "final acceptance is to be in writing at the time all work is
completed the satisfaction of the contracting officer," the con-
tractor is responsible for repairing at his own expense a tower
erected under the contract that before final acceptance of the line
is damaged, without the fault of either party, by logs and debris

thrown against the tower by forces of nature----
2. The allegation that the logs and debris may have belonged to the Gov-

ernment is not sufficient to shift liability for the tower repairs to
it. Final acceptance may be deferred until after the contracting
officer has had a reasonable opportunity to satisfy himself that
the work fully conforms to all requirements of the contract. As-
sumption by the Government of responsibility for removal of the
logs and debris is not an assumption of liability for repairs to the
tower which are made by the contractor with knowledge that the

Government disclaims responsibility for such repairs.---
3. A claim by a construction contractor for additional compensation on

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488

6

6

CONTRACTS-Continued
ACTS OF GOVERNMENT-Continued

amounting to either an express change or a constructive change in
the drawings or specifications, a claim for breach of contract that
neither the contracting officer nor the Board of Contract Appeals

has jurisdiction to decide---
ADDITIONAL COMPENSATION
1. Under a contract for the construction of a transmission line contain-

ing the "Permits and Responsibility for Work, etc.,” Clause of
Standard Form 23A (March 1953), as implemented by a provision
that "final acceptance is to be in writing at the time all work is
completed to the satisfaction of the contracting officer," the con-
tractor is responsible for repairing at his own expense a tower
erected under the contract that before final acceptance of the line
is damaged, without the fault of either party, by logs and debris

thrown against the tower by forces of nature----
2. The allegation that the logs and debris may have belonged to the

Government is not sufficient to shift liability for the tower repairs
to it. Final acceptance may be deferred until after the contracting
officer has had a reasonable opportunity to satisfy himself that the
work fully conforms to all requirements of the contract. Assump-
tion by the Government of responsibility for removal of the logs
and debris is not an assumption of liability for repairs to the tower
which are made by the contractor with knowledge that the Gov.

ernment disclaims responsibility for such repairs---
3. A contractor is not entitled to additional compensation on the theory

of a changed condition, where the only basis for the claim is the
absence of contract warnings as to possible rock and permafrost,
if the contractor had the same opportunity before bidding, as did
the Government, to ascertain that rock and permafrost were being
encountered at nearby excavation work, and should have known

that they probably would be found at the job site also-----
4. Where the contractor's chosen method of performance of a contract for

construction of a bridge was the building of a dike across the river
for accommodating contractor's equipment, and the impounding
of the river during high water due to insufficient openings in the
dike caused erosion damage to the river bank, the work of re-
storing the bank at the Government's direction pursuant to con-
tract provisions requiring the contractor at his own expense to
restore landscape features damaged by the contractor's operations,
is not extra work. No additional compensation is due the

contractor
5. Under the “Changed Conditions” clause of a contract for the string-

ing of electric conductor on towers to be provided by the Govern-
ment, where the contractor knows when bidding the job that some
of the towers have not yet been completed, and where the Gov-
ernment fails to have these towers completed by the time when
they are reasonably needed for stringing, an equitable adjust-
ment is not allowable for the extra expense incurred by the con-
tractor in moving crews back to these towers after they have be-
come available for stringing, since such events do not amount to

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