Congressional Serial Set

VALIDATING TITLES TO CERTAIN TOWN SITES IN MONΤΑΝΑ.

FEBRUARY 10, 1915.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. STOUT, from the Committee on the Public Lands, submitted the following REPORT.

[To accompany H. R.20498.]

The Committee on the Public Lands, to which was referred the bill (H. R. 20498) to validate the title to certain town sites in the State of Montana, having had the same under consideration, report it back to the House with the recommendation the bill do pass.

The bill was referred to the Interior Department and the Secretary of that department furnished the committee with the following report thereon:

Hon. SCOTT FERRIS,

Chairman Committee on the Public Lands,

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
Washington, January 25, 1915.

House of Representatives.

MY DEAR MR. FERRIS: In response to your request for a report on H. R. 20498, I have the honor to submit the following:

The bill, which directs the acceptance by this department for surface rights only of a certain list of lieu selections filed by the Northern Pacific Railway Co. in the Glasgow land district in the State of Montana, and the issue of patent thereon, with a reservation to the United States of all the coal in the selected lands, with the exception that it does not describe the SW. NW. 1, sec. 5, T. 35 N., R. 52 E., said State, covered by the additional homestead entry (021481) of W. F. Hanks, is identical with S. 4180, upon which this department, on April 1, 1914, submitted a report to the Committee on Public Lands of the Senate, wherein it was stated that if it was the will of Congress that the lands should be given to the claimants for townsite purposes, the legislation was necessary, and that the records of the General Land Office did not disclose any objection thereto. There is inclosed a copy of the report of April 1, 1914, aforesaid, on S. 4180.

I am advised by the Commissioner of the General Land Office that there has been no change in the status of the lands described in the present bill since said report, with the exception that they have been classified as coal lands at $20 per acre.

Very truly, yours,

A. A. JONES, First Assistant Secretary.

Hon. HENRY L. MYERS,

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTErior,
Washington, April 1, 1914.

Chairman Committee on Public Lands, United States Senate.

MY DEAR SENATOR: In response to your request for a report on S. 4180, I have the honor to submit the following:

The bill directs the acceptance by this department for surface rights only of a certain list of lieu selections filed by the Northern Pacific Railway Co., and also a soldier's additional homestead application presented by Willard F. Hanks, assignee of the right of William H. Shafer, for lands in the Glasgow, Mont., land district, and the issue of patents thereon, with a reservation to the United States of all the coal in said lands.

I am advised by the Commissioner of the General Land Office that the tracts selected by the Northern Pacific Railway Co. and described in the bill are the S.SE. sec. 3, T. 35 N., R. 49 E., the S. NE. sec. 9, T. 35 N., R. 51 E., and the NE. NE. † sec. 17, T. 35 N., R. 51 E. These tracts when originally selected, June 23, 1913, were unsurveyed and were described by metes and bounds. The plats of survey were filed in the local land office on December 2, 1913, and on December 5, 1913, the railway company filed a new list conforming its selection thereto. These lands were all withdrawn for classification as coal lands at the time of the application to select by the railway company. The SW. NW. sec. 5, T. 35 N., R. 52 E., embraced in the additional homestead claim of Hanks, has been classified as coal land at $10 per acre and restored to entry. As above stated, the plats of survey were filed December 2, 1913, and under the law settlers on the lands had three months thereafter within which to assert their claims in the local land office, and if filed within that time their right would relate back to the date of settlement. This period expired March 3, 1914. I am now advised by the Commissioner of the General Land Office that the records of his office and reports from the local land office show that, while a number of claims to these lands have been asserted, they had all been either rejected or relinquished and that there are now no claims adverse to those under the Northern Pacific Railway Co. and Hanks.

Therefore, as the lands described in the bill, under the rulings of this department, are not subject to selection by the Northern Pacific Railway Co., nor to the additional homestead claim of Hanks, no provision for such filings being made by the act of June 22, 1910 (36 Stat., 583), governing agricultural entries for coal lands, as modified by the act of April 30, 1912 (37 Stat., 105), if it is the will of Congress that title to these lands should be given to the claimants for town-site purposes, the legislation is necessary and the records do not now disclose any objection thereto. A preliminary report on this bill was submitted March 10, 1914.

Respectfully,

A. A. JONES, First Assistant Secretary.

The necessity for the passage of this bill arises out of a condition created by the first section of the act of June 22, 1910 (36 Stats., 583). This act, known as the separation act, limits entries for surface rights in the following terms:

That from and after the passage of this act unreserved public lands of the United States exclusive of Alaska which have been withdrawn or classified as coal lands, or are valuable for coal, shall be subject to appropriate entry under the homestead laws by actual settlers only, the desert-land law, to selection under section four of the act approved August eighteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, known as the Carey Act, and to withdrawal under the act approved June seventeenth, nineteen hundred and two, known as the reclamation act, whenever such selection entry or withdrawal shall be made with the view of obtaining or passing title with a reservation to the United States of the coal in such lands and of the right to prospect for, mine, and remove the same.

EFFECT.

The enumeration of certain kinds of entries for surface rights on lands classified as coal, withdrawn for examination or valuable for coal, bars all other classes of entry. It is apparent that no entry can be made under the town-site laws, no lieu lands selection or location of scrip can be made on public land classified as coal withdrawn for examination or valuable for coal, and it is impossible to obtain title for town-site purposes on any land embraced in this act.

THE PARTICULAR CONDITIONS.

In northeastern Montana extensive withdrawals have been made for examination under the act of June 25, 1910. The Great Northern Railroad's branch line from Plentywood runs westward through township 35 north of ranges 48, 49, 50, 51, and 52 east Montana meridian. With the exception of township 35 of range 48, these townships have been withdrawn for examination or have been classified as coal land. Under strict compliance with the act of June 22, 1910, no towns can be originated in the four townships indicated.

The act of June 22, 1910, is perfectly clear in its provisions. Not even the town site laws of the United States can be applied to any tract within the withdrawn area. The condition obtaining in this coal withdrawal certainly was not foreseen by Congress when the act of June 22, 1910, was passed. The act was designed to aid in the agricultural development of localities centered in coal withdrawals. This agricultural development, however, is dependent on trading points; towns must be established to afford a market for the products of the farm. In the area affected by the coal withdrawal referred to, homesteading has been extensive and no other points are adjacent or accessible to the farmers in the three townships. The branch of the Great Northern is the only railroad within 40 miles, and the three towns which this bill seeks to relieve are the only towns in the three townships affected by this bill.

Mr. D. N. Tallman, of Willmar, Minn., purchased from the Northern Pacific Railroad the right to make lieu-land selections, and made selections in townships 35 north of ranges 49, 50, and 51 east, Montana meridian as described in this bill. It was the purpose of this locator to show these lands were not valuable for coal under the last proviso to the act of June 22, 1910. At the time the Northern Pacific lieuland selections were made these townships had not been subdivided, and for that reason the Geological Survey had not made an examination of these lands. The survey of these townships became effective December 2, 1913. During the summer of 1914 the Geological Survey made a surface examination of the lands within the three townships, i. e., township 35 north, ranges 49, 50, and 51 east, Montana meridian, and on report of the field agent declined to release these townships from the coal withdrawal, as it is believed that coal underlies these townships. The locator of the Northern Pacific lieu-land selection long before the examination was made by the Geological Survey filed in the Interior Department a waiver of any claim to coal or any other minerals in these lands, and the bill, in fact, passes only the surface of the lands and retains the title to the coal in the United States.

There is no surface indications of coal in the neighborhood of the three town sites, and the locator, finding the demand for trading points insistent, permitted the three tracts to be occupied. The three towns are independent of the Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railroads. A substantial part of each of the towns has passed to individuals who have made improvements on the town lots and established homes, stores, banks, and shops. The department has no objection to passing these tracts to patent. There are no rights adverse to the claimant. The bill provides that title to the coal, if any, in these lands shall remain in the Government and

will pass surface rights only. Legislation by Congress is the only complete and speedy relief possible to accord in the premises.

The following is a list of lots sold under contract in the towns of Boyer and Flaxville. The town of Navaho is not so extensively occupied, but contains a number of substantial buildings: