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beginning of operation of a new road, all values given in the original classification shall be doubled by the register and receiver.

9. Review of classification or valuation may be had only on application therefor to the Secretary, accompanied by a clear and specific statement of conditions not existing or not known to exist at the time of examination.

CIRCULAR No. 362

COAL PROSPECTORS' BONDS

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Washington, November 7, 1914.

Registers and Receivers, United States Land Offices.

SIRS: You are advised that, under date of October 26, 1914, the department amended paragraph 2 of subdivision 6 of departmental instructions, dated September 8, 1910 (39 L. D. 179, 473), under the act of June 22, 1910 (36 Stat. 583), so as to read as follows:

As a condition precedent to the exercise of the right mentioned in this act to prospect for coal, the person desiring so to prospect must file in the office of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, for submission to the Secretary of the Interior for his approval, a bond or understaking to indemnify the nonmineral claimant in lawful possession under this act from all damages that may accrue to the latter's crops and improvements on such lands by reason of such prospecting, the right to prospect to date from receipt of notice of approval of the bond. There must be filed with such bond evidence of service of a copy thereof upon the nonmineral claimant. The bond must be executed by the prospector as principal, with two competent individual sureties or a corporate surety that has complied with the provisions of the act of August 13, 1894, (28 Stat. 279), as amended by the act approved March 23, 1910, (36 Stat. 241), in the sum of $1,000, as per form hereto annexed. Except in the case of a bond given by a qualified corporate surety, there must be filed therewith affidavits of justification by the sureties, and a certificate by a judge or clerk of a court of record, a United States district attorney, a United States commissioner, or a United States postmaster, as to the identity, signatures, and financial competency of the sureties. Coal declaratory statements for and applications to purchase the coal deposits in lands entered, selected, or withdrawn under the reclamation act, as provided in section 2 of act, will be received and filed at any time after such entry or selection has been received and allowed of record or such withdrawal has become a matter of record in your office; coal declaratory statements for and applications to purchase the coal deposits in those lands embraced in nonmineral entries, selections, or locations made in good faith, described in, and protected by, the proviso in section 1 of the act, will be accepted and filed after it shall have been determined and become a matter of record in your office that such nonmineral entryman, selector, or locator shall receive the limited patent prescribed in the act: Provided always, That such lands, or the coal deposits therein, have then been restored to disposition under the coal-land laws and the regulations in force.

You are further advised that on and after December 1, 1914, any coal prospector's bond presented to your office should have attached the proper stamps, called for by the recent act to increase the internal revenue, and for other purposes, approved October 22, 1914 (38 Stat. 754).

Very respectfully,

D. K. PARROTT, Acting Assistant Commissioner.

See p. 1405.

CIRCULAR No. 384

TRANSMITTAL OF COAL PROSPECTORS' BONDS

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Washington, February 27, 1915.

Registers and Receivers, United States Land Offices.

SIRS: Hereafter when coal prospectors' bonds, provided for by the act of June 22, 1910 (36 Stat. 583), are filed in your offices, you will, instead of the prevalent practice of delaying their transmittal until transmitted in the subsequent monthly returns with the coal declaratory statement or other filing to which they are incident, promptly examine the same, and if they satisfy the requirements of Circular No. 362, of November 7, 1914, transmit them to this of fice by special letter. If they do not satisfy these requirements, you will take appropriate steps in order that they may be completed or

corrected.

If a coal declaratory statement be filed in addition to the bond, it may be retained in your office and may be sent up with the monthly returns, as at present, but in the letter transmitting the bond the filing of the declaratory statement should be noted.

Very respectfully,

CLAY TALLMAN, Commissioner.

COAL PERMITS, LEASES, AND LICENSES

[Reported, 47 L. D. 489]

CIRCULAR No. 6791

COAL MINING LEASES, PERMITS, AND LICENSES (EXCLUSIVE OF

ALASKA)

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
GENERAL LAND OFFICE,

Register and Receiver, United States Land Offices.

April 1, 1920.

SIRS Under authority of the act of Congress approved February 25, 1920 (41 Stat. 437), entitled "An act to promote the mining of coal, phosphate, oil, oil shale, gas, and sodium on the public domain," the following rules and regulations are prescribed for the administration of the provisions of said act relative to coal:

1. Methods of disposition.-Sections 2 to 8, inclusive, of said act authorize the Secretary of the Interior to

(1) Divide into leasing units and award leases of coal lands and coal deposits owned by the United States;

(2) Issue permits to prospect unclaimed and undeveloped areas of coal lands and coal deposits; and

(3) Issue limited licenses or permits to prospect for, mine, and take for use coal from public lands.

2. Lands to which applicable. The act applies to the coal lands, or the deposits of coal, classified and unclassified, owned by the United States, including those in national forests, and including the coal deposits reserved under laws authorizing entries and patents with reservation to the United States of such deposits; also to coal lands in ceded or restored Indian reservations the proceeds from the disposition of which are the property of the United States. It does not include land or deposits in (a) national parks, (b) forests created under the act of March 1, 1911 (36 Stat. 961), known as the Appalachian forest reserve act, (c) lands in military or naval reservations, (d) Indian reservations, nor (e) ceded or restored Indian lands, the proceeds from the disposition of which are credited to the Indians. All permits or leases for the exploration for or development of coal deposits under this act within the limits of national forests or other reservations or withdrawals to which this act is applicable shall be subject to and contain such conditions, stipulations, and reservations as the Secretary of the Interior shall deem necessary for the protection of such forests, reservations, or withdrawals, and the uses and purposes for which created.

3. Who may take.-Leases and prospecting permits may be issued to citizens of the United States, associations of citizens, corporations

Amended by Circulars Nos. 809, p. 382; 922, p. 383; and 1193, p. 389.

organized under the laws of the United States or any State or Territory thereof, and to municipalities. Limited licenses or permits for the mining of coal may be issued to citizens, associations of citizens, and municipalities. Leases may also be issued to operating railroad companies to mine coal for their own use for railroad purposes, subject to certain restrictions found in section 2 of the act. 4. Equitable rights.-Equitable rights of claimants who, prior to the date of the act, occupied and improved coal lands in good faith may be recognized in awarding leases of such lands, in which cases the rents and royalties, not less than the minimum provided for leases under the act, will be fixed by the Secretary of the Interior.

5. Repealing and saving clause.-Section 37 of the act provides that hereafter the deposits of coal, phosphate, sodium, oil, oil shale, and gas referred to and described in the act, including lands and deposits described in joint resolution of August 1, 1912 (37 Stat. 1346), may be disposed of only in the manner provided in the act except as to valid claims existent at date of passage of this act, and thereafter maintained in compliance with the laws under which initiated, which claims may be perfected under such laws, including discovery."

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As to coal, those claims initiated under the preexisting law may go to patent, which, at the date of the act, were covered by valid coal declaratory statements or applications to purchase which are timely followed up and perfected in accordance with the controlling coal land laws (secs. 2348 to 2352, Revised Statutes), and the regulations thereunder (circular No. 557); likewise, one who has opened and improved a mine of coal on unsurveyed lands may proceed to perfect his claim within sixty days from the filing of the official plat of survey, pursuant to section 2349, Revised Statutes.

6. Fees and commissions.-(a) For receiving and acting upon each application for a permit, lease, or license filed in the district land office in accordance with these regulations, there shall be paid a fee of $2 for every 160 acres, or fraction thereof, in such application, but such fee in no case to be less than $10, the same to be paid by the applicant and considered as earned when paid, and to be credited in equal parts on the compensation of the register and re. ceiver within the limitations provided by law.

(b) Registers and receivers shall be entitled to a commission of 1 per cent of all moneys received in each receiver's office, to be equally divided between the register and receiver; such commission will not be collected from the applicant, lessee, or permittee in addition to the moneys otherwise provided to be paid.

It should be understood that the commissions herein provided for will not affect the disposition of the proceeds arising from operations under the act, as provided in section 35 thereof; also that such commissions will be credited on compensation of registers and receivers only to the extent of the limitation provided by law for maximum compensation of such officers.

I. COAL LEASES

7. Leasing units.-Under section 2 of the act, no coal land or deposits may be leased until after division into suitable leasing units or tracts. Such leasing units may be created by the Secretary of the

Interior (a) pursuant to the petition of a qualified applicant, that is, qualified to take a lease under the act, or (b) on his own initiative. Leasing units will not exceed 2,560 acres in area. All material factors, such as character and depth of the coal deposits, topography of the land, situation with respect to adjacent private holdings of coal lands, the proximity of rail or water transportation, and outlet for other lands in the immediate vicinity, as well as the investment reasonably required to provide the requisite development and operating facilities, will be given consideration in the establishment of leasing units.

Such leasing units will comprise contiguous tracts, except in cases where it appears that noncontiguous tracts can be practically worked on a single mine or unit.

Leasing units may include, in whole or in part, unsurveyed land, but a survey of the land will be made and the leasing unit conformed to such survey prior to the execution of a lease thereof.

8. Minimum development.-An actual bona fide expenditure for mine operation, development, or improvement purposes of the amount determined by the Secretary, and stated in the lease offer hereinafter referred to, is adopted as the minimum basis for granting leases, with the requirement that not less than one-third of the required investment shall be expended in development of the mine during the first year, and a like amount each year for the two succeeding years, the investment during any one year over such proportionate amount for that year to be credited on the expenditure required for the ensuing year or years. A bond executed by the lessee, with approved corporate surety, will be required to be furnished, in the sum of $10.000, conditioned upon the expenditure of the specified amount of investment. After said investment has been made a similar bond in the sum of $5.000, conditioned upon compliance with the terms of the lease, will be required.

9. Petitions for leasing units.-Any person, association of persons, or corporation qualified to take a lease may file in the proper district land office a petition to divide coal lands into leasing units for purpose of lease. Such petition should set forth(a) Name and post-office address of petitioner.

(b) Statement showing qualifications of petitioner to take a lease ander the act; proof of citizenship to be made by affidavit if native born; if naturalized, by certified copy (special form for land cases) of certificate thereof if copy is not already on file; if a corporation, by certified copy of the articles of incorporation; if a municipality, a showing of (1) the law or charter and procedure taken by which it became and exists a legal body corporate. (2) that the taking of a permit or lease is authorized under such law or charter, and (3) that the action proposed has been duly authorized by the governing body of such municipality; and the applicant must make affidavit that he or it is not disqualified to take a permit or lease under the provisions of section 27 of the act. Corporations must also submit a showing as to the residence and citizenship of its stockholders.

(e) Description of the land, by legal subdivisions if surveyed, or if not surveyed, by metes and bounds or natural monuments, with

* See amendments, pp. 382, 383, and 389.

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