As a plat of the survey is posted on the land and in the respective United States district land offices, it is deemed sufficient in such publications to give the homestead entry number, list number, survey number, acreage, and the approximate description by section, township, and range numbers. Very respectfully, WILLIAM SPRY, Commissioner. CIRCULAR No. 1185 PROTECTION AGAINST CONTEST TO ENTRYMEN IN CERTAIN COUNTIES IN COLORADO WHILE ABSENT FROM HOMESTEAD ENTRY BECAUSE OF GRASSHOPPER OR CRICKET INVASION-ACT OF FEBRUARY 9, 1929 (45 STAT. 1156) DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Washington, March 22, 1929. REGISTER, Denver, Colo. SIR: Section 7 of the act of February 9, 1929 (45 Stat. 1156), provides as follows: That no qualified homestead entryman who, prior to November 1, 1928, made bona fide entry upon lands of the Un.ted States in Moffat, Rio Blanco, and Routt Counties, Colorado, under the provisions of the homestead laws of the United States, and who established residence in good faith upon the lands entered by him, shall be subject to contest for failure to maintain residence or make improvements upon his land subsequent to the incursion of swarms of crickets or grasshoppers upon said land, or in the vicinity; but such entryman shall, with.n ninety days after issuance of notice by the Secretary of the Interior that the emergency occasioned by such insect invasion has terminated, file in the office of the register of the local land office an affidavit that he has reestablished his residence on the land, with the intention of maintaining the same for a period sufficient to enable him to make final proof: Provided, That any entry heretofore canceled within said counties may, subject to intervening adverse rights, be reinstated on a proper showing by the entryman that a leave of absence under this act would have been warranted: Provided further, That no such entryman shall be entitled to have counted as a part of the required period of residence any period of time during which he was not actually upon said land prior to the date of the notice aforesaid. The time that the homesteader is absent under the provisions of this act does not count as constructive residence upon the lands in his entry. In due course the date of termination of the emergency will be fixed and given due publicity at which time each entryman affected should notify the district office of his return to the land in his entry as provided by the act. All homesteaders absent under the conditions mentioned in the act should keep the district land office advised as to their present address. You will give all possible publicity to this act without expense to the Government. Very respectfully, Approved March 22, 1929. WILLIAM SPRY, Commissioner. JOHN H. EDWARDS, 57720-30- 42 CIRCULAR No. 1195 WITNESSES' JURAT ON FORMS 4-003 AND 4-003a TO BE MODIFIED DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Registers United States Land Offices: GENTLEMEN: My attention has been called to a defect in the witnesses' jurat on Forms 4-003 and 4-003a, applications for original and additional entry under the enlarged homestead laws, in that it does not show that the witnesses were sworn by the official before whom they appeared. The witnesses as well as the principals must subscribe and be sworn to their affidavits by the officer before whom they are appearing, in connection with all such applications, and therefore it will be necessary to insert the words "and sworn "between the fourth and fifth words of line 5 of the witnesses' jurat on Form 4-003 and on Form 4-003a, until the supply on hand is exhausted. You will notify all officers in your district qualified to act on such applications to make necessary modifications on said forms. Very respectfully, Approved June 22, 1929. C. C. MOORE, Commissioner. JOHN H. EDWARDS, INDIAN ALLOTMENTS AND POSSESSIONS [See 3 L. D. 371] LANDS IN THE POSSESSION OF INDIAN OCCUPANTS DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Washington, D. C., December 23, 1903. To Registers and Receivers and United States Surveyors General. GENTLEMEN: Your attention is called to the circular of this department of May 31, 1884, relative to lands occupied by Indian inhabitants (3 L. D. 371), viz: DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Washington, D. C., May 31, 1884. Registers and Receivers, United States Land Offices. GENTLEMEN: Information having been received from the War Department of attempts of white men to dispossess nonreservation Indians along the Columbia River and other places within the military department of the Columbia of the land they have for years occupied and cultivated, and similar information having been received from other sources in reference to other localities where land is occupied by Indians who are making efforts to support themselves by their own labor, you are hereby instructed to peremptorily refuse all entries and filings attempted to be made by others than the Indian occupants upon lands in the possession of Indians who have made improvements of any value whatever thereon. In order that the homes and improvements of such Indians may be protected, as intended by these instructions, you are directed to ascertain, by whatever means may be at your command, whether any lands in your districts are occupied by Indian inhabitants, and the locality of their possessions and improvements as near as may be, and to allow no entries or filings upon any such lands. When the fact of Indian occupancy is denied or doubtful, the proper investigation will be ordered prior to the allowance of adverse claims. Where lands are unsurveyed no appropriation will be allowed within the region of Indian settlements until the surveys have been made and the land occupied by Indians ascertained and defined. Very respectfully, Approved May 31, 1884. N. C. MCFARLAND, Commissioner. H. M. TELLER, Secretary. The foregoing instructions apply to every land district and to all lands occupied by Indian inhabitants in any part of the public-land States and Territories of the United States. It has been officially represented that these instructions are disregarded, and that public-land entries have been allowed upon lands on which Indian inhabitants have their homes and improvements, and in some cases where the Indians have so resided for a number of years, cultivating the soil and making the land their permanent homes. The allowance of such entries is a violation of the instructions of this department, an act of inhumanity to defenseless people, and provocative of violence and disturbance. You are enjoined and commanded to strictly obey and follow the instructions of the above circular and to permit no entries upon lands in the possession, occupation, and use of Indian inhabitants, or covered by their homes and improvements, and you will exercise every care and precaution to prevent the inadvertent allowance of any such entries. It is presumed that you know or can ascertain the localities of Indian possession and occupancy in your respective districts, and you will make it your duty to do so and will avail yourselves of all information furnished you by officers of the Indian Service. Surveyors general will instruct their deputies to carefully and fully note all Indian occupations in their returns of surveys hereafter made or reported, and the same must be expressed upon the plats of survey. Very respectfully, Approved. W. A. RICHARDS, Commissioner. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, E. A. HITCHCOCK, Secretary. [Reported, 38 L. D. 44] EXCHANGE OF ALLOTMENTS-CEDED LANDS-ACT OF MARCH 3, 1909 REGULATIONS DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, Washington, D. C., May 28, 1909. To Agents, Superintendents, and Special Allotting Agent: The act of March 3, 1909 (35 Stat. 781, 784), reads in part as follows: That if any Indian of a tribe whose surplus lands have been or shall be ceded or opened to disposal has received or shall receive an allotment embracing lands unsuitable for allotment purposes, such allotment may be canceled and other unappropriated, unoccupied, and unreserved land of equal area, within the ceded portions of the reservation upon which such Indian belongs, allotted to him upon the same terms and with the same restrictions as the original allotment, and lands described in any such canceled allotment shall be disposed of as other ceded lands of such reservation. This provision shall not apply to the lands formerly comprising Indian Territory. The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to prescribe rules and regulations to carry this law into effect. The following rules governing changes in allotments have been approved by the department: 1. Under this law any Indian of a tribe whose surplus lands have been or shall be ceded or opened to disposal who has received or shall receive an allotment embracing lands unsuitable for allotment purposes will be allowed to relinquish such allotment and select in lieu thereof unappropriated, unoccupied, and unreserved land of equal area and like character, within the ceded part of the reservation on which such Indian belongs, on the same terms and with the same restrictions as the original allotment. 2. Each request for a change shall be made the subject of a separate report, in duplicate, accompanied by the papers and facts on which you base your recommendation for a change of allotment. 3. Departmental regulations of May 3, 1909 (37 L. D. 665), in the form of instructions to the register and receiver of the local land office at Cass Lake, Minn., governing the exchange of Indian allotments on Chippewa lands, under the act of May 23, 1908 (35 Stat. 268), shall apply, wherever practicable, to changes under the provision of the act of March 3, 1909, supra, as to all Chippewa lands. 4. In order that the lieu selections may be promptly noted in the tract books of the local land office, the register of the land office having jurisdiction over the lands selected for allotment must be notified of all selections of lieu allotments on the same day as submitted to the superintendent. 5. Indorse on the trust patent, where such has issued to the allottee, a relinquishment of all the right, title, and interest in and to the allotment described therein, together with a description of the lieu lands wanted. 6. The relinquishment must be signed by the allottee, and acknowledged before you or some other officer authorized to take acknowledg ments. All signatures by those who can not write should be by thumb print and witnessed. 7. Where the allottee has died the relinquishment must be signed by the heirs of the decedent and must be accompanied by an affidavit showing specifically that the persons who signed the relinquishment are the lawful heirs. The interests of living minors, whether in their own allotments or those inherited, must be relinquished by their natural guardians, as such. 8. Where the original trust patent has been lost or destroyed the relinquishment and application for reallotment may be submitted in the form of a letter, but the letter must be accompanied by an ailidavit showing such loss or destruction of the original trust patent. If no patent has been issued, that fact should be set out in the letter. The following is the approved form of relinquishment, to be altered to suit the circumstances of each particular case: STATE OF County of 88: I hereby relinquish all my right, title, and interest in and to the allotment described in the within trust patent, for and in consideration that I be allotted, in lieu thereof, the lands described as follows: While the Indians are entitled to change their allotments under this act, where they have received worthless lands, it should be thoroughly understood that no application should be submitted to the office which is based on other than the most substantial reasons. Very respectfully, Approved May 28, 1909. R. G. VALENTINE, FRANK PIERCE, First Assistant Secretary. |