ated. Applications and supporting papers need not be executed in duplicate, but one complete copy of each application and supporting papers (except abstract of title) should be filed with the application, which copy will be transmitted by the register and receiver to the Chief of Field Division and notation to that effect made on the original. The application should contain full information as to the facts upon which the applicant relies for relief, covering the following points and such additional matters as may, from the peculiar facts in the case, be material in the establishment of his claim under the law: (a) Date of application for lease or permit.

(b) Applicant's name and post-office address.

(c) Description of land.—The land for which the application is made must be described by legal subdivisions of section, township, and range, if surveyed; if not surveyed, then by metes and bounds and courses and distances from some permanent monument. If the application is for a lease of unsurveyed land, the applicant, after he has been awarded the right to a lease, but before issuance thereof, will be required to deposit with the United States surveyor general of the State in which the land is situated the estimated cost of making a survey of the land, the balance, if any, after the survey is completed to be returned.

(d) Origin and basis of applicant's claim for relief.-The applicant must bring his claim clearly within all the requirements of the act as specifically pointed out in sections 18, 20, and 22 of these regulations. Every application must be supported by a duly certified abstract of title to the land, brought up to the date of filing the application. In the event an abstract of title is already on file in the Land Department, a supplemental abstract extending over the period or periods not covered by the former, may be furnished, and if furnished will be considered in connection with the abstract already on file. If any fraud has been committed in connection therewith, then a full affirmative showing must be made by the applicant to the effect that he has not been a party to such fraud, and that he has not been guilty of any fraud or had knowledge of fraud or reasonable grounds to know of any fraud in connection with his claim. If an application for patent has been filed, a brief résumé of the actions taken thereon should be stated. If the land is or has been involved in litigation in the courts, to which the United States is a party, the status or result of such litigation should be furnished.

(e) Particulars as to conflicting claims or interests.-All conflicting or disputed claims, if any, to the land or production therefrom, specifying the character and extent of such interests, must be shown.

(f) Discovery.—Before a lease may be awarded under the relief sections of the act it must be satisfactorily shown that the applicant or his predecessors have drilled a well to a substantial and certain discovery of oil or gas in a producing stratum on the land covered by the location under which the applicant is asserting his claim.

(g) Wells, improvements, and production.-With each application for a lease under sections 18, 19, or 22 of the act there must be filed a complete and detailed statement showing the number, depth, condition, and present daily production of all wells drilled on the land by the applicant and his predecessors in interest, and the nature and extent of all other improvements placed thereon by them.

With each application for a permit under sections 19 or 22 of the act, a description of the work performed and improvements made upon or for the benefit of the location by the applicant and his predecessors must be filed, together with an itemized statement of the cost thereof. If the application is made under section 22, the date the work was performed or the improvements made must also be shown.

In either case applicant must show the position of all wells and improvements by courses and distances from the nearest corner of the public land survey, if the land is surveyed; if not surveyed, then from a corner of the claim. This may be shown by means of a diagram.

(h) Amount and value of past production.-Claimant must furnish a complete detailed statement, by months, of all past production from the land, up to the date of filing the application and relinquishment, showing (1) the grade and total quantity of oil and gas produced; (2) the amount sold or otherwise disposed of, to whom sold, and the selling price or other consideration received therefor; (3) a statement of the grade and amount of any and all such production held in storage, when produced, and the value at time of production; and (4) the amount consumed for production purposes on the land, or unavoidably lost.

The statement of sales should be corroborated by the purchasers. Copies of any and all contracts under which oil or gas produced from the land has been or is being sold or otherwise disposed of must be furnished. (Amended. See p. 34.)

(i) Investment and cost of operation.-The applicant should make a full showing as to (1) the actual cost of wells, improvements, and equipment for the development of and operation upon the land; (2) the present value of such wells, improvements, and equipments; and (3) the present cost of operation. stituted. See p. 34.)

(Sub

(j) Interest in other leases and permits.-The applicant will also furnish a complete statement of all lands for which he has filed application for lease or permit under sections 18, 19, and 22 of the act, and of such lands as are included in other applications in which he has any direct or indirect interest, together with a full disclosure of such interest by stock ownership or otherwise. If the applicant is a corporation, a certified copy of its articles of incorporation must be furnished, and a full disclosure made of the ownership of its stock, whether such stock is owned, held, or controlled directly or indirectly by any other person or corporation, who or which is an applicant for or a holder of a lease under said sections, and, in the event of such ownership, a description of the legal subdivisions of all the lands affected thereby is required. In the event the lands so affected are not surveyed they may be described by the usual method of courses and distances and acreage.

(k) Limitation of area. The application should show that the area applied for, together with any other areas for which the applicant has made application for a lease or permit or in which he is directly or indirectly interested, is not in excess of the limitations provided in sections 18, 19, or 22 of the act, as the case may be, as to the maximum area that may be leased to any one person or corporation within the same geologic oil or gas structure. (See secs. 19, 21, and 23 hereof.) The boundaries of the geologic structures of the various producing fields will be determined and announced by the United States Geological Survey under supervision of the Secretary of the Interior and such information will be placed on file in all United States land offices. (Amended. See p. 34.) 26. PAYMENT OF ROYALTY ON PAST PRODUCTION.-The application must be accompanied by a certified check in the amount of one-eighth of the gross value of all oil and gas produced and sold or held in storage, as per the statement required in paragraph 25 (h). All such sums will be held by the receiver in his account of "Trust Funds-Unearned Moneys to await instructions as to their disposition. In lieu of the certified check herein required, the applicant may be permitted to deposit a bond by approved surety company in an amount not less than one-eighth of the estimated gross value of all oil and gas produced and sold or held in storage, securing the payment to the United States within

thirty days from the award of the lease of the cash value of the past production due the United States under this act. In cases where the proceeds, or part thereof, of such past production have been deposited in escrow, pursuant to operating agreements under the act of August 25, 1914 (38 Stat., 708), or where in suits brought by the Government affecting such lands the proceeds of production, or part thereof, have been impounded in the custody of receivers, a formal tender may be made of the funds so held in escrow or impounded to the extent available or in the amount necessary, as the case may be, în lieu of such cash payment. In such cases the interest accumulating on such escrowed or impounded moneys after the tender is made will go to the Government.

Operating contracts made under the provisions of the act of August 25, 1914, supra, and in operation at the time of such tender, will not be terminated until the entire transaction of granting a lease and payment of royalty on past production shall have been consummated; nor will the Department of Justice be requested to dismiss any suits involving the land affected until the application for a lease has been adjudicated and approved; whereupon, after the suit has been dismissed and the impounded money tendered paid over to the Government, the lease will be executed and delivered.

27. PUBLICATION OF NOTICE.-Immediately upon the filing of an application for a lease or permit under sections 18, 19, or 22 of the act, the register and receiver will cause to be published, at the expense of the applicant, in a newspaper designated by the register, published in the vicinity of the land and most likely to give notice to the general public, a notice of the said application in substantially the following form:

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR.

UNITED STATES LAND OFFICE.

19-.

Notice is hereby given that under section

section

township

County, State of

of the act of February 25, 1920 (Public, No. 146), for
of range,
meridian,

Any and all persons having adverse or conflicting claims to said land are hereby notified that a full statement, under oath, of such claim should be filed in this office together with an application showing a superior right to a permit or lease under said act or in lieu of such application, a showing of a valid existing adverse or conflicting claim to the land or the minerals therein under the public land laws, on or before

for.

; otherwise such claim may be disregarded in granting the permit or lease applied

Register.

(Amended. See p. 34.)

The register and receiver will fix a date in the notice on or before which adverse or conflicting claims may be asserted, which date should be not less than 30 nor more than 40 days after the date of first publication of the notice.

Such notice will be published in the regular issue and not in any supplement of the newspaper, once each week for a period of five consecutive weeks if in a weekly paper, or if in a daily paper for a period of 30 days. The register and receiver will post a copy of said notice in a conspicuous place in their office during the period of publication.

Upon the applicant's furnishing satisfactory proof of such publication, but not earlier than the day following that set in the published notice on or before which adverse or conflicting claims were to be filed, the register and receiver will transmit by special letter all papers in the case including any adverse or conflicting claims that may have been filed, together with proof of posting said notice in their office, to the Commissioner of the General Land Office.

28. ADVERSE OR CONFLICTING CLAIMS-PROCEDURE.-In case of adverse or conflicting claims for leases under sections 18, 19, or 22, or permits under sections 19 or 22, the Secretary of the Interior is clothed with authority to grant leases or permits, as the case may be, to one or more of them as shall be deemed just. (a) To have their claims considered in connection with the awarding of leases or permits it will be necessary for adverse claimants to make full showing (1) of a superior right to a lease or permit under this act, or (2) a superior right under some other public land law. If the former the conflicting claimant must make out a complete case in his own behalf as required by these regulations. (Amendment. See p. 34.)

(b) Upon receipt of the application and showing of an adverse claimant the Commissioner of the General Land Office will consider same. If, in his judgment, the adverse claimant has failed to make a prima facie case showing that he is entitled to a lease or permit, as the case may be, for at least part of the land, his application will be rejected subject to appeal to the Secretary of the Interior. But if the adverse claimant makes out a prima facie case the Commissioner will take such course as may be advisable under the circumstances of each particular case to settle and adjust the rights of the respective parties, and may, if deemed necessary, order a formal hearing to settle disputed questions of fact. In the absence of appeal to the Secretary of the Interior from the final order or decision of the Commissioner, same shall be conclusive.

29. COMPROMISES UNDER SECTION 18A.-No special procedure will be outlined under this section. Any request for a compromise or settlement under this section which may be filed in the Land Department will be transmitted to the President with such report as may be deemed advisable under the circumstances of the particular case. In case the land is in a naval petroleum reserve the Navy Department will be consulted before making such report.

IV. RIGHTS OF WAY FOR PIPE LINES.

30. Section 28 of the act grants to any applicant having the qualifications outlined in section 1 of these regulations, rights of way through public lands of the United States, including national forests, for pipe-line purposes for the transportation of oil or natural gas, on condition that the pipe lines for which rights of way are granted shall be operated and maintained as common carriers. The grant carries with it the right to the use of the ground actually occupied by the pipe line, and 25 feet on each side thereof for the purpose of construction, maintenance, and operation of the pipe line. Applicants for rights of way under this act will be governed by the regulations set forth in circular of June 6, 1908 (36 L. D., 567) in so far as applicable, appropriate changes being made in the forms therein prescribed to make them applicable to right-of-way cases arising under the act of February 25, 1920 (Public No. 146), for pipe lines to be constructed, maintained, and operated as common carriers. Failure on the part of grantee to fulfill the conditions imposed by the act shall be ground for forfeiture of the grant by the United States district court for the district in which the property, or some part thereof, is situated.

V. FEES AND COMMISSIONS.

31. Under the authority of section 38 of the act, the following fees and commissions are prescribed for transactions under the act:

(a) For receiving and acting on each application for a permit, lease, or other right filed in the district land office in accordance with these regulations,

there shall be paid a fee of $2 for each 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 receiver within the limitations provided by law.

(b) A commission of 1 per cent on 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 commission here 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 commission 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.

VI. REPEALING AND SAVING CLAUSES.

32. Section 37 of the act provides that hereafter the deposits of coal, phosphate, sodium, oil, oil shale, and gas, referred to and described therein, 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."

Stated negatively, under this section of the act, the following classes of oil or gas placer locations, so called, notwithstanding absence of fraud and full compliance with law in other respects, may not proceed to patent, viz: (a) Any location made after withdrawal of the land.

(b) Any location made before withdrawal of the land but not perfected by discovery at date of withdrawal, which does not come within the protective proviso of section 2 of the act of June 25, 1910 (36 Stat., 847); that is to say, any claimant who, at date of withdrawal, was not a bona fide occupant or claimant in diligent prosecution of work leading to discovery of oil or gas, and who has not continued in such diligent prosecution to discovery.

(c) Any location on lands not withdrawn, on which, at the date of the act, the claimant had not made discovery or was not in diligent prosecution of work leading to discovery, and does not continue such work with diligence to discovery.

Very respectfully,

Approved: March 11, 1920.

ALEXANDER T. VOGELSANG,

Acting Secretary.

CLAY TALLMAN,
Commissioner.

OIL AND GAS REGULATIONS-AMENDMENTS.

REGISTERS AND RECEIVERS, UNITED STATES LAND OFFICES.

SIRS: The regulations (Circular No. 672) approved March 11, 1920, for the administration of the oil and gas provisions of the act of February 25, 1920 (Public, No. 146), are hereby amended, modified, and supplemented as follows: 1. Section 1, paragraph (c), strike out the words:

provided that no stockholders are citizens of nonreciprocating countries as provided in section 1 of the act.