identified before me by

........

(give full name and postoffice address)]; that I verily believe deponent to be a qualified claimant and the identical person hereinbefore described, and that said deposition was duly subscribed and sworn to before me, at my office, in. (town), ...

(county and State), within the ...... land 19...

district, this .... day of ....

I further certify that I tested the accuracy of affiant's information and good faith in making the entry, by close and sufficient crossexamination of claimant and the witnesses, and am satisfied from such examination that the entry is made in good faith for entryman's own exclusive use and not for sale or speculation, nor in the interest of, nor for the benefit of, any other person or persons, firm, or corporation.

(Official designation of officer.)

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR.

TIMBER OR STONE ENTRY.

U. S. Land Office,

TESTIMONY OF WITNESSES.

(give full Christian name), being duly called as a wit

I,

as follows:

(give full meridian, testify

.... land office, to purchase the

range

Question 1. What is your age, occupation, post office address, and where do you live?

Answer.

Question 2. By whom were you employed during the last six months?

Answer.

Question 3. Are you acquainted with the land above described by a personal examination of each of its smallest legal subdivisions? Describe the tract fully.

Answer.

Question 4. When, with whom, and in what manner was such examination made?

Answer.

Question 5. Is it occupied or are there any improvements on it not made for ditch or canal purposes, or which were not made by, or do not belong to, the said applicant?

Question 8. Are there any salines or indications of deposits of gold, silver, cinnabar, copper, coal, or other minerals on this land? If so, state what they are.

Answer.

Question 9. Is the land valuable for mineral, or more valuable for any other purposes than for the timber or stone thereon, or is it chiefly valuable for timber or stone? (Answer each question.)

Answer.

Question 10. From what facts do you conclude that the land is chiefly valuable for timber or stone?

Answer.

Question 11. How long have you known the applicant?

Answer.

Question 12. What is his financial condition so far as you know? Answer.

Question 13. Do you know of your own knowledge that applicant has sufficient money of his own to pay for this land and hold it six months without mortgaging it?

Answer.

Question 14. Do you know whether the applicant has, directly or indirectly, made any agreement or contract, in any way or manner, with any person whomsoever by which the title he may acquire from the government of the United States may inure in whole or in part to the benefit of any person except himself?

Answer.

Question 15. Are you in any way interested in this application or in the land above described, or the timber or stone, salines, mines, or improvements of any description thereon?

Answer.

(Sign here, with full Christian name.)

I hereby certify that the foregoing deposition was read to me by deponent in my presence before deponent affixed signature thereto; that deponent is to me personally known [or has been satisfactorily identified before me by (give full name and post office address)]; that I verily believe deponent to be a credible witness and the identical person herein before described, and that said deposition was duly subscribed and sworn to before me, at my office, in (county and State), within the

trict, this

day of

19...

(town), land dis

(Official designation of officer.)

REGULATIONS GOVERNING ENTRIES AND PROOFS UNDER THE DESERT-LAND LAWS. Laws Governing Desert-land Entries.-1. The laws, or portions of laws governing the making of desert-land entries, assignments thereof, and the proofs required, will be found printed in full herein, and are as follows: Act of March 3, 1877; March 3, 1891; August 30, 1891; June 27, 1906; March 26, 1908; March 28, 1908; March 4, 1904, amending section 2294, Revised Statutes of the United States; June 22, 1910; March 3, 1909; June 25, 1910; February 3, 1911.

States and Territories in Which Desert-land Entries may be Made.2. The act of March 3, 1877, provided for the making of desert-land entries in the States and Territories of California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, Arizona, and New Mexico. The act of March 3, 1891, extended the provisions of the desert-land laws to Colorado.

Lands That may be Entered as Desert Land.-3. Lands which, by reason of a lack of rainfall, or of sufficient dampness in the soil, will not produce native grasses sufficient in quantity, if unfed by grazing animals, to make an ordinary crop of hay in usual seasons, nor produce an agricultural crop of any kind in amount to make the cultivation thereof reasonably remunerative, and do not contain sufficient moisture to produce a natural growth of trees may be classed as desert in character and, if surveyed and unappropriated, may be entered under the desert-land law.

Unusual Rainfall.-Lands situated within a notoriously arid or desert region, and themselves previously desert within the meaning of the desert-land law, do not necessarily lose their character as desert lands merely because on account of unusual rainfall for a few successive seasons their productiveness was increased and larger crops were raised thereon; and, under such circumstances, a strong preponderance of evidence will be required to take them out of the class of desert lands. The final proof, however, of one who makes desert entry of such lands will be closely scrutinized as to the sufficiency of his water supply and the adequacy of his ditches and laterals.

Lands Which Border upon Bodies of Water.-While lands which border upon streams, lakes, and other bodies of water, or through or upon which there is any stream, body of water, or living spring, may not produce agricultural crops without irrigation, such lands are not subject to entry under the desert-land laws until the clearest proof of their desert character is furnished.

Who may Make a Desert-land Entry.-4. Any citizen of the United States, twenty-one years of age, or any person of that age who has declared his intention of becoming a citizen of the United States, and who can make the affidavit specified in paragraphs 8 and 9 of these regulations, can make a desert-land entry. Thus, a woman,

whether married or single, who possesses the necessary qualifications, can make a desert-land entry, and, if married, without taking into consideration any entries her husband may have made.

Entrymen of Alien Birth.-At the time of making final proof, however, entrymen of alien birth must have been admitted to full citizenship, which must be shown by a duly certified copy of the certificate of naturalization.

Quantity of Land That may be Entered.-5. Under the act of March 3, 1877, desert-land entries to the maximum of 640 acres were allowed, but by the act of March 3, 1891, the area that may be embraced in a desert entry was reduced to 320 acres as the maximum. This limitation must, however, be read in connection with the act of August 30, 1890, which limits to 320 acres, in the aggregate, the amount of land to which title may be acquired under all the public land laws, except the mineral laws. Hence, a person having initiated a claim under the homestead, timber and stone, pre-emption, or other agricultural land laws, or under all such laws, since August 30, 1890, say, to 160 acres in the aggregate, and acquired title to the land so claimed, or who is claiming such an area under subsisting entries at the date of his desertland application, if otherwise qualified, may enter 160 acres of land under the desert-land laws. In other words, he may make a desert-land entry for such a quantity of land as, taken together with land acquired by him under the agricultural land laws, since August 30, 1890, and claimed by him under such laws, does not exceed 320 acres in the aggregate. It is to be noted, also, that the act of June 22, 1910, provides that desert-land entries made for lands withdrawn or classified as coal lands, or valuable for coal, shall not exceed 160 acres in area. Right of Entry Exhausted How.-A person's right of entry under the desert-land law is exhausted either by making an entry or by taking an assignment of an entry, in whole or in part, whether the maximum quantity of land, or less, is entered or received by assignment; except, however, that under the act of March 26, 1908, if a person, prior to the passage of that act, has made an entry and has abandoned, lost, or forfeited the same, or has relinquished without receiving a valuable consideration therefor, such person may make a second entry. In such cases, however, it must be shown when the former entry was abandoned, lost, or forfeited, that it was not assigned, in whole or in part, canceled for fraud, or relinquished for a valuable. consideration, and it must be so described by section, township, and range, or by date and number, as to be readily identified on the records of the General Land Office. The showing required must be by affidavit. of applicant wherein the facts upon which is based his claim of right to make a second desert-land entry are set forth fully and in detail. This affidavit must be corroborated, as far as possible, by the affidavit of one or more persons having personal knowledge of the facts stated by applicant. Registers and receivers are authorized to allow a second desert-land entry in any case wherein it is shown that applicant is entitled to make such entry under the provisions of said act of March

26, 1908. Otherwise the application will be noted on the district office records and forwarded to the General Land Office with appropriate recommendation.

Land must be in Compact Form-6. Land entered under these laws should be in compact form, which means that it should be as nearly a square form as possible. Where, however, it is impracticable on account of the previous appropriation of adjoining lands, or on account of the topography of the country, to take the land in a compact form, all the facts regarding the situation, location, and character of the land sought to be entered, and the surrounding tracts, should be stated, in order that the General Land Office may determine whether, under all the circumstances, the entry should be allowed in the form sought. Entrymen should make a complete showing in this regard, and should state the facts and not the conclusions they derive from the facts, as it is the province of the Land Department of the Government to determine whether or not, from the facts stated, the entry should be allowed.

How Preference Right may be Acquired on Unsurveyed Land.— 7. Prior to the act of March 28, 1908, a desert-land entry could embrace unsurveyed lands, but since the date of that act desert-land entries may not be made of unsurveyed lands. This act provides, however, that if a duly qualified person shall go upon a tract of unsurveyed desert land and reclaim, or commence to reclaim, the same, he shall be allowed a preference right of ninety days after the filing of the plat of survey in the local land office to make entry of the land. To preserve this preference right the work of reclamation must be continued up to the filing of the plat of survey, unless the reclamation of the land is completed before that time, and in that event the claimant must continue to cultivate and occupy the land until the survey is completed and the plat filed. A mere perfunctory occupation of the land, such as staking off the claim, or posting notices thereof on the land claimed, would not secure the preference right as against an adverse claimant, but occupation in entire good faith, accompanied by acts and works looking to the ultimate reclamation of the land, are necessary and required.

How to Proceed to Make a Desert-land Entry.-8. A person who desires to make entry under the desert-land laws must file with the register and receiver of the proper land office a declaration, or application, under oath, showing that he is a citizen of the United States, or has declared his intention to become such citizen; that he is twenty-one years of age or over; and that he is also a bona fide resident of the State or Territory in which the land sought to be entered is located. He must also state that he has not previously exercised the right of entry under the desert-land laws by making an entry or by having taken one by assignment; that he has personally examined every legal subdivision of the land sought to be entered; that he has not, since August 30, 1890, acquired title, under any of the agricultural land laws, to lands. which, together with the land applied for, will exceed, in the aggregate, 320 acres; and that he intends to reclaim the lands applied for, by