§ 301. When Towns Established upon Unsurveyed Lands, Extension Limits, how Adjusted. § 302. When Transcript Maps of Town are not Filed in Twelve Months, Proceedings by Secretary of Interior. § 303. § 304. Where Size of Lots or Town Plat Varies from General Rule. § 308. Authorities of Salt Lake City, Rights of, as to Entry. § 309. Additional Entry Allowed where Town has Entered Less than Maximum. § 310. § 311. Not More than 2,560 Acres to be Reserved for Town Site. § 312. §313. § 314. § 315. § 316. Where Town Site Exceeds Maximum, Authorities to Select Lands to Pre-emptions by Counties for Seats of Justice. No Title Acquired to Gold Mines, etc., or to Mining Claim, etc. § 317. Inhabitants of Towns on Public Lands, Right of, to Enter. § 298. Town Sites to be Reserved. The president is authorized to reserve from the public lands, whether surveyed or unsurveyed, town sites on the shores of harbors, at the junction of rivers, important portages, or any natural or prospective centers of population. 12 Stat. 754; 19 Id. 392; R. S. 2380. § 299. Reservations to be Surveyed into Lots.-When, in the opinion of the president, the public interests require it, it shall be the duty of the secretary of the interior to cause any of such reservations, or part thereof, to be surveyed into urban or suburban lots of suitable size, and to fix by appraisement of disinterested persons their cash value, and to offer the same for sale at public outcry to the highest bidder, and thence afterward to be held subject to sale at private entry, according to such regulations as the secretary of the interior may prescribe; but no lot shall be disposed of at public sale or private entry for less than the appraised value thereof; and all such sales shall be conducted by the register and receiver of the land office in the district in which the reservations may be situated, in accordance with the instructions of the commissioner of the general land office. 12 Stat. 754; R. S. 2381. § 300. Town or City Sites on Public Lands.-In any case in which parties have already founded, or may hereafter desire to found, a city or town on the public lands, it may be lawful for them to cause to be filed with the recorder for the county in which the same is situated, a plat thereof, for not exceeding 640 acres, describing its exterior boundaries according to the lines of the public surveys, where such surveys have been executed; also giving the name of such city or town, and exhibiting the streets, squares, blocks, lots, and alleys, the size of the same, with measurements and area of each municipal subdivision, the lots in which shall each not exceed 4,200 square feet, with a statement of the extent and general character of the improvements; such map and statement to be verified under oath by the party acting for and in behalf of the persons proposing to establish such city or town; and within one month after such filing there shall be transmitted to the general land office a verified transcript of such map and statement, accompanied by the testimony of two witnesses, that such city or town has been established in good faith, and when the premises are within the limits of an organized land district, a similar map and statement shall be filed with the register and receiver, and at any time after the filing of such map, statement, and testimony in the general land office, it may be lawful for the president to cause the lots embraced within the limits of such city or town, to be offered at public sale to the highest bidder, subject to a minimum of $10 for each lot; and such lots as may not be disposed of at public sale, shall thereafter be liable to private entry at such minimum, or at such reasonable increase or diminution thereafter, as the secretary of the interior may order from time to time, after at least three months' notice, in view of the increase or decrease in the value of the municipal property. But any actual settler upon any one lot, as above provided, and upon any additional lot in which he may have substantial improvements, shall be entitled to prove up and purchase the same as a pre-emption, at such minimum, at any time before the day fixed for the public sale. 13 Stat. 343; R. S. 2382. 301. When Towns Established upon Unsurveyed Lands, Extension Limits, how Adjusted.-When such cities or towns are established upon unsurveyed lands, it may be lawful, after the extension thereto of the public surveys, to adjust the extension limits of the premises according to those lines, where it can be done without interference with rights which may be vested by sale; and patents for all lots so disposed of at public or private sale shall issue as in ordinary cases. 13 Stat. 344; R. S. 2383. § 302. When Transcript Maps of Town are not Filed in Twelve Months, Proceedings by Secretary of the Interior.-If within twelve months from the establishment of a city or town on the public domain, the parties interested refuse or fail to file in the general land office a transcript map, with the statement and testimony called for by the provisions of section 2382 R. S., it may be lawful for the secretary of the interior to cause a survey and plat to be made of such city or town, and thereafter the lots in the same shall be disposed of as required by such provisions, with this exception, that they shall each be at an increase of fifty per centum on the minimum of ten dollars per lot. 13 Stat. 344; R. S. 2384. $303. Where Size of Lots or Town Plat Varies from General Rule. In the case of any city or town, in which the lots may be variant as to size from the limitation fixed in section 2382 R. S., and in which the lots and buildings, as municipal improvements, cover an area greater than 640 acres, such variance as to size of lots or excess in area shall prove no bar to such city or town claim under the provisions of that section; but the minimum price of each lot in such city or town, which may contain a greater number of square feet than the maximum named in that section, shall be increased to such reasonable amount as the secretary of the interior may by rule establish. 13 Stat. 530; R. S. 2385. § 304. Title to Lots Subject to Mineral Rights.-Where mineral veins are possessed, which possession is recognized by local authority, and to the extent so possessed and recognized, the title to town lots to be acquired shall be subject to such recognized possession and the necessary use thereof; but nothing contained in this section shall be so construed as to recognize any color of title in possessors for mining purposes as against the United States. 13 Stat. 530; R. S. 2386. $305. Entry of Town Authorities in Trust for Occupants.Whenever any portion of the public lands has been or may be settled upon and occupied as a town site, not subject to entry under the agricultural pre-emption laws, it is lawful, in case such town be incorporated, for the corporate authorities thereof, and, if not incorporated, for the judge of the county court for the county in which such town is situated, to enter at the proper land office, and at the minimum price, the land so settled and occupied in trust for the several use and benefit of the occupants thereof, according to their respective interests; the execution of which trust, as to the disposal of the lots in such town, and the proceeds of the sales thereof, to be conducted under such regulations as may be prescribed by the legislative authority of the state or territory in which the same may be situated. 14 Stat. 541; 18 Id. 254; R. S. 2387. §306. Entry under Preceding Section, when to be Made.-The entry of the land provided for in the preceding section shall be made, or a declaratory statement of the purpose of the inhabitants to enter it as a town site shall be filed with the register of the proper land office, prior to the commencement of the public sale of the body of land in which it is included, and the entry or declaratory statement shall include only such land as is actually occupied by the town, and the title to which is in the United States; but in any territory in which a land office may not have been established, such declaratory statements may be filed with the surveyor general of the surveying district in which the lands are situated, who shall transmit the same to the general land office. 14 Stat. 541; 18 Id. 254; R. S. 2388. § 307. Entry in Proportion to Number of Inhabitants.-If upon surveyed lands, the entry shall in its exterior limit be made in conformity to the legal subdivisions of the public lands authorized by law; and where the inhabitants are in number one bundred and less than two hundred, shall embrace not exceeding 320 acres; and in cases where the inhabitants of such town are more than two hundred and less than one thousand, shall embrace not exceeding 640 acres; and where the number of inhabitants is one thousand and over one thousand, shall embrace not exceeding 1,280 acres; but for each additional one thousand inhabitants, not exceeding five thousand in all, a further grant of 320 acres shall be allowed. 14 Stat. 541; 18 Id. 254; 19 Id. 392; R. S. 2389. § 308. Authorities of Salt Lake City, Rights of, as to Entry.— The words "not exceeding five thousand in all," in the preceding section, shall not apply to Salt Lake City, in the territory of Utah; but such section shall be so construed in its application to that city that lands may be entered for the full number of inhabitants contained therein, not exceeding fifteen thousand; and as that city covers school-section number 36, in township number 1 north, of range number 1 west, the same may be embraced in such entry, and indemnity shall be given therefor when a grant is made by congress of sections 16 and 36, in the territory of Utah, for school purposes. 16 Stat. 183; 18 Id. 254; R. S. 2390. § 309. Additional Entry Allowed where Town has Entered Less than Maximum.-It shall be lawful for any town which has made, or may hereafter make, entry of less than the maximum quantity of land named in section 2389 R. S., to make such additional entry, or entries, of contiguous tracts, which may be occupied for town purposes, as when added to the entry or entries theretofore made will not exceed 2,560 acres; provided, that such additional entry shall not together with all prior entries be in excess of the area to which the town may be entitled at date of the additional entry by virtue of its population, as prescribed in said section. - 19 Stat. 392, 393. § 310. Not More than 2,560 Acres to be Reserved for Town Site. The existence or incorporation of any town upon the public lands of the United States shall not be held to exclude from pre-emption or homestead entry a greater quantity than 2,560 acres of land, or the maximum area which may be entered as a town site under existing laws, unless the entire tract claimed or incorporated as such town site shall, including and in excess of the area above specified, be actually settled upon, inhabited, improved, and used for business and municipal purposes. 19 Stat. 392. § 311. Certain Entries within Town Sites Confirmed.-Where entries have been heretofore allowed upon lands afterwards ascertained to have been embraced in the corporate limits of any town, but which entries are or shall be shown, to the satis |