which mineral lands, and to decide which of said lands should be subject to homestead entry, and to that end he is hereby authorized and empowered to employ such expert mineralogist, assayists, and civil engineers as may be necessary to designate and survey said mineral and agricultural lands. 34 STAT. 89, MARCH 27, 1906. LEASING LANDS-COLORADO. AN ACT Leasing and demising certain lands in La Plata County, Colo., to the P. F. U. Rubber Company. Be it enacted, etc., SEC. 3. That nothing herein contained shall grant or convey or be held to grant or convey to said company, its successors or assigns, during such time as it or they may hold said lands under the lease hereby authorized, any right, license, or privilege to take or remove from said premises, or any part thereof, any growing timber, stone, clay, ore, metals, or minerals of any kind or nature whatsoever, save and except such timber and stone as may be necessary for the immediate use of said company, its successors and assigns, in the building, erection, or maintenance of such fences, flumes, ditches, roads, telephone, telegraph, and power transmission lines, buildings, and machinery: Provided, however, That no patent shall issue for the said lands or any part thereof until the Secretary of the Interior shall ascertain by such examination, prospecting, and mineral tests as he may deem necessary and proper the existence of any valuable and merchantable deposits of coal or other mineral upon such premises; and any such merchantable deposits of coal or other mineral so determined, together with the right of ingress or egress, shall be excluded from said patent. The right of entry and egress for the purposes of such examinations and tests shall further be reserved in said lease. SEC. 4. That the rights and privileges hereby granted shall not be sold, assigned, transferred, or conveyed to any person or persons, firm, or corporation whatsoever, save and except upon the express permission in writing of the Secretary of the Interior. And in case of any violation of this provision the lease and privileges hereby granted shall at once and forever cease and determine. 34 STAT. 313, JUNE 20, 1906. SPONGES MINING. AN ACT To regulate the landing, delivery, cure, and sale of sponges. Be it enacted, etc., That from and after May 1, 1907, it shall be unlawful to land, deliver, cure, or offer for sale at any port or place in the United States any sponges taken by means of diving or diving apparatus from the waters of the Gulf of Mexico or Straits of Florida: Provided, That sponges taken or gathered by such process between October 1 and May 1 of each year in a greater depth of water than 50 feet shall not be subject to the provisions of this act: And provided further, That no sponges taken from said waters shall be landed, delivered, cured, or offered for sale at any port or place in the United States of a smaller size than 4 inches in diameter, SEC. 2. That every person guilty of a violation of this act shall for each offense be liable to a fine of not less than $100 or more than $500, which fine shall be a lien against the vessel on which the offense was committed. And every vessel used or employed in violation of this act shall be liable to a fine of not less than $100 or more than $500 or forfeiture, and shall be seized and proceeded against by process of libel in any court having jurisdiction of the offense. SEC. 3. That any violation of this act shall be prosecuted in the district court of the United States of the district wherein the offense was committed. SEC. 4. That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor to enforce the provisions of this act, and upon his request the Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary of the Navy may employ the vessels of the Revenue-Cutter Service and of the Navy, respectively, to that end. NOTE. This act is repealed by the act of August 15, 1914. A. SPONGE MINING ACT. 1. APPLICATION OF ACT TO SPONGES IN TIDE WATERS. This act relates only to sponges taken outside of the territory of a State. Abbey Dodge, In re, 223 U. S. 166, p. 173. The States own the tide waters themselves, as well as the products thereof, and Congress has no control over sponges growing on the land beneath the tide water within the jurisdiction of a State. Abbey Dodge, In re, 223 U. S. 166, p. 173. 38 STAT. 692, AUGUST 15, 1914, PUBLIC-NO. 172-63D CONGRESS. NEW SPONGE-MINING ACT. AN ACT To regulate the taking or catching of sponges in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Straits of Florida outside of State jurisdiction; the landing, delivering, curing, selling, or possession of the same; providing means of enforcement of the same; and for other purposes. Be it enacted, etc., That on and after the approval of this act it shall be unlawful for any citizen of the United States, or person owing duty of obedience to the laws of the United States, or any boat or vessel of the United States, or person belonging to or on any such boat or vessel, to take or catch, by any means or method, in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico or the Straits of Florida outside of State territorial limits, any commercial sponges measuring when wet less than five inches in their maximum diameter, or for any person or vessel to land, deliver, cure, offer for sale, or have in possession at any port or place in the United States, or on any boat or vessel of the United States, any such commercial sponges. SEC. 2. That the presence of sponges of a diameter of less than five inches on any vessel or boat of the United States engaged in sponging in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico or the Straits of Florida outside of State territorial limits, or the possession of any sponges of less than the said diameter sold or delivered by such vessel, shall be prima facie evidence of a violation of this act. 56974°-Bull. 94, pt 2-15-18 SEC. 3. That every person, partnership, or association guilty of a violation of this act shall be liable to a fine of not more than $500, and in addition such fine shall be a lien against the vessel or boat on which the offense is committed, and said vessel or boat shall be seized and proceeded against by process of libel in any court having jurisdiction of the offense. SEC. 4. That any violation of this act shall be prosecuted in the district court of the United States of the district wherein the offender is found or into which he is first brought. SEC. 5. That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of Commerce to enforce the provisions of this act, and he is authorized to empower such officers and employees of the Department of Commerce as he may designate, or such officers and employees of other departments as may be detailed for the purpose, to make arrests and seize vessels and sponges, and upon his request the Secretary of the Treasury may employ the vessels of the Revenue Cutter Service or the employees of the Customs Service to that end. SEC. 6. That the act approved June 20, 1906, entitled "An act to regulate the landing, delivery, cure, and sale of sponges" and all other laws in conflict herewith be, and the same hereby are, repealed. 34 STAT. 517, chap. 3554, JUNE 27, 1906. SALE OF ISOLATED TRACTS-NONMINERAL. AN ACT To amend an act entitled "An act to amend section 2455 R. S.," approved February 26, 1895. Be it enacted, etc., That the act of February 26, 1895 (28 Stat. 687), entitled "An act to amend section 2455 R. Š.," be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows: "It shall be lawful for the Commissioner of the General Land Office to order into market and sell, at public auction at the land office of the district in which the land is situated, for not less than $1.25 per acre, any isolated or disconnected tract or parcel of the public domain not exceeding one quarter section which, in his judgment, it would be proper to expose for sale after at least 30 days' notice by the land officers of the district in which such land may be situated: Provided, That this act shall not defeat any vested right which has already attached under any pending entry or location." A. APPLICATION FOR ISOLATED TRACTS SHOWING AS TO ABSENCE OF MINERAL. This act requires applicants for isolated tracts to show by their affidavits, corroborated by at least two witnesses, that the land applied for contains no salines, coal, or other mineral, and the purpose of this is that the land office may have information upon which to base its action and to enable it to determine whether or not the lands should be offered at public sale, but affidavits as to such nonmineral character need not be by the purchaser himself, but may be by any creditable persons. McNee, In re, 40 L. D. 494. See Moses, In re, 31 L. D. 320. RAILROAD GRANTS. I. MINERAL LANDS EXCLUDED. II. RAILROAD LANDS-CLASSIFICATION, p. 1148. I. MINERAL LANDS EXCLUDED. 12 STAT. 489, p. 492, JULY 1, 1862. UNION PACIFIC-MINERAL LANDS NOT INCLUDED. AN ACT To aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean, etc. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That there be, and is hereby, granted to the said company, for the purpose of aiding in the construction of said railroad and telegraph line, and to secure the safe and speedy transportation of the mails, troops, munitions of war, and public stores thereon, every alternate section of public land, designated by odd numbers, to the amount of five alternate sections per mile on each side of said railroad, on the line thereof and within the limits of 10 miles on each side of said road, not sold, reserved, or otherwise disposed of by the United States, and to which a preemption or a homestead claim may not have attached, at the time the line of said road is definitely fixed: Provided, That all mineral lands shall be excepted from the operation of this act; but where the same shall contain timber, the timber thereon is hereby granted to said company. And all such lands, so granted by this section, which shall not be sold or disposed of by said company within three years after the entire road shall have been completed, shall be subject to settlement and preemption, like other lands, at a price not exceeding $1.25 per acre, to be paid to said company. A. RAILROAD GRANT-UNION PACIFIC. B. CONVEYANCE BY RAILROAD COMPANY-RIGHT AND TITLE OF PURCHASER, p. 1107. A. RAILROAD GRANT UNION PACIFIC 1. CONSTRUCTION AND EFFECT. 2. MINERAL LANDS EXCEPTED. 3. MINING LOCATIONS WITHIN LIMITS. 4. MINERAL CHARACTER OF LAND. a. EXTENT AND VALUE. b. KNOWN MINERAL CHARACTER- MEANING. C. HEARING TO DETERMINE- PRACTICE. d. DETERMINATION EFFECT-TIME OF MAKING. e. LANDS RETURNED AS MINERAL--BURDEN OF PROOF. 5. NONMINERAL LANDS PASS UNDER GRANT. 6. LIST OF LANDS SELECTED- NOTICE-BURDEN OF PROOF. 8. RIGHT OF WAY OVER MINERAL LANDS. 9. PATENT. a. OFFICE AND EFFECT. b. MEANING AND EXTENT OF EXCEPTING CLAUSE. c. SUBSEQUENT DISCOVERY OF MINERALS-EFFECT ON TITLE. 10. LANDS VALUABLE FOR STONE. 1. CONSTRUCTION AND EFFECT. The words employed in the grant of lands to the Central Pacific Railroad Co. are words of absolute donation, and import a grant in præsenti, and can have no other meaning, and this construction has been uniformly applied by the Land Department to similar grants. Central Pac. R. Co. v. Valentine, 11 L. D. 238, p. 242. Leavenworth, etc., R. Co. v. United States, 92 U. S. 733, p. 741. See Mining Co. v. Consolidated Min. Co., 102 U. S. 167. Under this grant the railroad company could bind itself to convey to a purchaser any land within a section granted to it. Rogers v. Cooney, 7 Nev. 213, p. 216. The presumption is that the intention of Congress was the same with reference to mineral lands reserved from the grant to the Northern Pacific Railroad Co. in other States as was expressly declared with reference to lands in Montana and Idaho, as declared in the act of February 26, 1895 (2 Sup. R. S. 385). Northern Pac. R. Co. v. Soderberg, 99 Fed. 506, p. 508. Congress did not intend by the act of February 2, 1895, to interpret the reservation clause of the act granting land to the Northern Pacific Railroad Co. so as to give a restricted definition to the word "mineral," as the test did not relate to the nature or quality of the mineral, but to its value. Northern Pac. R. Co. v. Soderberg, 99 Fed. 506, p. 508. See Northern Pac. R. Co. v. Soderberg, 104 Fed. 425, p. 429. The right of the Government is involved in the reservation found in this act, as the minerals were reserved to the sovereign, but aside from the reservations a legal title passed to the grantee. Adams v. Reed, 11 Utah, 480, p. 497. See Tarpey v. Deseret Salt Co., 5 Utah, 494. 2. MINERAL LANDS EXCEPTED. In the grant to the Central Pacific Railroad Co. the mineral lands were expressly reserved not only by the statute but by the proclamation of the President. Whitney v. Taylor, 158 U. S. 85, p. 97. The effect of the broad excepting provision of the act effectually excepts all mineral lands from the grant where the mineral character of the lands is discovered prior to the issuance of the patent or certificate where patent is not required. Francoeur v. Newhouse, 40 Fed. 618. Northern Pac. R. Co. v. Barden, 46 Fed. 592, p. 603. Central Pac. R. Co. v. Valentine, 11 L. D. 238, p. 243. |