Chapter CCXXXV. to amend “An Act granting the Right of Way to Ditch and Canal Owners over the public Lands, and for other Purposes.”July 9, 1870.1866, ch. 262
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CHAP. CCXXXV.— An Act to amend “An Act granting the Right of Way to Ditch and Canal Owners over the public Lands, and for other Purposes.”July 9, 1870.1866, ch. 262.Vol. xiv. p. 251. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* That the act granting theSections to be added to former act. right of way to ditch and canal owners over the public lands, and for other purposes, approved July twenty-six, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, be, and the same is hereby, amended by adding thereto the following additional sections, numbered twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen, respectively, which shall hereafter constitute and form a part of the aforesaid act.
Sec. 12. *And be it further enacted,* That claims, usually calledPlacer claims to be subject to entry and patent. “placers,” including all forms of deposit, excepting veins of quartz, or other rock in place, shall be subject to entry and patent under this act, under like circumstances and conditions, and upon similar proceedings, as are provided for vein or lode claims: *Provided,* That where the landsIf lands have been surveyed, entry to conform, &c.Price of lands. have been previously surveyed by the United States, the entry in its exterior limits shall conform to the legal subdivisions of the public lands, no further survey or plat in such case being required, and the lands may be paid for at the rate of two dollars and fifty cents per acre: *Provided further,* That legal subdivisions of forty acres may be subdivided intoTen-acre tracts.Joint entry of contiguous claims.Placer claim not to exceed one hundred and sixty acres.Homestead and pre-emption rights not affected. ten-acre tracts; and that two or more persons, or associations of persons, having contiguous claims of any size, although such claims may be less than ten acres each, may make joint entry thereof: *And provided further,* That no location of a placer claim, hereafter made, shall exceed one hundred and sixty acres for any one person or association of persons, which location shall conform to the United States surveys; and nothing in this section contained shall defeat or impair any bona fide pre-emption or homestead claim upon agricultural lands, or authorize the sale of the improvements of any bona fide settler to any purchaser.
Sec. 13. *And be it further enacted,* That where said person or association,What evidence of possession, &c. to establish a right to a patent. they and their grantors, shall have held and worked their said claims for a period equal to the time prescribed by the statute of limitations for mining claims of the State or Territory where the same may be situated, evidence of such possession and working of the claims for such period shall be sufficient to establish a right to a patent thereto under this act, in the absence of any adverse claim: *Provided, however,* ThatExisting liens not affected. nothing in this act shall be deemed to impair any lien which may have attached in any way whatever to any mining claim or property thereto attached prior to the issuance of a patent.
Sec. 14. *And be it further enacted,* That all ex parte affidavitsEx parte affidavits. required to be made under this act, or the act of which it is amendatory, may be verified before any officer authorized to administer oaths within the land district where the claims may be situated. Sec. 15. *And be it further enacted,* That registers and receivers shallFees of registers and receivers.Regulations to carry act into effect. receive the same fees for services under this act as are provided by law for like services under other acts of Congress; and that effect shall be given to the foregoing act according to such regulations as may be prescribed by the commissioner of the general land office.
Sec. 16. *And be it further enacted,* That so much of the act of MarchPart of act 1853, ch. 145, § 3, Vol. x. p. 245, repealed. third, eighteen hundred and fifty-three, entitled “An act to provide for the survey of the public lands in California, the granting of pre-emption218FORTY-FIRST CONGRESS. Sess. II. Ch. 235, 236, 237. 1870. rights, and for other purposes,” as provides that none other than township lines shall be surveyed where the lands are mineral, is hereby repealed.Public surveys extended over mineral lands.Surveyed lands how subdivided into lots, &c.
And the public surveys are hereby extended over all such lands: *Provided,* That all subdividing of surveyed lands into lots less than one hundred and sixty acres may be done by county and local surveyors at the expense of the claimants: *And provided further,* That nothing herein contained shall require the survey of waste or useless lands. Sec. 17. *And be it further enacted,* That none of the rights conferredWaste, &c. lands need not be surveyed.Rights conferred by certain sections of former act extended, &c.Vested and accrued water rights secured.Act of 1866, ch. 244, Vol. xiv. p. 242, not affected. by sections five, eight, and nine of the act to which this act is amendatory shall be abrogated by this act, and the same are hereby extended to all public lands affected by this act; and all patents granted, or pre-emption or homesteads allowed, shall be subject to any vested and accrued water rights, or rights to ditches and reservoirs used in connection with such water rights, as may have been acquired under or recognized by the ninth section of the act of which this act is amendatory.
But nothing in this act shall be construed to repeal, impair, or in any way affect the provisions of the “Act granting to A. Sutro the right of way and other privileges to aid in the construction of a draining and exploring tunnel to the Comstock lode, in the State of Nevada,” approved July twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and sixty-six. Approved, July 9, 1870.