Chapter 181. To authorize the drainage of certain lands in the Slate of Minnesota
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CHAP. 181.— An Act To authorize the drainage of certain lands in the Slate of Minnesota. May 20, 1908.[[H. R. 19541.]](/us/bill/70/hr/19541)[[Public, No. 125](/us/pl/70/125).] *Beit enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, That all lauds in the StatePublic lands.In Minnesota subject to State drainage laws. of Minnesota, when subject to entry, and all entered lands for which no final certificates have issued, are hereby made and declared to be subject to all of the provisions of the laws of said State relating to the drainage of swamp or overflowed lands for agricultural purposes to the same extent and in the same manner in which lands of a like character held in private ownership areor may be subject to said laws: *Provided*, That the United States and all persons legally holding*Proviso.*Rights, etc., to be accorded. unpatented lands under entries made under the public-land laws of the United States are accorded all the rights, privileges, and benefits given by said laws to persons holding lands of a like character in private ownership.
Sec. 2. That the cost of constructing canals, ditches, and otherApportionment of cost. drainage works incurred in connection with any drainage project under said laws shall be equitably apportioned among all lands held in private ownership, all lands covered by unpatented entries, and all unentered public hinds affected by such project; and officially certified lists showingCertified lista of assessed charges. the amount of the charges assessed against each smallest legal sub 170 -division of such lauds shall he furnished to the register and receiver of the land district in which the lands affected are located as soon as said charges are assessed, but, nothing in this Act shall be construed asUnited States not liable. creating any obligation on the United States to pay any of said charges.
Sec. 3. That all charges legally assessed may be enforced againstSale for charges. any unentered lands, or against any lands covered by an unpatented entry, by the sale of such lands subject to the same manner and under the same proceedings under which such charges would be enforced against lands held in private ownership. Sec. 4. That when any unentered lands, or any lands covered by anCertificate of wile to laud office. unpatented entry, have been sold in the manner mentioned in this Act, a statement of such sale showing the price at which each legal subdivision was sold shall be officially certified to the register and receiver immediately after the completion of such sale.
Sec. 5. That at any time after any sale of unentered lands has beenPatents to purchaser on paying Government price. made in the manner and for the purposes mentioned in this Act patent shall issue to the purchaser thereof upon payment to the receiver of the minimum price of one dollar and twenty-live cents per acre, or such other price as may have been fixed by law for such lands, together with the usual fees and commissions charged in entry of like lands under the homestead laws.
But purchasers at a sale of unenteredlimitations. lands shall have the qualification of homestead entrymen and not more than one, hundred and sixty acres of such lands shall.be sold to any one purchaser under the provisions of this Act. This limitation shall notSale to State excepted. apply to sales to the State but shall apply to purchases from the State of unentered lands bid in for the State. Any part of the purchaseDisposal of excess of Charges, etc. money arising from the sale of any lands in the manner and tor the purposes provided in this Act which shall be in excess of the payments herein required and of the total drainage, charges assessed against such lands shall also be paid to the receiver before patent is issued.
Sec. 6. That any unpatented lands sold in the manner and for thepurebase of un patented entries. purposes mentioned in this Act may be patented to the purchaser thereof at any time after the expiration of the period of redemption provided for in the drainage laws under which it may be sold (there having been no redemption) upon the payment to the receiver of the fees mid commissions and the price mentioned in the preceding section, or so much thereof as has not already been paid by the entryman; and if the sum received at any such sale shall be in excess of the paymentsPayment of excess. herein required and of the drainage assessments mid cost of the sale, such excess shall be paid to the proper county officer for the benefit of and payment to the entryman.
That unless the purchasersForteitureif charges, etc., not paid in ninety days. of unentered lands shall within ninety days after the sale provided for in section three, pay to the proper receiver the fees, commissions and purchase price to which the United States may be entitled as provided in section five, and unless the purchasers of entered lands shall within ninety days after the right of redemption has expired make like payments as provided for in this section, any person baling the qualificationsRights of subsequent purchaser. of a homestead entry man may pay to the proper receiver tor not more than one hundred and sixty acres of land for which such payment has not been made:
First, the unpaid fees, commissions and purchaseDisposal of proceeds. price to which the United States may then be entitled: and, second, the sum at which the land was sold at the sale for drainage charges, and in addition thereto, if bid in by the State, interest on the amount bid by the Stale at the rate of seven per centum per annum from the date of such sale, and thereupon the person making such payment shall become subrogated to the rights of such purchaser to receive a patent for said land.
When any payment is made to effect such subrogation the receiver shall transmit to the treasurer of the county where the land is situated the amount, at which the land was sold at the sale for drainage charges together with the interest paid thereon, if any, less 171 any sum in excess of what may be due for such drainage charge, if the land when sold was unentered. Sec. 7. That a copy of all notices required by the drainage lawsRight of appeal, etc. mentioned in this Act to be given to the owners or occupants of lands held in private ownership shall, as soon as such notices issue, be delivered to the register and receiver of the proper district land office in eases where unentered lands are affected thereby and to the entry men whose unpatented lands are included therein, and the United States and such entry men shall be given the same rights to be heard by petition, answer, remonstrance, appeal, or otherwise as are given to persons holding lands in private ownership: and all entrymen shall be given the same rights of redemption as are given to the owners of lands held in private ownership.
Sec. 8. That hereafter homestead entries and final proofs may beChippewa Indian lands, Minn.Homestead entries, etc., may be made thereon. made upon all ceded Chippewa Indian lands in Minnesota embraced in the withdrawal under the Act of June twenty-first, nineteen hundred and six, entitled “An Act making appropriations for the current and contingent expenses of the Indian Department” (Thirty-fourth StatutesVol. 34, p. 352.Patents, etc. at Large, page three hundred and twenty-five), and patents may issue thereon as in other homestead eases, upon the payment by the entryman of the price prescribed by law for such land and on entries on the ceded Red Lake Reservation in addition thereto the sum of three cents per acre to repay the cost, of the drainage survey thereof, which addition shall be disposed of the same as the other proceeds of said land.
Approved, May 20, 1908.