Chapter 22. Authorizing the Secretary of Commerce and Labor to lease San Clemente Island, California, and for other purposes
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CHAP. 22.— An Act Authorizing the Secretary of Commerce and Labor to lease San Clemente Island, California, and for other purposes. January 15, 1909.[[S. 4856](/us/bill/70/s/4856).][[Public, No. 190](/us/pl/70/190).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, That the Secretary of CommerceSan Clemente Island, Cal.Lease of, to the San Clemente Wool Company. and Labor be, and he is hereby, authorized, directed, and empowered to lease and demise to the San Clemente Wool Company, a corporation organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the State of California, its successors and assigns, for the purpose, however, of farming, the unused light-house reservation in California, known as San Clemente Island, for and during the full period of twenty- five years, for its and their sole and exclusive use, except as hereinafter specified, at an annual rental, payable in advance, of one thousandAnnual rent and sum for improvements. five hundred dollars, and an expenditure by said company, or its successors or assigns, of twenty-five thousand dollars (not less than approximately one thousand dollars in any one year of said term) in improving the said island and protecting it from devastation by accretions of sand: *Provided*, That in said lease it shall be stipulated that*Proviso.*Rights reserved. the Government of the United States may at any time during the term thereof go upon said island and construct thereon at any point light-house buildings, stone quarries, piers, landings, or other governmental structures, and may set aside certain tracts of land on the shore for fishing and camping places, and take possession of such portion or portions of said island as may be required for such purposes, and may 587 at any time introduce game animals on said island.
It shall be furtherNature of improvements. stipulated in said lease that the said expenditure of twenty-five thousand dollars in improving said island shall be expended in developing water, constructing dams and reservoirs for the storage of water, erecting windmills, water tanks, building fences, houses, buildings, and wagon roads, reseeding the island to trees and grasses, and planting spineless cactus for the purpose of stopping the drifting of the sands and of creating additional pasturage, and such other general improvements as may be necessary for the conduct of the business of sheep and general farming, and that all ranches and buildings shall be kept in good sanitary condition.
Said lease shall confer upon the said company theConstruction of reservoirs, etc. authority to construct on said island such reservoirs, dams, windmills, water tanks, fences, houses, barns, buildings, ditches, flumes, canals, roads, telegraph and telephone lines, trails, wharves, piers, and landings as may be necessary or proper for the uses and purposes herein set forth. Sec. 2. That nothing herein contained shall grant or convey or beRemoval of timber, etc., prohibited. 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 island, or any part thereof, any growing timber, stone, clay, ore, metals, or minerals of any kind or nature whatsoever, save andException. 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 reservoirs, dams, windmills, water tanks, fences, houses, barns, buildings, ditches, flumes, canals, roads, telegraph and telephone lines, trails, wharves, piers, and landings.
Sec. 3. That the Secretary of Commerce and Labor may at anyForfeiture. time during the said period of twenty-five years, at his discretion, terminate and cancel said lease, in case said company shall fail to pay the said rental of one thousand five hundred dollars per annum in advance or shall fail and neglect to expend the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars in the improvement of said island, as herein specified, and well and truly perform any of the stipulations herein imposed upon it; and, in order that the Secretary may be advised regardingStatement of expenditures. the expenditures made by said company, it shall be further stipulated in said lease that said company shall annually, on the first day of January, file with the Secretary of Commerce and Labor a statement, under oath of its president, showing in detail the expenditures made by said company during the previous year and the character and extent of the improvements made on said island by said company, which statement shall be accompanied by good and sufficient vouchers.Vouchers.
It shall be further stipulated in said lease that Government officialsInspection. shall have the right to go upon said island at any time, and shall have the right to inspect the improvements made by said company under the terms of said lease. It shall also be stipulated in said lease thatReversion of improvements, etc., to Government. all improvements made upon said island by said company, and all buildings and other structures erected thereon by said company under the terms of said lease shall upon the termination of said lease, in natural term or by cancellation of the same, be and become the property of the Government of the United States.
It shall also be stipulatedSubleasing prohibited that no part of the said island of San Clemente shall be sublet to other parties. Sec. 4. That the money so received as rental by the Secretary ofRents covered into Treasury. Commerce and Labor from said company shall be covered into the Treasury. 588 Approved, January 15, 1909.