Chapter 330. To provide for the leasing of coal lands in the Territory of Alaska, and for other purposes
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CHAP. 330.— An Act To provide for the leasing of coal lands in the Territory of Alaska, and for other purposes. October 20, 1914. [[H. R. 14233](/us/bill/63/hr/14233).] [[Public, No. 216](/us/pl/63/216).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, That the Secretary of theAlaska coal lands. Surveys directed. Interior be, and hereby is, authorized and directed to survey the lands of the United States in the Territory of Alaska known to be valuable for their deposits of coal, preference to be given first in favorPreferences. of surveying lands within those areas commonly known as the Bering River, Matanuska, and Nenana coal fields, and thereafter to such areas or coal fields as lie tributary to established settlements or existing or proposed rail or water transportation lines: *Provided*, That*Provisos*.
Execution under existing laws, etc. such surveys shall be executed in accordance with existing laws and rules and regulations governing the survey of public lands. ThereAppropriation. is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $100,000 for the purpose of making the surveys herein provided for, to continue available until expended: *Provided*, That any surveys heretofore made under the authority orUse of prior surveys. 742by the approval of the Department of the Interior may be adopted and used for the purposes of this Act.
Sec. 2. Lands reserved from disposal. That the President of the United States shall designate and reserve from use, location, sale, lease, or disposition not exceeding five thousand one hundred and twenty acres of coal-bearing land in the Bering River field and not exceeding seven thousand six hundred and eighty acres of coal-bearing land in the Matanuska field, and not *Proviso*. Mining of reserved area.to exceed one-half of the other coal lands in Alaska: *Provided*, That the coal deposits in such reserved areas may be mined under the direction of the President when, in his opinion, the mining of such coal in such reserved areas, under the direction of the President, Conditions.becomes necessary, by reason of an insufficient supply of coal at a reasonable price for the requirements of Government works, construction and operation of Government railroads, for the Navy, for national protection, or for relief from monopoly or oppressive conditions.
Sec. 3. Subdivision of unreserved lands into leasing blocks, etc. That the unreserved coal lands and coal deposits shall be divided by the Secretary of the Interior into leasing blocks or tracts of forty acres each, or multiples thereof, and in such form as in the opinion of the Secretary will permit the most economical mining of the coal in such blocks, but in no case exceeding two thousand five Leases authorized.hundred and sixty acres in any one leasing block or tract; and thereafter, the Secretary shall offer such blocks or tracts and the coal, lignite, and associated minerals therein for leasing, and may award leases thereof through advertisement, competitive bidding, or such other methods as he may by general regulations adopt, to any person above the age of twenty-one years who is a citizen of the United States, or to any association of such persons, or to any corporation or municipality organized under the laws of the United States or of any *Provisos.* Citizenship requirements.State or Territory thereof: *Provided*, That a majority of the stock of such corporation shall at all times be owned and held by citizens Holdings by railroads or common carriers limited.of the United States: *And provided further*, That no railroad or common carrier shall be permitted to take or acquire through lease or permit under this Act any coal or coal lands in excess of such area or quantity as may be required and used solely for its own use, and such limitation of use shall be expressed in all leases or permits issued to Relinquishment of claims under land laws.railroads or common carriers hereunder: *And provided further*, That any person, association, or corporation qualified to become a lessee under this Act and owning any pending claim under the public-land laws to any coal lands in Alaska may, within one year from the passage of this Act, enter into an arrangement with the Secretary of the Interior by which such claim shall be fully relinquished to the United Return of moneys paid therefor.States; and if in the judgment of the Secretary of the Interior, the circumstances connected with such claim justify so doing, the moneys paid by the claimant or claimants to the United States on account of such claim shall, by direction of the Secretary of the Interior, be returned and paid over to such person, association, or corporation as a consideration for such relinquishment.
Determination of all pending claims.All claims of existing rights to any of such lands in which final proof has been submitted and which are now pending before the Commissioner of the General Land Office or the Secretary of the Interior for decision shall be adjudicated within one year from the passage of this Act. Sec. 4. Leasing of additional contiguous lands. That a person, association, or corporation holding a lease of coal lands under this act may, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior and through the same procedure and upon the same terms and conditions as in the case of an original lease under this Act, secure a further or new lease covering additional lands contiguous to those embraced in the original lease, but in no event shall the total area embraced in such original and new leases exceed in the aggregate two thousand five hundred and sixty acres. 743 That upon satisfactory showing by any lessee to the Secretary ofNew leases permitted when deposits exhausted. the Interior that all of the workable deposits of coal within a tract covered by his or its lease will be exhausted, worked out, or removed within three years thereafter, the Secretary of the Interior may. within his discretion, lease to such lessee an additional tract of land or coal deposits, which, including the coal area remaining in the original lease, shall not exceed two thousand five hundred and sixty acres, through the same procedure and under the same competitive conditions as in case of an original lease.
Sec. 5. That, subject to the approval of the Secretary of theConsolidation of small holdings. Interior, lessees holding under leases small blocks or areas may consolidate their said leases or holdings so as to include in a single holding not to exceed two thousand five hundred and sixty acres of contiguous lands. Sec. 6. That each lease shall be for such leasing block or tract ofApplications for leasing tracts. land as may be offered or applied for, not exceeding in area two thousand five hundred and sixty acres of land, to be described by the subdivisions of the survey, and no person, association, or corporation, Interest in more than one lease forbidden.except as hereinafter provided, shall be permitted to take or hold any interest as a stockholder or otherwise in more than one such lease under this Act, and any interest held in violation of this proviso shall be forfeited to the United States by appropriate proceedings institutedProceedings to prevent. by the Attorney General for that purpose in any court of competent jurisdiction, except that any such ownership and interest herebyInterest acquired by descent, etc. forbidden which may be acquired by descent, will, judgment, or decree may be held for two years, and not longer, after its acquisition.
Sec. 7. That any person who shall purchase, acquire, or hold anyPurchasing, etc., interest in more than one lease a felony. interest in two or more such leases, except as herein provided, or who shall knowingly purchase, acquire, or hold any stock in a corporation having an interest in two or more such leases, or who shall knowingly sell or transfer to one disqualified to purchase, or except as in this Act specifically provided, disqualified to acquire, any such interest, shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and upon conviction shall be punishedPunishment. by imprisonment for not more than three years and by a fine not exceeding $1,000: *Provided*, That any such ownership and interest*Proviso.* Temporary ownership by descent, etc. hereby forbidden which may be acquired by descent, will, judgment, or decree may he held two years after its acquisition and not longer, and in case of minority or other disability such time as the court may decree.
Sec. 8. That any director, trustee, officer, or agent of any corporationPurchase, etc. of an-other lease by officer of corporation, unlawful. holding any interest in such a lease who shall, on behalf of such corporation, act in the purchase of any interest in another lease, or who shall knowingly act on behalf of such corporation in the sale or transfer of any such interest in any lease held by such corporation to any corporation or individual holding any interest in any such a lease, except as herein provided, shall be guilty of a felony and shallPunishment. be subject to imprisonment for a term of not exceeding three years and a fine of not exceeding $1,000.
Sec. 8a. If any of the lands or deposits leased under the provisionsLands subleased, etc., to form an unlawful trust, etc., forfeited. of this Act shall be subleased, trusteed; possessed, or controlled by any device permanently, temporarily, directly, indirectly, tacitly, or in any manner whatsoever, so that they form part of or are in anywise controlled by any combination in the form of an unlawful trust, with consent of lessee, or form the subject of any contract or conspiracy in restraint of trade in the mining or selling of coal, entered into by the lessee, or of any holding of such lands by any individual, partner-ship, association, corporation, or control, in excess of two thousand five hunched and sixty acres in the Territory of Alaska, the lease thereof shall be forfeited by appropriate court proceedings. 744 Sec. 9.
Royalties to be paid. That for the privilege of mining and extracting and disposing of the coal in the lands covered by his lease the lessee shall pay to the United States such royalties as may be specified in the lease, which shall not be less than two cents per ton, due and payable at the end of each month succeeding that of the shipment of the coal Annual rental.from the mine, and an annual rental, payable at the beginning of each year, on the lands covered by such lease, at the rate of twenty-five cents per acre for the first year thereafter, fifty cents per acre for the second, third, fourth, and fifth years, and $1 per acre for each Credit against royalties.and every year thereafter during the continuance of the lease, except that such rental for any year shall be credited against the royalties Term of leases.as they accrue for that year.
Leases may be for periods of not more Disposal of receipt.than fifty years each, subject to renewal, on such terms and conditions as may be authorized by law at the time of such renewal. All net profits from operation of Government mines, and all royalties and rentals under leases as herein provided, shall be deposited in the Treasury of the United States in a separate and distinct fund to be Reimbursing for railroad construction.applied to the reimbursement of the Government of the United States on account of any expenditures made in the construction of railroads Excess to Alaska fund.
Vol. 33, p. 616.in Alaska, and the excess shall be deposited in the fund known as The Alaska Fund, established by the Act of Congress of January twenty-seventh, nineteen hundred and five, to be expended as provided in said last-mentioned Act. Sec. 10. Limited permits for small tracts to supply local needs. That in order to provide for the supply of strictly local and domestic needs for fuel the Secretary of the Interior may, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe in advance, issue to any applicant qualified under section three of this Act a limited license or permit granting the right to prospect for, mine, and dispose of coal belonging to the United States on specified tracts not to exceed ten acres to any one person or association of persons in any one coal field for a period of not exceeding ten years, on such conditions not inconsistent with this Act as in his opinion will safeguard the public interest, without payment of royalty for the coal mined or for the *Proviso.* No conflict between permits and other eases.land occupied: *Provided*, That the acquisition of holding of a lease under the preceding sections of this Act shall be no bar to the acquisition, holding, or operating under the limited license in this section permitted.
And the holding of such a license shall be no bar to the acquisition or holding of such a lease or interest therein. Sec. 11. Easement rights reserved. That any lease, entry, location, occupation, or use permitted under this Act shall reserve to the Government of the United States the right to grant or use such easements in, over, through, or upon the land leased, entered, located., occupied, or used as may be necessary or appropriate to the working of the same or other coal lands by or under authority of the Government and for other *Proviso.* Disposal of surface of leased lands.purposes: *Provided*, That said Secretary, in his discretion, in making any lease under this Act, may reserve to the United States the right to lease, sell, or otherwise dispose of the surface of the lands embraced within such lease under existing law or laws hereafter enacted in so far as said surface is not necessary for use by the lessee in extracting and removing the deposits of coal therein.
If such reservation is made, it shall be so determined before the offering of such lease. Permits for washeries, etc., on public lands.That the said Secretary during the life of the lease is authorized to issue such permits for easements herein provided to be reserved, and to permit the use of such other public lands in the Territory of Alaska as may be necessary for the construction and maintenance of coal washeries or other works incident to the mining or treatment of coal, which lands may be occupied and used jointly or severally by lessees or permittees as may be determined by said Secretary.
Sec. 12. Assignments restricted. That no lease issued under authority of this Act shall be assigned or sublet except with the consent of the Secretary of the 745Interior. Each lease shall contain provisions for the purpose ofConditions for operating, safety, etc., required. insuring the exercise of reasonable diligence, skill, and care in the operation of said property, and for the safety and welfare of the miners and for the prevention of undue waste, including a restrictionEight-hour work-day.
Wages, etc. of the workday to not exceeding eight hours in any one day for underground workers except in cases of emergency; provisions securing the workers complete freedom of purchase, requiring the payment of wages at least twice a month in lawful money of the United States, and providing proper rules and regulations to secure fair and just weighing or measurement of the coal mined by each miner, andPreventing monopoly, etc. such other provisions as are needed for the protection of the interests of the United States, for the prevention of monopoly, and for the safeguarding of the public welfare.
Sec. 13. That the possession of any lessee of the land or coalProperty rights of lessees. deposits leased under this act for all purposes involving adverse claims to the leased property shall be deemed the possession of the United States, and for such purposes the lessee shall occupy the same relation to the property leased as if operated directly by the United States. Sec. 14. That any such lease may be forfeited and canceled byForfeiture for violations. appropriate proceeding in a court of competent jurisdiction whenever the lessee fails to comply with any provision of the lease or of general regulations promulgated under this Act; and the lease may provideOther remedies. for the enforcement of other appropriate remedies for breach of specified conditions thereof.
Sec. 15. That on and after the approval of this Act no lands inCoal lands hereafter subject to this Act. Alaska containing deposits of coal withdrawn from entry or sale shall be disposed of or acquired in any manner except as provided in this Act: *Provided*, That the passage of this Act shall not affect any proceeding*Provisos*. Pending cases to be determined. now pending in the Department of the Interior, and any such proceeding may be carried to a final determination in said department notwithstanding the passage hereof: *Provided further*, That noLeases to await ad-verse decision on pending claims. lease shall be made, under the provisions hereof, of any land, a claim for which is pending in the Department of the Interior at the date of the passage of this Act, until and unless such claim is finally disposed of by the department adversely to the claimant.
Sec. 16. That all statements, representations, or reports required,Sworn statements, etc., required. unless otherwise specified, by the Secretary of the Interior under this Act shall be upon oath and in such form and upon such blanks as the Secretary of the Interior may require, and any person making falsePunishment for false oaths. oath, representation, or report shall be subject to punishment as for perjury. Sec. 17. That the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to prescribeRegulations to be prescribed. the necessary and proper rules and regulations and to do any and all things necessary to carry out and accomplish the purposes of this Act.
Sec. 18. That all Acts and parts of Acts in conflict herewith areConflicting laws repealed. Vol. 31, p. 658: Vol. 333, p. 525; Vol. 35, p. 424. hereby repealed. Approved, October 20, 1914.