Chapter 362. Granting to certain claimants the preference right to purchase unappropriated public lands in the State of Arkansas
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CHAP. 362.— An Act Granting to certain claimants the preference right to purchase unappropriated public lands in the State of Arkansas. September 21, 1922.[[H. R. 6863](/us/bill/67/hr/6863).][[Public, No. 324](/us/pl/67/324).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, Public lands.Sale authorized of, inArkansas, erroneouslysurveyed as water-covered areas. That the Secretary of the Interior, in his judgment and discretion, is hereby authorized to sell, in the manner hereinafter provided, any of those public lands situated in the State of Arkansas which were originally erroneously meandered and shown upon the official plats as water-covered areas, and which are not lawfully appropriated by a qualified settler or entryman claiming under the public land laws.
Sec. 2. Preference rights of settlers in good faith. That any citizen of the United States who in good faith under color of title or claiming as a riparian owner has, prior to thisAct, placed valuable improvements upon or reduced to cultivation any of the lands subject to the operation of this Act, shall have a preferred right to file in the office of the register and receiver of the United States land office of the district in which the lands are Application to be filed.situated, an application to purchase the lands thus improved by them at any time within ninety days from the date of the passage of this Act if the lands have been surveyed and plats filed in the United States land office; otherwise within ninety days from the filing of such Proof of possession.plats.
Every such application must be accompanied with satisfactory proof that the applicant is entitled to such preference right and that the lands which he applies to purchase are not in the legal possession of an adverse claimant. Sec. 3. Appraisal of lands. That upon the filing of an application to purchase any lands subject to the operation of this Act, together with the required proof, the Secretary of the Interior shall cause the lands described in said application to be appraised, said appraisal to be on the basis Value of Improvements by applicant excluded.of the value of such lands at the date of appraisal, exclusive of any increased value resulting from the development or improvement thereof for agricultural purposes by the applicant or his predecessor in interest, but inclusive of the stumpage value of any timber cut or removed by the applicant or his predecessor in interest.
Sec. 4. Payment and Issue of patent. That an applicant who applies to purchase lands under the provisions of this Act, in order to be entitled to receive a patent must within thirty days from receipt of notice of appraisal by the Secretary of the Interior pay to the receiver of the United States land office of the district in which the lands are situated the appraisedprice of the lands, and thereupon a patent shall issue to said applicant or such lands as the Secretary of the Interior shall determine that Proceeds.such applicant is entitled to purchase under this Act.
The proceeds derived by the Government from the sale of lands hereunder shall be covered into the United States Treasury and applied as provided by law for the disposal of the proceeds from the sale of public lands. Sec. 5. Regulations to be prescribed. That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to prescribe all necessary rules and regulations for administering the provisions of this Act and determining conflicting claims arising hereunder. Approved, September 21, 1922.