AUXILIARY RECLAMATION PROJECT AT YUMA

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Sec. 2. [Requirements of bidders-Methods of sale-Terms of purchase-Issue of patents-Preference rights-Return of actual cost of irrigation works required.]-That all bidders at such public sale shall be required to make a deposit of ten per centum of the amount bid for the tract proposed to be purchased, and upon notice from the Secretary of the Interior that such bid has been accepted shall be required to pay fifteen per centum additional within sixty days after such notice. In case of failure to do so the deposit shall be forfeited and the corresponding lands shall be available for further sale. In case the bids for the lands shall not aggregate a sufficient amount within six months from the time fixed for the filing of bids to meet the probable cost as announced, all deposits shall be returned. The remaining seventy-five per centum of the purchase price shall be paid in three annual installments, with interest at six per centum per annum on deferred payments until paid, running from the date of notice to pay the additional fifteen per centum, but advance payments may be received at any time. Upon full payment of the purchase price patent shall issue for the lands, and no qualification or limitation shall be required of any purchaser or patentee except that he be a citizen of the United States. Such patent shall also contain a grant of a water right appurtenant to the land: Provided, That any person who has made an entry which is now valid and subsisting, or who has a preference right to make entry, for any irrigable land embraced within the limits of the auxiliary project, may purchase said land at the price of $2.50 per acre and shall be subject to the same payments for the irrigation works as is required of persons holding private lands under the provisions of section one hereof: Provided further, That the purchasers or owners of the land to be irrigated under said auxiliary reclamation project shall also agree to pay to the United States the total actual cost of the works of said auxiliary reclamation project in the event that the actual cost of said works shall exceed the estimated cost thereof. (39 Stat. 869.)

NOTES

Qualifications of purchasers.-Under this act no qualification or limitation shall be required of any purchaser or patentee of public land except that he be a citizen of the United States. A corporation can not become a purchaser of public land at the sale. A purchaser is not required to live on or in the neighborhood of the land purchased. One who now holds lands under a Federal irrigation project is not barred from becoming a purchaser. (Departmental regulations, October 3, 1919.)

Section 2 of this act, which imposes the qualification of citizenship upon "any purchaser or patentee" of lands within the Yuma Auxiliary project, Arizona, did not contemplate the restriction of the right of original entry or purchase to native born or to those who had theretofore become citizens, but the conditions of the statute as to citizenship are sufficiently met if, at the time of the issuance of patent, the patentee is a citizen of the United States. (Departmental instructions, October 18, 1921. 48 L. D. 235.)

See note on preceding page entitled "Transfer of water right."

Sec. 3. [Auxiliary reclamation fund.]-That the moneys received under the provisions of this act shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States and be covered into a separate fund known as the auxiliary reclamation fund of the Yuma project, Arizona. (39 Stat. 869.)

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Sec. 4. [Use of fund-Payment of charges-Operation and maintenance of works to be turned over to landowners.]-That the money in the said auxiliary reclamation fund of the Yuma project, Arizona, shall be available for the construction or completion of irrigation works for the said auxiliary project or unit [to the extent of the moneys received on account thereof in connection with the sale of the lands therein]. The landowners shall pay the cost of operation and maintenance, and the charges to cover such cost as fixed by the Secretary of the Interior shall be paid each year in advance of the delivery of water. Upon the announcement by the Secretary of the Interior of the completion of the said auxiliary project or unit thereof, the operation, and maintenance of the irrigation works shall, as soon as practicable, be turned over to an organization representing a majority of the landowners, to be operated and maintained by them at their expense in accordance with a contract therefor to be made with the Secretary of the Interior. (39 Stat. 869.)

NOTES

Repeal. The last clause of the first sentence of section 4, which clause is shown in brackets, was repealed by act of February 11, 1918 (ch. 16, 40 Stat. 437).

Disposition of receipts from sale of lands.-Under above act as amended by act of February 11, 1918 (40 Stat. 437), moneys received from the sale of public lands under the Yuma Mesa auxiliary project may be utilized for the construction of the irrigation works of said project, but reimbursement therefor must be made by the landowners to the auxiliary reclamation fund. Congress failed to make provision for the final disposition of these moneys and they must remain in said auxiliary reclamation fund after repayment, subject to such disposition as Congress may in the future make. (Comp. Dec., May 10, 1921, and July 6, 1921.)

Sec. 5. [Application of surplus funds.]-Any surplus of funds paid on account of construction remaining after completion thereof, and that any money remaining in said separate fund known as the auxiliary reclamation fund of the Yuma project, Arizona, after completion of the said auxiliary project and after reimbursement of the reclamation fund for the proportionate share of works built by means of the latter fund shall be credited to the cost of operation and maintenance of the works of the said auxiliary project, and any balance thereof on hand when the said auxiliary project is taker. over, as provided in section four, shall be paid to the contracting organization. (39 Stat. 869.)

Sec. 6. [Reclamation law applicable.]-That the provisions of the reclamation act of June seventeenth, nineteen hundred and two, and acts amendatory thereof and supplementary thereto, known as the reclamation law, shall be applicable to such auxiliary project, except any portions of such acts as may be in conflict with the provisions hereof. (39 Stat. 870.)

Sec. 7. [Rules and regulations.]-That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to perform any and all acts and to make such rules and regulations as may be necessary and proper for the purpose of carrying the provisions of this act into full force and effect. (39 Stat. 870.)

PATENTS AND FINAL WATER-RIGHT CERTIFICATES

An act to amend section one of the act of August 9, 1912, providing for patents on reclamation entries, and for other purposes. (Act February 15, 1917, ch. 71, 39 Stat. 920)

[Sec. 1. Issue of patents and final water-right certificates-Payment in full required.]-That the proviso to section one of the act of August ninth, nineteen hundred and twelve (Thirty-seventh Statutes, page two hundred and sixty-five), entitled "An act providing for patents on reclamation entries, and for other purposes," be amended to read as follows:

"Provided, That no such patent or final water-right certificate shall issue until after the payment of all sums due the United States on account of such land or water right at the time of the submission of proof entitling the homestead or desert-land entryman to such patent or the purchaser to such final water-right certificate." (39 Stat. 920.)

Textual note.-The substance of this act is codified as the proviso of section 1 of the act of August 9, 1912, section 541, title 43, United States Code, being a codification of section 1 of said act of August 9, 1912, as amended by the above act of February 15, 1917.

NOTES

Regulations. Under the provisions of this act patents may issue on reclamation entries where all water-right charges due at the time the entryman submits proof of reclamation of one-half of the irrigable area of the land embraced in his entry have been paid, regardless of the fact that other waterright charges may accrue and be unpaid prior to the issuance of patent. (General Land Office circular No. 534, March 17, 1917.)

When entryman's interest taxable.-Under act of August 13, 1914, (38 Stat. 686), making the charges for reclamation of arid lands payable in installments, act of August 9, 1912 (37 Stat. 265), and act of February 15, 1917, allowing a patent for such lands on payment of all installments due at the time of final proof, which patent conveys a full legal title, but reserves a prior lien to the Government for all installments unpaid, an entryman who has received a patent subject to the lien can be taxed by the State on his interest in such lands. (Irwin v. Wright (1922), 42 S. Ct. 293, 258 U. S. 219, 66. L. Ed. 573.)

SALE OF LANDS IN MILK RIVER PROJECT TO GREAT NORTHERN

RAILWAY CO.

An act authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to sell and convey to the Great Northern Railway Co. certain lands in the State of Montana for division terminal yards and other railway purposes, and for other purposes. (Act February 26, 1917, ch. 123, 39 Stat. 940)

[Sec. 1. Appraisal of lands in Milk River Project-Description.]-That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to cause to be appraised all those parts of sections thirty-two and thirty-three, township thirty-one north, range thirty-two east, and of section five, township thirty north, range thirty-two east, Montana meridian, State of Montana, described as follows:

Beginning at the point of intersection of the present right of way of the Great Northern Railway with the east line of the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter of said section thirty-three, which point is seventy-five feet northerly at right angles from the center line of said Great Northern Railway as the same is now constructed across said section thirty-three; thence westerly to a point on the west line of said quarter quarter section three hundred feet northerly at right angles from said center line; thence southwesterly parallel with said center line to an intersection with the east and west quarter quarter section line in the southwest quarter of said section thirtythree; thence westerly along said quarter quarter section line to the west line of said section thirty-three; thence westerly along the east and west quarter quarter section line in the south half of said section thirty-two to the northwest corner of the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of said section thirty-two; thence southerly along the west line of said quarter quarter section to the north line of section five, township thirty north, range thirty-two east; thence westerly along said north line to the northwest corner of said section five; thence southerly along said west line to the present northerly right of way line of said railway, which right-of-way line is seventyfive feet northerly at right angles from the center line of said railway as the same is now constructed; thence northeasterly parallel with said center line to the place of beginning. Also beginning at the point of intersection of the southerly right-of-way line of said railway with the east line of the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of said section thirty-two, said point being seventy-five feet distant southerly at right angles from said center line; thence southwesterly parallel with said center line to the west line of lot three, section five, township thirty north, range thirty-two east; thence southerly along said west line to a point two hundred feet distant southerly at right angles from said center line; thence northeasterly parallel with said center line to the east line of the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of said section thirty-two; thence northerly along said east line to the place of beginning, the said tracts

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containing in the aggregate one hundred and seventy and seven onehundredths acres, more or less. The said center line of railway is described as beginning one hundred and twenty-nine feet south of the east quarter corner of said section thirty-three, running thence southwesterly in a straight line, intersecting the west line of said section thirty-two nine hundred and twenty-one feet north of the southwest corner, a distance of ten thousand four hundred and twenty-two feet; thence on a curve to the left, with a radius of eleven thousand four hundred and fifty-nine and two-tenths feet, a distance of five hundred feet; thence southwesterly, tangent to said curve, five hundred and eleven and four-tenths feet to the west line of said section five at a point eight hundred and twenty-five and five-tenths feet south of the northwest corner. (39 Stat. 940.)

*

Sec. 3. [Sale and conveyance of lands-Application of sale price of allotted Indian lands.]—That upon appraising the said lands the Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed to sell and convey the same to the Great Northern Railway Company, a corporation of the State of Minnesota, and owning and operating lines of railway in the State of Montana and other States, for division terminal yards and other railway purposes, upon such terms as he may deem advisable. If the sale of any of the lands described in section two hereof shall include the whole or any part of the allotment of an individual Indian, the purchase price of such allotted land shall be paid to such Indian, subject to the control of the Secretary of the Interior, as to the funds of incompetent Indians. (39 Stat. 941.)

Sec. 4. [Cost of irrigation works of Milk River project to be considered-Reservation of rights of way for canals or ditches-Building and maintenance of crossings.]-That the appraisal of the lands described in section one of this act shall take into consideration the estimated cost per acre for the construction of irrigation works for the Milk River irrigation project, and in no event shall be less than the actual market value of said land and the estimated cost per acre for the construction of said irrigation project. The conveyances for the lands described above in sections one and two shall reserve to the United States and its successors in interest right of way for canals or ditches heretofore or hereafter constructed thereon, and the railway company shall construct at its own expense any crossings of said canals or ditches which may be necessary for its purposes, and such crossings shall be built and maintained in such a manner as not to interfere with the operations of said canals or ditches by the United States or its successors in interest, and such conveyances shall be subject to any prior valid rights of way. (39 Stat. 941.)