time, when

by agent satisfying the commission of his authority so to do, to enter into and execute a contract with the state and supply the bond as required, then said person or persons, association, company or corporation shall be declared in default by the commission (unless in the opinion of the commission an exten- Extension of sion of time, not exceeding thirty days, should be granted), and all his, their or its rights and equities therein lapsed and defaulted to the state; and the commission may advertise the equity of such applicant for sale to the highest bidder, under such rules and regulations as it may prescribe, and sell the same and enter into a contract covering such segregation with the purchaser thereof, in which case the state engineer shall transfer the application for the water right in the name of and to such purchaser. The proceeds of any such sale shall be Proceeds of used, first, to cover the costs and expenses of advertisement used and sale, second, to reimburse said defaulting applicant for his outlay in respect to such application, as the same may appear from the records and account of the commission and of the state engineer's office, and the surplus, if any, shall be deposited in the Carey act trust fund hereinafter created. In the case of any segregation approved by the secretary of the interior prior to the date this act goes into effect, where due notice to the applicant of such approval has been made by the state land register, said three months' limitation within which a contract must be signed shall begin to run from the date when this act goes into effect.

sale, how

limited as to

works

SEC. 9. No contract shall be entered into by the commis- Contracts sion on the part of the state which requires a greater time time of conthan three years for the construction of the works, but all con- struction of tracts must provide that work shall commence within three months from the date of said contract, that at least one-tenth of the construction work shall be completed within one year from the date of said contract, that construction shall be prosecuted diligently and continuously to completion, and that a cessation of the work under the contract with the state for a period of three months shall forfeit to the state all rights under said contract; provided, that if such three months' Proviso cessation of work shall occur in whole, or in part during the months of December, January, February, and March, and shall be caused by the inclemency of the weather, it shall not be deemed a forfeiture.

of contract,

SEC. 10. Any contract, so entered into, may be subse- Modification quently modified, if in the opinion of the commission such when modification conserves and protects the public welfare and the rights of settlers: provided, that if such modification relates to changes in the irrigation works or system or to an extension of time for the completion thereof, the consent of the state engineer shall be a condition precedent to any act of the commission authorizing the same. Any contract so entered into may contain a stipulation for the subsequent enlargement of the works to irrigate more land under the Carey act, but no

State not

obligated

Assignment

of contracts not recog

nized under

certain conditions

to fix price of lands

made until water is available

Bond

such enlargement shall be undertaken except in accordance with the requirements of an original application.

SEC. 11. Nothing in this act shall be construed as authorizing said commission to obligate the state to pay for any work constructed under any contract or to hold the state in any way responsible to settlers for the failure of contractors to complete the work according to the terms of their contracts with the state. SEC. 12. No assignment by any applicant for a temporary withdrawal or segregation, of any right, interest, claim or equity therein, before or after its approval, and before contract shall actually have been entered into with the state, shall be recognized by the commission, without it be accompanied with a certificate signed by the assignee that he has had in his possession, and examined for his own information, a statement of the status of such application, or approved segregation, prepared and subscribed by the state register of lands under the Carey act of date not older than thirty days preceding the date of the execution of the assignment; and any assignment, without such statement in the actual possession of the assignee prior to the execution thereof, if for a valuable consideration shall render the assignor liable to prosecution for fraud. No assignment shall be valid until it receive the approval of the commission, when the same, or a certified copy thereof, shall be filed with the commission by the assignee.

SEC. 13. Said commission is hereby authorized to fix the Commission price at which the state shall dispose of lands in each segregation to settlers, which shall not be less than fifty cents per acre nor more than one dollar per acre, depending on the location, character of the land and climatic conditions; the proceeds of which shall be deposited in the state treasury, in a fund hereby created for such purpose, to be known as Carey act trust fund. SEC. 14. No person, or persons, association, company or Payment not corporation, contracting with the state under the provisions of this act, or their assigns, shall require any advance payment of any settler or prospective settler, prior to the time that water for the irrigation of his entry or allotment is actually available, unless a satisfactory bond in such sum as the commission shall require shall be deposited with the commission, conditioned on the return to the settler, with interest at six per cent per annum thereon, of all payments so made, if water for the irrigation of his entry or allotment is not available at the time stipulated in the agreement with such settler; provided, that in lieu of a bond as aforesaid, said commission may authorize advanced sales to be made by, or through the agency of, a bank or trust company furnishing satisfactory assurances and guarantees that if said project is not consummated to deliver water for the irrigation of such settler's entry or allotment within the time specified, such payments with interest shall be returned to the settler. SEC. 15. Upon the failure of any parties having contracts with the state for the construction of irrigation works to begin construction; the same within the time specified by the contract, or to com

Proviso

Limitation of time as to

penalties

in newspaper

plete the same within the time or in accordance with the specifications of the contract with the state, to the satisfaction of the state engineer, it shall be the duty of the commission to give such parties written notice of such failure, signed by the chairman of said commission and the state register of lands under the Carey act; and if, after a period of sixty days after the sending of such notice, they shall have failed to proceed with the work or to conform to the specifications of their contract with the state, the bond and contract of such parties, and all works constructed thereunder, shall be at once and thereby forfeited to the state; and it shall be the duty of the commission at once so to declare and to give notice, once each week, Notice by for a period of four weeks, in some newspaper of general circu- publication lation in the county or counties in which the work is situated, and in one newspaper at the state capital in like manner and for a like period, of the forfeiture of said contract, and that upon a fixed day proposals will be received at the office of the commission at Carson City for the purchase of the incompleted works and for the completion of the contract, the time of receiving said bids to be at least sixty days subsequent to the issuing of the last notice of forfeiture. The money received Money from by the commission from the sale of partially completed works applied under the provisions of this section shall first be applied to the expenses incurred by the state in their forfeiture and disposal, and to satisfy the bond; and the surplus, if any exists, shall be paid to the original contractors with the state. Said commission shall give notice in its advertisement for proposals for the purchase of such incompleted works that the successful bidder therefor shall be required, before the transfer of ownership, to furnish a satisfactory bond in a prescribed sum conditioned for the faithful fulfilment of the uncompleted provisions of the contract with the state.

sale, how

to determine

SEC. 16. Said commission shall determine the time, man- Commission ner and conditions under which lands and water rights of any conditions of segregation, or any part thereof, shall be thrown open for opening land entry by, or sale to, intending settlers.

for entry

tions of

SEC. 17. Any citizen of the United States, or person who Qualificahas declared his intention to become such, over the age of applicants twenty-one years, including married women, may make appli- for land cation under oath to the commission to enter any of such land in an amount not to exceed one hundred and sixty acres for any one person; and such application shall set forth that the person desiring to make such entry does so for the purpose of actual reclamation, cultivation and settlement in accordance with the act of congress and the laws of this state relative thereto, and that the applicant has never received the benefit of the provisions of this act to an amount greater than one hundred and sixty acres, including the number of acres speci- Applications fied in the application under consideration. Said application panied by must be accompanied by a certified copy of a contract for a contract for perpetual water right, made and entered into by the party water right

to be accom

perpetual

location,

when issued

making application with the person or persons, association, company or corporation authorized by the commission to furnish water for the reclamation of said lands; and if said applicant has at any previous time entered lands under the provisions of this section he shall so state in his application, together with the description, date of entry and location of Certificate of such land. The commission shall thereupon file in its office the application and papers relating thereto and, if allowed, issue a certificate of location to the applicant. All applications for entry shall be accompanied by a payment of twentyfive cents per acre, which shall be a partial payment on the land if the application is allowed; and all certificates when Record to be issued shall be recorded in a book to be kept for that purpose. If the application is not allowed, the twenty-five cents per acre accompanying it shall be refunded to the applicant. The balance unpaid on the price fixed by the commission for the land allowed an applicant shall be due and payable in such installments and at such times as the commission shall prescribe, but before patent shall issue the full price of such land shall have been paid by the settler.

kept

of reclamation, how

made

Fees

Proviso

SEC. 18. Within one year after a water right is available Final proof for the irrigation of the land described in a certificate of location, the settler shall cultivate and reclaim not less than onesixteenth part of the land filed on, and within two years thereafter, shall have actually irrigated and cultivated not less than one-eighth thereof, and within three years thereafter the settler shall appear before the state register of lands under the Carey act, or the judge or clerk of any court of record within the state, or any agent designated by the commission, and make final proof of reclamation, settlement and occupation, in such form and according to such requirements as may be prescribed by the commission or the department of the interior. The officer taking this proof shall be entitled to receive a fee of two dollars, which fee shall be paid by the settler and shall be in addition to the price paid the state for the land; provided, that when the state register of lands under the Carey act takes final proof, all fees received by him shall be turned into the Carey act trust fund. Said state register and the agents appointed by the commission are hereby authorized to administer oaths required under this act. All proofs so received shall be accompanied with the final payment for said land, and upon approval by the commission the settler shall be entitled to the patent. If the land shall not be embraced in any patent theretofore issued to the state by the United States, the proofs shall be forwarded to the secretary of the interior, with the request that a patent to said lands be issued to the state. When the works designed for the irrigation of lands under the provisions of this act shall be so far completed as to actually furnish in a substantial ditch, or canal, or by artesian wells or reservoirs, water to reclaim any particular tract or tracts of such land, the State of Nevada, may, by, and in the discretion of, said com

Oaths

mission, make proof of such fact, and apply for a patent to such lands in the manner provided by the act of congress approved June eleventh, eighteen hundred and ninety-six.

land.

issue of

SEC. 19. Upon the issuance of a patent to any lands by the Patents to United States, notice shall be forwarded to the settler upon regulations such land. All patents issued by the state to the settler shall concerning be signed by the governor and attested by the state register of lands under the Carey act, and under such seal as the commission may adopt for such purpose, and shall be recorded in the office of said state register in a book kept for that purpose. No patent shall issue on an assignment of a certificate of location, or by reason of a process of foreclosure, unless the assignee or purchaser under foreclosure, possesses all the qualifications of an original applicant.

to attach to

SEC. 20. The water rights to all lands acquired under the Water rights provisions of this act shall attach to and become appurtenant lands to the land as soon as the title passes from the United States to the state. Any person or persons, association, company or corporation, furnishing water for any tract of land, shall have a first and prior lien on said water right and land upon which said water is used, for all deferred payments for said water right; said lien to be in all respects prior to any other and all other liens created or attempted to be created by the owner and possessor of said land; said lien to remain in full force and effect until the last deferred payment for the water right is fully paid and satisfied according to the terms of the contract under which said water right is acquired. The contract for the water right upon which the aforesaid lien is founded shall be recorded in the office of the recorder of the county where said land is situated.

deferred

when

SEC. 21. Upon default of any deferred payments secured Default of by any lien under the provisions of this act, the person or payments on persons, association, company or corporation, holding or own- lands ing said lien, may foreclose the same according to the terms and conditions of the contract granting and selling to the settler the water right. All sales shall be advertised in a newspaper of general circulation, published in the county where said land and water right are situate, once each week, for six consecutive weeks, and shall be sold to the highest bid- Sale of land, der at the front door of the court-house, or such place as may be agreed by the terms of the aforesaid contract. And the sheriff of said county shall in all cases give all notices of sale, and shall sell all such lands and water rights, and shall make and execute a certificate of sale to the purchaser thereof. And at such sale no person or persons, association, company Restrictions or corporation, owning or holding any lien, shall bid in or said sale purchase any land or water right at a greater price than the amount due on said deferred payment for said water right and land and the cost incurred in making the sale of the same.

SEC. 22. At any time within six months after the foreclosure sale by the sheriff of the land and water rights afore