of the ultimate validity of such locations to abide the final action of the court of private land claims, as pointed out in section one hundred and twenty-four. (2) Lands lying within the exterior boundaries of a claimed grant are restored to the public domain, and become open to exploration and purchase under the mining laws, either (a) when the grant is finally rejected, or (b) where the claimant fails to present his claim for confirmation within the time fixed by law.1 (3) In case of floats, the surplus remaining after satisfaction of the grant becomes public domain when the action of the tribunals fixing the boundaries becomes final. (4) Final confirmation of a grant, and the patent issued pursuant thereto, convey to the grantee all the minerals, with the possible exception of grants falling within the jurisdiction of the court of private land claims created by the act of March 3, 1891. As to the latter class of grants, no definite rule may be dogmatically stated. But the construction of the act in question by the secretary of the interior, as heretofore outlined, is of persuasive force. Under the present state of the law, none of this last class of confirmed grants can be invaded for the purposes of mineral exploration, nor can any rights be initiated within their boundaries, ander the general mining laws. A locator on such lands would be a naked trespasser, and could be ejected by the owner of the grant. The final judgment rejecting the grant restores the land to the public domain without any action on the part of the land department. In re Davis, 30 L. D. 220. ARTICLE III. GRANTS TO THE STATES AND TERRITORIES FOR EDUCATIONAL AND INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT when the asserted right to a particular tract accrued, and not the date upon which the law was passed authorizing the grant. § 141. Test of mineral character applied to school land grants. § 142. When grants of the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections take effect. § 143. Selections by the state in lieu of sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections, and under general grants. § 144. Effect of surveyor-general's return as to character of land within sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections, or lands sought to be selected in lieu thereof, or under floating grants. 132. Grant of sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections. -The ordinance of May 20, 1785, "for ascertaining the "mode of disposing of the lands in the western terri"tory," contained the following provision: "There shall be reserved the lot number sixteen of "every township for the maintenance of public schools "within said township." This was an endowment of six hundred and forty acres of land in each township, equivalent to one thirtysixth of the entire public domain.1 2 This reservation was thereafter specially provided for in the organization of each new state up to the time of the formation of Oregon territory. In the act creating this territory, an additional grant of the thirty-sixth section in each township was provided for, for the use of the future state, and ever since that date every new state, upon its admission to the union, has received a donation of at least the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections, or twelve hundred and eighty acres, in each township. Under the act of July 16, 1894, Utah was granted sections two, sixteen, thirty-two, and thirty-six in each township. In 1880 congress granted to Nevada two million acres for common-school purposes in lieu of the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections.* Reservations of sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections have likewise been made in all the territories, to be granted and confirmed to such new states as may be carved out of them," and in one instance at least congress has granted the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections to a territory (New Mexico), the grant taking immediate effect, without waiting for its admission as a state.R 133. Indemnity grant in lieu of sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections lost to the states.-Upon extending the surveys over the public lands in the various states, it was discovered that in many instances a sixteenth or thirty-sixth section, and sometimes both, in numerous Public Domain, p. 224. August 14, 1848, 9 Stats. at Large, p. 323. 28 Stats. at Large, pp. 107, 109; Law v. State of Utah, 29 L. D. 622. 21 Stats. at Large, p. 288; Manser Lode, 27 L. D. 327. Public Domain, p. 226. Act of June 21, 1898, (30 Stats. at Large, 484); Instructions, 29 L D. 364, 27 L. D. 281, 31 L. D. 261. townships were lost to the state; that is, by reason of a prior legal occupancy or settlement, or an antecedent grant, appropriation, or reservation, it was impossible for the grant as to these sections to take effect. In such cases the sections were said not to be in place. To remedy this, and compensate the state for the loss thus occurring, congress enacted laws granting indemnity; that is, the state was authorized to select other unoccupied and unreserved public lands within its boundaries in lieu of the sixteenth or thirty-sixth sections so lost to the state. States may also select non-mineral lands to compensate for the failure of the grant of these sections by reason of the ascertained mineral character of the land.1 In addition to this, the government has in recent years inaugurated a policy of placing large areas under a state of reservation, and there have been created a great many forest reserves which embrace surveyed lands, including many sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections, title to which had, prior to the establishment of the reserves, become vested in the state. It has been held by the land department that the state had a right to waive its title to such lands, and select others in lieu thereof.2 On June 4, 1897,3 congress passed an act enabling parties who had theretofore acquired title from the government to land included within the limits of these reserves to exchange them for other lands beyond such 1Act of Feb. 28, 1891, (26 Stats. at Large, 796,) amending Rev. Stats., 2275; State of California, 31 L. D. 335. * Under the provisions of section 2275 of the Revised Statutes, as amended by the act of February 28, 1891, (26 Stats. at Large, 796). State of California (on review), 28 L. D. 57; Territory of New Mexico, 29 L. D. 399. The circuit court for the ninth circuit, southern district of California, does not agree with the land department as to its interpretation of the law. Hibberd v. Slack, 84 Fed. 571. 30 Stats. at Large, 11, 36. limits. This act the land department construes as authorizing the states, or purchasers from them, to exchange such lands for others,' although this construction is questioned by at least one of the federal courts.2 Our present purpose is not to critically analyze these various laws but to define and classify the different character of grants to states, and explain the manner of administering them in connection with the public mineral land laws, which are unquestionably, to some extent at least, in pari materia. 134. Other grants for schools and internal improvements. In addition to the grant of sixteenth and thirtysixth sections, and lands in lieu thereof, where they are lost to the state, congress has from time to time made other grants to the several states, not of any designated sections or townships, but of a given quantity of land, to be selected from the body of the public domain. On September 4, 1841, congress granted to each of the public land states then admitted, and to each new state to be thereafter admitted, five hundred thousand acres of public lands for internal improvements, to be selected from the body of the public lands within the respective states. This is commonly called "the five"hundred-thousand-acre grant." A grant was also made to each of the public land states of two townships, or forty-six thousand and eighty acres, for university purposes, the grant to be satisfied by selection of unoccupied and unappropriated public lands within the respective states. A further grant was made to the various states of the union, to those containing no public lands as well 1 Circ. Instructions, 28 L. D. 328. Hibberd v. Slack, 84 Fed. 571, 581, 582. |