CHAPTER XXIII. COAL LANDS. Prior to 1864 coal lands were not specifically noted for reservation or sale, but were disposed of as other public lands under settlement or other laws, until the passage of the pre-emption act of 1841. The act of Congress of July 1, 1864, for the disposal of coal lands and town property on the public domain, authorized the sale of the coal lands which had been excluded from sale, as mines, by the pre-emption act of 1841. Under this act they became subject to pre-emption at the minimum of $20 per acre, after offering, under proclamation of the President, at public sale to the highest bidder, in suitable legal subdivisions. March 3, 1865, an act was passed by Congress supplemental to the act of July 1, 1864, giving citizens of the United States, who were engaged in coal mining for commerce, the right to enter, at the proper district land office, 160 acres of land, or less, at $20 per acre. The act of March 3, 1873, gave a pre-emption right of 160 acres of coal land to a person, and 320 acres to an association, upon payment of not less than $10 per acre, where the lands lie not more than 15 miles from a completed railroad, and $20 per acre where the lands lie within 15 miles of such a road; and further provided that when any association of not less than four persons have expended $5,000 in working and improving any mine, located within limits as above, they may make an additional entry of 640 acres at the several limit prices. (See secs. 2347-2352 R. S.; Regulations of General Land Office, April 15, 1880.) The rectangular system of surveys is extended over coal lands, and they are sold in conformity with the legal subdivisions thereof. The method of designation or classification, by noting character of land in field notes by deputy surveyor, and marking on plats, when known, or of proof at the district land office prior to time of filing, is similar to the method of segregation under the mineral act, and is given in detail in the Regulations of the General Land Office, April 15, 1880. ESTIMATE OF AREA OF COAL MEASURE. The estimated area of coal lands on the public domain, the property of the United States, is as follows: Nevada, no coal yet discovered. Nebraska, the coal-bearing rocks cover an area of 3,600 square miles, but on account of the smaliness of the veins-none exceeding one foot-the coal is of no commercial value. Indian Territory, the coal-bearing rocks cover an area of 13,600 square miles. Arkansas, the coal-bearing rocks cover an area of 12,000 square miles. Total acres. .. . 5,528, 970 New discoveries in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Dakota will increase the amount given above considerably. ENTRIES UNDER THE COAL LAND ACTS. From 1866 to June 30, 1880, under the coal land acts there have been 78 entries at district land offices, containing 10,750.24 acres, for which the United States received $146, 999.25, as follows: Oregon Utah Cash sales of coal lands by fiscal years to June 30, 1880. California 2 2 240.00 4,800 00 Amount. Cash sales of coal lands by fiscal years to June 30, 1880-Continued. Amount. Entries. 200.00 $4, 000 00 1 160.00 $3,200 00 Acres. 1870. 200.00 4,000 00 1 160.00 California 1 Oregon. 160. 00 $1,600 00 2 400.00 2 274. 79 $3,772 75 CHAPTER XXIV. DONATION ACTS. TERRITORY OF EAST FLORIDA, OREGON TERRITORY, WASHINGTON TERRITORY, and TERRITORY OF NEW MEXICO. August 4, 1842, in view of Indian difficulties therein, in "An act for the armed occupation and settlement of the unsettled part of the peninsula of East Florida," Congress provided "that any person being the head of a family, or a single man over eighteen years of age," able to bear arms, who had made or should "within one year from and after the passage of this act make an actual settlement within," a certain portion of the peninsula, should be entitled to one-quarter section of land for which he should receive a permit. The whole donation was limited to 200,000 acres of land. This was the first of the donation acts to induce settlements on the public domain in dangerous or distant portions of the nation. By an amendatory act of the 15th of June, 1844, settlers might erect their dwellings and reside upon other than the quarter section described in their permit, provided the lands upon which they erected their habitation should be paid for; and authority was given to certain settlers to perfect their title to the quarter sections described in their permits, by paying for the same. And by an act approved July 1, 1848, all persons to whom permits were granted, and who made settlement without having voluntarily relinquished and abandoned the same, but continued to reside south of the line specified in the act of 1842, were declared entitled "to a grant and patent for the land so occupied or settled by him, the same as if all the conditions and stipulations of said acts had been fully and strictly complied with." This act also provided for an agent to take testimony, and required him, within five months from the commencement of his duties, to transmit all proofs and report his opinion to the Commissioner of the General Land Office for decision. Accordingly, Hugh Archer, esq., of Florida, was appointed agent on the 18th of August, 1848. His duties commenced on the 12th of October, 1848, and terminated on the 12th of March, 1849. By a clause in the general appropriation act of June 3, 1849, the provisions of the act of July 1, 1848, were extended until the 1st of October, 1849. There were no entries made under the act of August 4, 1842, but it was amended after 1843. This act resulted in the patenting of 1,317 claims, as follows: Number of entries made under the armed-occupation act of August 4, 1842, with the approximate acreage, and number of entries made in each land district in Florida. OREGON DONATION ACT. The next donation act was passed for Oregon Territory September 27, 1850. The act provided for making surveys and donations of public lands in Oregon, and related to two classes of settlers. It granted to the first class of actual settlers of the public lands there, who were such prior to the 1st September, 1850, a donation of the quantity of a half section, or 320 acres, if a single man; and if married, the quantity of an entire section, or 640 acres, one half to the husband and the other to the wife in her own right; and to the second class, who were or should become settlers between the 1st December, 1850, and the 1st December, 1853, it granted the quantity of a quarter section, 160 acres, to a single man; and if married, the quantity of a half section, or 320 acres; one-half to the husband and the other to the wife, in her own right. The first class of beneficiaries embraced white settlers or occupants, American halfbreed Indians included, above the age of eighteen years, who were citizens of the United States residing in that Territory, and those not being citizens who should make their declaration of intention to become such on or before the 1st December, 1851. The second class embraced white male citizens of the United States above the age of twenty-one years, or persons who had made a declaration of intention to become citizens, emigrating and settling in that Territory between the 1st December, 1850. and 1st December, 1853. The act of February 14, 1853, extended this time to December 1, 1855. Emigrants becoming married within one year after arriving in the Territory, or within one year after becoming twenty-one years of age, were entitled to the advantages accorded to married men. Residence on and cultivation of the land for four consecutive years was necessary to insure a patent from the Government. Mineral lands were excluded from being located under the act. The act of February 14, 1853, amendatory of the said act of 1850, provided that in lieu of the term of four years' continued occupation after settlement, required by said act, claimants should be permitted, after two years' continuous residence and occupation, to pay for their lands at the rate of $1.25 per acre, and subsequent legislation still further reduced this time to one year. The act expired by limitation December 1, 1855. It resulted as follows: Number of donation certificates issued in Oregon, under the act of September 27, 1850, and supplemental legislation (9 Stats., p. 496)... Number of acres of land covered thereby.. WASHINGTON TERRITORY DONATION ACT. 7,317 2,563, 757.02 By the act of March 2, 1853, establishing the Territorial government of Washingington, part of the then Territory of Oregon was detached and constituted the Territory of Washington, and by the sixth section of the act of July 17, 1854, all the provisions of the donation law were extended to the latter Territory. The act expired December 1, 1855. The following statement shows the entries under the same: Number of donation certificates in Washington Territory, under act of March 2, 1853, and supplemental legislation (10 Stats., p. 172) Number of acres of land covered thereby................... 985 290, 215, 35 The year when the donees entered their respective claims, under the various acts of Congress, in Oregon and Washington Territory cannot be determined in the General Land Office, as some of the notifications are dated and some are not. These entries should all have been made as directed by the sixth section of said act of September 27, 1850, amended by the third section of the act of July 17, 1854 (10 Stats., p. 305). Those who failed to file their notifications as required by law, were relieved by the act of June 25, 1864 (13 Stats., p. 184). NEW MEXICO TERRITORY DONATION ACT. Congress, July 22, 1854, in the "act to establish the offices of surveyors-general of New Mexico, Kansas, and Nebraska," provided in the second section for a grant of 160 |