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SEC. 3. That upon satisfactory proof of full compliance with the provisions of the laws under which entry is made and of this Act the entryman shall be entitled to a patent to the land entered by him, which patent shall contain a reservation to the United States of all the oil and gas in the lands so patented, together with the right to prospect for, mine, and remove the same upon rendering compensation to the patentee for all damages that may be caused by prospecting for and removing such oil or gas. The reserved oil and gas deposits in such lands shall be disposed of only as shall be hereafter expressly directed by law.

A few months later provision was made for State selections in the State of Idaho by the act of February 27, 1913 (37 Stat., 687):

AN ACT To provide for selection by the State of Idaho of phosphate and oil lands.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the passage of this Act unreserved public lands of the United States in the State of Idaho which have been withdrawn or classified as phosphate or oil lands, or are valuable for phosphates or oil, shall, if otherwise available under existing law, be subject to selection by the State of Idaho under indemnity and other land grants made to it by Congress whenever such selections shall be made with a view of obtaining or passing title, with a reservation to the United States of the phosphates and oil in such lands, and of the right to prospect for, mine, and remove the same.

SEC. 2. That the State of Idaho, when applying to select lands classified as phosphate or oil lands, or valuable for phosphates or oil, with a view to securing or passing title to the same in accordance with the provisions of the indemnity and other granting Acts, shall state in the application for selection that same is made in accordance with and subject to the provisions and reservations of this Act.

SEC. 3. That upon satisfactory proof of full compliance with the provisions of the laws under which selection is made and this Act, the State shall, upon approval of the selection by the Secretary of the Interior, be entitled to have the lands certified to it, with a reservation to the United States of all the phosphates and oil in the land so certified, together with the right in the United States, or persons authorized by it, to prospect for, mine, and remove the same; but before any person not acting for the United States shall be entitled to enter upon the lands certified for the purpose of prospecting for phosphates or oil he shall furnish, subject to approval by the Secretary of the Interior, a bond or undertaking as security for the payment of all damages to the crops and improvements on said lands by reason of such prospecting for phosphates or oil. Any person who has acquired from the United States the oil or phosphate deposits in any such land, or the right to mine or remove the same, may reenter and occupy so much of the surface thereof as may be required for all purposes reasonably incident to the mining and removal of the oil or phosphate therefrom and mine and remove the oil or phosphate upon payment of the damages caused thereby to the owner thereof, or upon giving a good and sufficient bond or undertaking in an action instituted in any competent court to ascertain and fix said damages: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be held to deny or abridge the right of the State of Idaho to present and have prompt consideration of applications to select lands, which have been classified as oil or phosphate lands, with a view to disproving such classification and securing a certificate without reservation: And provided further, That the reserved phosphate and oil deposits in approved selections under this Act shall not be subject to exploration or entry, other than by the United States, except as hereinafter authorized by Congress.

Finally, by the act of July 17, 1914 (38 Stat., 509), provision was made for all forms of nonmineral entry on lands withdrawn, classi

fied, or valuable for oil, gas, and certain other minerals. This important law is as follows:

AN ACT To provide for agricultural entry of lands withdrawn, classified, or reported as containing phosphate, nitrate, potash, oil, gas, or asphaltic minerals.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That lands withdrawn or classified as phosphate, nitrate, potash, oil, gas, or asphaltic minerals, or which are valuable for those deposits, shall be subject to appropriation, location, selection, entry, or purchase, if otherwise available, under the nonmineral land laws of the United States, whenever such location, selection, entry, or purchase shall be made with a view of obtaining or passing title with a reservation to the United States of the deposits on account of which the lands were withdrawn or classified or reported as valuable, together with the right to prospect for, mine, and remove the same; but no desert entry made under the provisions of this Act shall contain more than one hundred and sixty acres: Provided, That all applications to locate, select, enter, or purchase under this section shall state that the same are made in accordance with and subject to the provisions and reservations of this Act.

SEC. 2. That upon satisfactory proof of full compliance with the provisions of the laws under which the location, selection, entry, or purchase is made, the locator, selector, entryman, or purchaser shall be entitled to a patent to the land located, selected, entered, or purchased, which patent shall contain a reservation to the United States of the deposits on account of which the lands so patented were withdrawn or classified or reported as valuable, together with the right to prospect for, mine, and remove the same, such deposits to be subject to disposal by the United States only as shall be hereafter expressly directed by law. Any person qualified to acquire the reserved deposits may enter upon said lands with a view of prospecting for the same upon the approval by the Secretary of the Interior of a bond or undertaking to be filed with him as security for the payment of all damages to the crops and improvements on such lands by reason of such prospecting, the measure of any such damage to be fixed by agreement of parties or by a court of competent jurisdiction. Any person who has acquired from the United States the title to or the right to mine and remove the reserved deposits, should the United States dispose of the mineral deposits in lands, may reenter and occupy so much of the surface thereof as may be required for all purposes reasonably incident to the mining and removal of the minerals therefrom, and mine and remove such minerals, upon payment of damages caused thereby to the owner of the land, or upon giving a good and sufficient bond or undertaking therefor in an action instituted in any competent court to ascertain and fix said damages: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be held to deny or abridge the right to present and have prompt consideration of applications to locate, select, enter, or purchase, under the land laws of the United States, lands which have been withdrawn or classified as phosphate, nitrate, potash, oil, gas, or asphaltic mineral lands, with a view of disproving such classification and securing patent without reservation, nor shall persons who have located, selected, entered, or purchased lands subsequently withdrawn, or classified as valuable for said mineral deposits, be debarred from the privilege of showing, at any time before final entry, purchase, or approval of selection or location, that the lands entered, selected, or located are in fact nonmineral in character.

SEC. 3. That any person who has, in good faith, located, selected, entered, or purchased, or any person who shall hereafter locate, select, enter, or purchase, under the nonmineral land laws of the United States, any lands which are subsequently withdrawn, classified, or reported as being valuable for phosphate, nitrate, potash, oil, gas, or asphaltic minerals, may, upon application therefor, and making satisfactory

proof of compliance with the laws under which such lands are claimed, receive a patent therefor, which patent shall contain a reservation to the United States of all deposits on account of which the lands were withdrawn, classified, or reported as being valuable, together with the right to prospect for, mine, and remove the same.

THE RELIEF ACT OF AUGUST 25, 1914.

Litigation and uncertainty over oil claims on withdrawn lands whose validity or right to patent had been or was likely to be called in question made it difficult if not impossible for the operators of such claims to market their oil. Purchasing companies were afraid to take it lest, if the claims should be declared invalid, they might be made codefendants in suits to recover its value. On the other hand, fear of being drained by wells on adjoining lands and of ruining wells already producing made the operators loath to suspend production. The producers who found themselves in this position— and they are a considerable number, especially in California-requested that the Secretary of the Interior be given authority to permit production to continue on claims of this class pending determination of their validity, the oil or the proceeds therefrom to be disposed of as he should direct. In partial response to this demand the following act was passed by Congress and approved on August 25, 1914 (38 Stat., 708):

AN ACT To amend an act entitled "An act to protect the locators in good faith of oil and gas lands who shall have effected an actual discovery of oil or gas on the public lands of the United States, or their successors in interest," approved March second, nineteen hundred and eleven.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That an Act entitled "An Act to protect the locators in good faith of oil and gas lands who shall have effected an actual discovery of oil or gas on the public lands of the United States, or their successors in interest," approved March second, nineteen hundred and eleven, be amended by adding thereto the following section:

"SEC. 2. That where applications for patents have been or may hereafter be offered for any oil or gas land included in an order of withdrawal upon which oil or gas has heretofore been discovered, or is being produced, or upon which drilling operations were in actual progress on October third, nineteen hundred and ten, and oil or gas is thereafter discovered thereon, and where there has been no final determination by the Secretary of the Interior upon such applications for patent, said Secretary, in his discretion, may enter into agreements, under such conditions as he may prescribe with such applicants for patents in possession of such land or any portions thereof, relative to the disposition of the oil or gas produced therefrom or the proceeds thereof, pending final determination of the title thereto by the Secretary of the Interior, or such other disposition of the same as may be authorized by law. Any money which may accrue to the United States under the provisions of this Act from lands within the Naval Petroleum Reserves shall be set aside for the needs of the Navy and deposited in the Treasury to the credit of a fund to be known as the Navy Petroleum Fund, which fund shall be applied to the needs of the Navy as Congress may from time to time direct, by appropriation or otherwise."

As this act leaves to the Secretary of the Interior the nature of the action to be taken, the Department's regulations under it are

almost as important as the act itself, and they are here given (43 L. D., 459, approved Nov. 21, 1914):

INSTRUCTIONS.

APPLICATION FOR AGREEMENT UNDER THE ACT OF AUGUST 25, 1914 (PUBLIC, 187).

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agreement or contract with the Secretary of the Interior for the disposition of oil and gas from the lands hereinafter described, as authorized under the act of Congress, approved August 25, 1914 (Public, 187). In support of said application this applicant respectfully represents as follows, which representations the said applicant hereby warrants to be true and correct.

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is the identical person or corporation, who under date of

filed in the local land office at....
mineral application, serial number
placer claim , embracing

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district, State of ....

for the

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2. That the applicant desires the contract or agreement herein applied for to embrace the following described lands:

3. That oil or gas was discovered, or was being produced, upon the lands covered by this application on or before August 25, 1914, or drilling operations were in actual progress on October 3, 1910.

(Strike out whichever is not appropriate.)

4. That, so far as known to applicant, the following enumerated persons or corporations are the only ones claiming any right, title, or interest in and to said lands or any portion thereof, or to the oil or gas produced therefrom, and their respective interests are herein set forth.

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(A fuller statement of interest may be attached if desired.)

5. That the number of wells being operated on the land covered by this application for an agreement or contract is .... .... and the approximate daily gross pro

duction of each well at the present time is as follows:

6. That contracts for the sale and purchase of the oil and gas products arising from the operations to be carried on under the agreement herein applied for, on the lands covered thereby, have been entered into with the following and no others:

Duly authenticated copy of each of said contracts is hereto attached and made a part of this application.

7. That the portion of the gross proceeds arising from the sale of the oil and gas which is to be placed in escrow during the life of the contract or agreement herein applied for, will be deposited in the..

(Must be a national bank.)

There is hereto attached a statement by the

(Officer.)

Bank.

of said

bank which sets forth the rate of interest to be allowed on said escrow deposit and the method by which said interest is to be computed.

8. That there are hereto attached duly executed waivers by each and every one of the parties claiming an interest as specified in paragraph four, releasing the United States from any claim or demand whatsoever arising from the execution of this agreement by the Secretary of the Interior.

(Name of applicant.)

(Corporate seal if corporation be the applicant.)

says he is the

(Address.)

being first duly sworn, deposes and

named in the foregoing application; that he has read the foregoing application and knows the contents thereof and that the facts therein stated are true according to the best of his knowledge, information, and belief.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this

day of

Notary Public.

INSTRUCTIONS.

1. This application can be made and the contract executed only by an applicant for mineral patent for oil or gas lands embraced in an order of withdrawal.

2. The application and the contract must be executed in triplicate and filed in the local land office in the district in which the lands are situated. One set only of the exhibits accompanying the application need be authenticated, but the others must be true copies.

3. In the option of the applicant, the application and contract may cover all the land embraced in the application for patent or one or more legal subdivisions thereof. 4. The form of waiver provided for in section 8 of the application must be absolute and unconditional, and if by a corporation, proper evidence of authority for the execution of such instrument must be attached.

5. Immediately upon filing of the application and contract, properly executed, the Register and Receiver will assign to them the same serial number that the application for patent bears and will forthwith transmit them by special letter to the Commissioner of the General Land Office.

AGREEMENT.

Under Act of August 25, 1914 (Public No. 187), for disposition of oil and gas products pending determination of proceedings for patent.

THIS AGREEMENT made and entered into by and between the Secretary of the Interior, acting for and in behalf of the United States, party of the first part, and hereinafter called the applicant, party of the

second part:

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