purpose of fraudulently obtaining title to mineral land, but with the object of securing said land for agricultural purposes. Subscribed and sworn to before me, this day of A. D. 18—; and I hereby certify that the foregoing affidavit was read to the said previous to his name being subscribed thereto; and that deponent is a respectable person to whose affidavit full faith and credit should be given. Form Q.-Proof that no Known Veins Exist in a Placer Mining Claim. State of and , of the said County and State, being first duly sworn, each for himself, deposes and says that he is well acquainted with the placer mining claim, embracing (legal subdivisions), situated in the mining district, in the County of- and State of owned and worked by —, applicant for United States patent; that for many years he has resided near and often been upon the said mining premises, and that no known vein or veins of quartz or other rock in place, bearing gold, silver, cinnabar, lead, tin or copper exist on said mining claim, or on any part thereof, so far as he knows, and he verily believes that none exist thereon. And further, that he has no interest whatever in the said placer mine of [To be sworn to before an officer using a seal.] Every requirement of the Act of Congress of May 10, 1872, must be complied with to the letter, or a patent will not be granted. CHAPTER X. THE PUBLIC LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. The following are sections of the statutes of the United States, and the Acts in force respecting the public lands; including the pre-emption and homestead laws, and the laws concerning stone, timber, saline, bounty, and desert lands; supplemented with forms of affidavits, declarations, etc. PRE-EMPTIONS. SECTION 2257. All lands belonging to the United States, to which the Indian title has been or may hereafter be extinguished, shall be subject to the right of pre-emption, under the conditions, restrictions, and stipulations provided by law. SEC. 2258. The following classes of lands, unless otherwise specially provided for by law, shall not be subject to the rights of pre-emption, to wit: First. Lands included in any reservation by any treaty, law, or proclamation of the President, for any purpose. Second. Lands included within the limits of any incorporated town, or selected as the site of a city or town. Third. Lands actually settled and occupied for purposes of trade and business, and not for agriculture. Fourth. Lands on which are situated any known salines or mines. SEC. 2259. Every person, being the head of a family, or widow, or single person, over the age of twenty-one years, and a citizen of the United States, or having filed a declaration of intention to become such, as required by the naturalization laws, who has made, or hereafter makes, a settlement in person on the public lands subject to preemption, and who inhabits and improves the same, and who has erected or shall erect a dwelling thereon, is authorized to enter with the Register of the Land-office for the district in which such land lies, by legal subdivisions, any number of acres not exceeding one hundred and sixty, or a quarter section of land, to include the residence of such claimant, upon paying to the United States the minimum price of such land. SEC. 2260. The following classes of persons, unless otherwise specially provided for by law, shall not acquire any right of pre-emption under the provisions of the preceding sections, to wit: First. No person who is the proprietor of three hundred. and twenty acres of land in any State or Territory. Second. No person who quits or abandons his residence on his own land to reside on the public land in the same State or Territory. SEC. 2261. No person shall be entitled to more than one pre-emptive right by virtue of the provisions of section 2259; nor where a party has filed his declaration of intention to claim the benefits of such provisions, for one tract of land, shall he file, at any future time, a second declaration for another tract. SEC. 2262. Before any person claiming the benefit of this chapter is allowed to enter lands, he shall make oath before the Receiver or Register of the Land-district in which the land is situated that he has never had the benefit of any right of pre-emption under section 2259; that he is not the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of land in any State or Territory; that he has not settled upon and improved such land to sell the same on speculation, but in good faith to appropriate it to his own exclusive use; and that he has not, directly or indirectly, made any agreement or contract, in any way or manner, with any person whatever, by which the title which he might acquire from the Government of the United States should inure in whole or in part to the benefit of any person except himself; and if any person taking such oath swears falsely in the premises, he shall forfeit the money which he may have paid for such land, and all right and title to the same; and any grant or conveyance which he may have made, except in the hands of bona fide purchasers, for a valuable consideration, shall be null and void, except as provided in section 2288. And it shall be the duty of the officer administering such oath to file a certificate thereof in the public land-office of such district, and to transmit a duplicate copy to the General Landoffice, either of which shall be good and sufficient evidence that such oath was administered according to law. SEC. 2263. Prior to any entries being made under and by virtue of the provisions of section 2259, proof of the settlement and improvement thereby required shall be made to the satisfaction of the Register and Receiver of the land-district in which such lands lie, agreeably to such rules as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior; and all assignments and transfers of the right hereby secured, prior to the issuing of the patent, shall be null and void. SEC. 2264. When any person settles or improves a tract of land subject at the time of settlement to private entry, and intends to purchase the same under the preceding provisions of this chapter, he shall, within thirty days after the date of such settlement, file with the Register of the proper district a written statement, describing the land settled upon, and declaring his intention to claim the same under the pre-emption laws; and he shall, moreover, within twelve months after the date of such settlement, make the proof, affidavit, and payment herein before required. If he fails to file such written statement, or to make such affidavit, proof, and payment within the several periods named above, the tract of land so settled and improved shall be subject to the entry of any other purchaser. SEC. 2265. Every claimant under the pre-emption law for land not yet proclaimed for sale is required to make known his claim in writing to the Register of the proper land-office within three months from the time of the settlement, giving the designation of the tract and the time of settlement; otherwise his claim shall be forfeited and the tract awarded to the next settler, in the order of time, on the same tract of land, who has given such notice and otherwise complied with the conditions of the law. SEC. 2266. In regard to settlements which are authorized upon unsurveyed lands, the pre-emption claimant shall be in all cases required to file his declaratory statement within three months from the date of the receipt at the district land-office of the approved plat of the township embracing such pre-emption settlement. SEC. 2267. All claimants of pre-emption rights, under the two preceding sections, shall, when no shorter time is prescribed by law, make the proper proof and payment for the land claimed within thirty months after the date prescribed therein, respectively, for filing their declaratory notices, has expired. SEC. 2268. Where a pre-emptor has taken the initiatory steps required by law in regard to actual settlement, and is called away from such settlement by being engaged in the military or naval service of the United States, and by reason of such absence is unable to appear at the district landoffice to make before the Register or Receiver the affidavit, proof, and payment, respectively, required by the preceding provisions of this chapter, the time for filing such affidavit and making final proof and entry or location shall be extended six months after the expiration of his term of service, upon satisfactory proof by affidavit, or the testimony of witnesses, that such pre-emptor is so in the service, being filed with the Register of the Land-office for the district in which his settlement is made. SEC. 2269. Where a party entitled to claim the benefits of the pre-emption laws dies before consummating his claim, by filing in due time all the papers essential to the establishment of the same, it shall be competent for the executor or administrator of the estate of such party, or one of his heirs, to file the necessary papers to complete the same; but the entry in such cases shall be made in favor of the heirs of the deceased pre-emptor, and a patent thereon shall cause the title to inure to such heirs, as if their names had been specially mentioned. SEC. 2270. Whenever the vacancy of the office either of Register or Receiver, or of both, renders it impossible for the claimant to comply with any requisition of the preemption laws within the appointed time, such vacancy shall not operate to the detriment of the party claiming, in respect to any matter essential to the establishment of his claim; but such requisition must be complied with within the same period after the disability is removed as would have been allowed had such disability not existed. SEC. 2271. The provisions of this chapter shall be so construed as not to confer on any one a right of pre-emption, by reason of a settlement made on a tract theretofore disposed of, when such disposal has not been confirmed by the General Land-office, on account of any alleged defect therein. SEC. 2272. Nothing in the provisions of this chapter shall be construed to preclude any person, who may have filed a notice of intention to claim any tract of land by pre-emption, from the right allowed by law to others to purchase such tract by private entry after the expiration of the right of pre-emption. SEC. 2273. When two or more persons settle on the same tract of land, the right of pre-emption shall be in him who made the first settlement, provided such person conforms to the other provision of the law; and all questions as to the right of pre-emption arising between different settlers shall be determined by the Register and Receiver of the district within which the land is situated; and appeals from the decision of district officers, in cases of contest for the right of pre-emption, shall be made to the Commissioner of the General Land-office, whose decision shall be final, unless appeal therefrom be taken to the Secretary of the Interior. SEC. 2274. When settlements have been made upon agricultural public lands of the United States prior to the survey thereof, and it has been or shall be ascertained, after the public surveys have been extended over such lands, that two or more settlers have improvements upon the same legal subdivision, it shall be lawful for such settlers to make joint entry of their lands at the local land-office, or for either of said settlers to enter into contract with his cosettlers to convey to them their portion of said land after a patent is issued to him, and, after making such contract, to |