Report on the lands of the arid region of the United States, with a more detailed account of the lands of Utah

by John Wesley Powell; Willis Drummond; Clarence E. Dutton; Grove Karl Gilbert; A. H. Thompson

Sec. 3. That all lands in those portions of the United States where irrigation is necessary to agriculture, which can be redeemed by irrigation and for which there is accessible water for such purpose, not otherwise utilized or lawfully claimed, sufficient for the irrigation of three hundred and twenty acres of land, shall, for the purposes set forth in this act, be classed as irrigable lands.

Sec. 4. That it shall be lawful for the requisite number of persons, as designated in section one of this act, to select from the public lands designated as irrigable lands in section three of this act, for the purpose of settling thereon, an amount of land not exceeding eighty acres to each person; but the lands thus selected by the persons desiring to organize an irrigation district shall be in one continuous tract, and the same shall be subdivided as the regulations and by-laws of the irrigation district shall prescribe: Provided, That no one person shall be entitled to more than eighty acres.

Sec. 5. That whenever such irrigation district shall be organized the recorder of such district shall notify the register and receiver of the land district in which such irrigation district is situate, and also the Surveyor-General of the United States, that such irrigation district has been organized; and each member of the organization of said district shall file a declaration with the register and receiver of said land district that he has settled upon a tract of land within such irrigation district, not exceeding the prescribed amount, with the intention of residing thereon and obtaining a title thereto under the provisions of this act.

Sec. 6. That if within three years after the organization of the irrigation district the claimants therein, in their organized capacity, shall apply for a survey of said district to the Surveyor-General of the United States, he shall cause a proper survey to be made, together with a plat of the same; and on this plat each tract or parcel of land into which the district is divided, such tract or parcel being the entire claim of one person, shall be numbered, and the measure of every angle, the length of every line in the boundaries thereof, and the number of acres in each tract or parcel shall be inscribed thereon, and the name of the district shall appear on the plat in full; and this plat and the field-notes of such survey shall be submitted to the Surveyor-General of the United States; and it shall be the duty of that officer to examine the plat and notes therewith and prove the accuracy of the survey in such manner as the Commissioner of the General Land Office may prescribe; and if it shall appear after such examination and proving that correct surveys have been made, and that the several tracts claimed are within the provisions of this act, he shall certify the same to the register of the land district, and shall thereupon furnish to the said register of the land district, and to the recorder of the irrigation district, and to the recorder or clerk of the county in which the irrigation district is situate, and to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, a copy thereof to each, and the original shall be retained in the office of the Surveyor-General of the United States for preservation.

Sec. 7. That each person applying for the benefits of this act shall, in addition to compliance therewith, conform to the methods provided for the acquirement of a homestead in sections twenty-two hundred and eighty-nine to twenty-three hundred and seventeen, inclusive, of the Revised Statutes of the United States, so far as they are applicable and consistent with this act, and shall also furnish such evidence as the Commissioner of the General Land Office may require that such land has actually been redeemed by irrigation, and may thereupon obtain a patent: Provided, That no person shall obtain a patent under this act to any coal lands, town sites, or tracts of public lands on which towns may have been built, or to any mine of gold, silver, cinnabar, copper, or other mineral for the sale or disposal of which provision has been made by law.

Sec. 8. That the lands patented under the provisions of this act shall be described as irrigation farms, and designated by the number of the tract or parcel and the name of the irrigation district.

Sec. 9. That the right to the water necessary to the redemption of an irrigation farm shall inhere in the land from the time of the organization of the irrigation district, and in all subsequent conveyances the right to the water shall pass with the title to the land. But if after the lapse of five years from the date of the organization of the district the owner of any irrigation farm shall have failed to irrigate the whole or any part of the same, the right to the use of the necessary water to irrigate the unreclaimed lands shall thereupon lapse, and any subsequent right to water necessary for the cultivation of said unreclaimed land shall be acquired only by priority of utilization.

Sec. 10. That it shall be lawful for any person entitled to acquire a homestead from the public lands as designated in section one of this act to settle on an irrigation farm contiguous to any irrigation district after such district has been organized by making the notifications and declaration provided for in section five of this act, and by notifying the recorder of such irrigation district, and also by complying with the rules and regulations of such district; and such person may thereupon become a member of the district and entitled to the same privileges as the other members thereof; and it shall be the duty of the recorder of the irrigation district to notify the register and receiver of the land district, and also the Surveyor-General of the United States, that such claim has been made; and such person may obtain a patent to the same under the conditions and by conforming to the methods prescribed in this act: Provided, That the water necessary for the irrigation of such farm can be taken without injury to the rights of any person who shall have entered an irrigation farm in such district: And provided further, That the right to the water necessary to the redemption of such irrigation farm shall inhere in the land from the time when said person becomes a member of said district, and in all subsequent conveyances the right to the water shall pass with the title to the land; but if, after the lapse of five years from the date of said notifications and declaration, the owner of said irrigation farm shall have failed to irrigate the whole or any part of the same, the right to the use of the necessary water to irrigate the unreclaimed lands shall thereupon lapse, and any subsequent right to the water necessary for the cultivation of the said unreclaimed land shall be acquired only by priority of utilization.

A BILL to authorize the organization of pasturage districts by homestead settlements on the public lands which are of value for pasturage purposes only.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That it shall be lawful for any nine or more persons who may be entitled to acquire a homestead from the public lands, as provided for in section twenty-two hundred and eighty-nine to twenty-three hundred and seventeen, inclusive, of the Revised Statutes of the United States, to settle a pasturage district and to acquire titles to pasturage lands under the limitations and conditions hereinafter provided.