Mill Sites.
Land non-mineral in character, and not contiguous to the vein or lode, used by the locator and proprietor for mining or milling purposes, can be included in any application for patent, to an extent not to exceed five acres, and subject to examination and payment as fixed for the superficies of the lode. The owner of a quartz mill or reduction, not a mine owner in connection therewith, may also receive a mill-site patent. Such sites are located under the mining act, and in compliance with local law and customs as recognized. Such possessory rights give title also to all growing timber thereon. There must in every case be given satisfactory proof of the non-mineral character of the site, and the improvements thereon must be equal to $500 in value. A mill passes to a railroad, if located after a land grant inured to the road.
Homestead and Pre-emption.
Homesteads.—Every head of a family, widow, single man or woman of the age of twenty-one years, who is a citizen of the United States, or who has declared his or her intention of becoming so, can enter upon 80 acres of government land within the limits of a railroad grant, or 160 acres outside said limits; and after a continuous residence upon it and cultivation for five years, an absolute title to the land will be given by the United States government, at a total cost of about $9 on 80 acres, or $18 on 160 acres.
Soldier’s Homestead.—Any soldier or sailor who served during the rebellion not less than 90 days, and was honorably discharged, can homestead 160 acres, either within or outside of the limits of a land grant, and his term of service will be deducted from the five years’ residence required upon the land; but in any event he must reside one year upon it. Thus, if he served three years, he would have to reside upon the land two years; and in the event of his having served four or five years, one year’s residence would be necessary.
A soldier or sailor has the privilege of filing application for homestead upon the land through an agent or attorney, and need not for six months commence actual settlement upon it. Absence from a homestead at any time, for more than six months, works a forfeiture of right to the land.
Pre-emptions.—Any person qualified under the homestead laws can pre-empt 160 acres of government land within the limits of a railroad grant, and after an actual residence upon and cultivation of the same for at least six months, can obtain title by payment of $2.50 per acre, or, if outside the limits, $1.25 per acre. It is imperative, however, that the person so pre-empting shall (with his family, if any) reside upon the land. The cultivation of a few acres is sufficient. The same person, after having complied with the requirements of the laws of pre-emption, can homestead 80 acres within the railroad grant, or 160 acres outside the limits. In this way, a soldier or sailor can secure 320 acres within the limits; and it is open to the world at large for any man to acquire his 240 acres.
An Additional Homestead.—In addition to the Homestead and Pre-emption laws, a recent act has been passed, whereby every settler, as the fruits of his industry, can obtain another freehold of 160 acres under the following act:
An Act to amend an Act entitled “An Act to encourage the growth of timber on western prairies.”
“Any person who is the head of a family, or who shall have arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States, or who shall have filed his declaration of intention to become such, who shall plant, protect and keep in a healthy, growing condition for eight years, 40 acres of timber, the trees thereon not being more than twelve feet apart each way, on any quarter section of any of the public lands of the United States, or 20 acres on any legal subdivision of 80 acres, or 10 acres on any legal subdivision of 40 acres, or one-fourth part of any fractional subdivision of land less than 40 acres, shall be entitled to a patent for the whole of said quarter section, or of such legal subdivision of 80 or 40 acres or fractional subdivision of less than 40 acres, as the case may be, at the expiration of the said eight years, on making proof of such fact by not less than two credible witnesses.”