STATUTES.

FEDERAL STATUTES.

Act July 26, 1866, c. 262, sec. 9-Confirmation of Water Rights on Public Lands.

Whenever, by priority of possession, rights to the use of water for mining, agricultural, manufacturing, or other purposes, have vested and accrued, and the same are recognized and acknowledged by the local customs, laws, and the decisions of courts, the possessors and owners of such vested rights shall be maintained and protected in the same; and the right of way for the construction of ditches and canals for the purposes herein specified is acknowledged and confirmed; but whenever any person, in the construction of any ditch or canal, injures or damages the possession of any settler on the public domain, the party committing such injury or damage shall be liable to the party injured for such injury or damage.

Extract from "An Act granting the Right of Way to Ditch and Canal Owners over the Public Lands, and for other purposes. (14 Stat. 253; R. S. Sec. 2339; U. S. Comp. Stat. Sec. 4647.)

Act July 9, 1870, c. 235, sec. 17-Patents, preemptions, and homesteads subject to vested and accrued water rights.

All patents granted, or preemption or homesteads allowed, shall be subject to any vested and accrued water-rights, or rights to ditches and reservoirs used in connection with such water-rights, as may have been acquired under or recognized by the preceding section.

Extract from "An Act to Amend 'An Act granting the Right of Way to Ditch and Canal Owners over the Public Lands, and for other Purposes.' (16 Stat. 218; R. S. Sec. 2340; U. S. Comp. Stat. Sec. 4648.)

Act March 3, 1887, c. 107-Water Rights on Desert Lands.

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 citizen of the United States, or any person of requisite age "who may be entitled to become a citizen, and who has filed his declaration to become such" and upon payment of twenty five cents per acre-to file a declaration under oath with the register and the receiver of the land district in which any desert land is situated, that he intends to reclaim a tract of desert land not exceeding one section, by conducting water upon the same, within the period of three

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years thereafter, Provided however that the right to the use of water by the person so conducting the same, on or to any tract of desert land of six hundred and forty acres shall depend upon bona fide prior appropriation; and such right shall not exceed the amount of water actually appropriated, and necessarily used for the purpose of irrigation and reclamation: and all surplus water over and above such actual appropriation and use, together with the water of all, lakes, rivers and other sources of water supply upon the public lands and not navigable, shall remain and be held free for the appropriation and use of the public for irrigation, mining and manufacturing purposes subject to existing rights. Said declaration shall describe particularly said section of land if surveyed, and, if unsurveyed, shall describe the same as nearly as possible without a survey. At any time within the period of three years after filing said declaration, upon making satisfactory proof to the register and receiver of the reclamation of said tract of land in the manner aforesaid, and upon the payment to the receiver of the additional sum of one dollar per acre for a tract of land not exceeding six hundred and forty acres to any one person, a patent for the same shall be issued to him. Provided, that no person shall be permitted to enter more than one tract of land and not to exceed six hundred and forty acres which shall be in compact form.

SECTION 2. That all lands exclusive of timber lands and mineral lands which will not, without irrigation, produce some agricultural crop, shall be deemed desert lands, within the meaning of this act, which fact shall be ascertained by proof of two or more credible witnesses under oath, whose affidavits shall be filed in the land office in which said tract of land may be situated

SEC. 3. That this act shall only apply to and take effect in the States of California, Oregon and Nevada, and the Territories of Washington, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico and Dakota, and the determination of what may be considered desert land shall be subject to the decision and regulation of the Commissioner of the General Land Office.

"An act to provide for the sale of desert lands in certain States and Territories." (19 Stat. 377; 1 Supp. 2d ed. 137; U. S. Comp. Stat. Secs. 4674, 4675, and 4676.)

Act March 3, 1887, c. 340-Prohibiting Aliens and Foreign Corporations From Holding Real Property in the Territories of the United States.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That it shall be unlawful for any person or persons not citizens of the United States, or who have not lawfully declared their intention to become such citizens, or for any corporation not created by or under the laws of the United States or of some State or Territory of the United States,

to hereafter acquire, hold, or own real estate so hereafter acquired, or any interest therein, in any of the Territories of the United States or in the District of Columbia, except such as may be acquired by inheritance or in good faith in the ordinary course of justice in the collection of debts heretofore created: Provided, That the prohibition of this section shall not apply to cases in which the right to hold or dispose of lands in the United States is secured by existing treaties to the citizens or subjects of foreign countries, which rights, so far as they may exist by force of any such treaty, shall continue to exist so long as such treaties are in force and no longer.

SEC. 2. That no corporation or association, more than twenty per centum of the stock of which is or may be owned by any person or persons, corporation or corporations, association or associations, not citizens of the United States, shall hereafter acquire or hold or own any real estate hereafter acquired in any of the Territories of the United States or of the District of Columbia.

SEC. 3. That no corporation other than those organized for the construction or operation of railways, canals, or turnpikes shall acquire, hold, or own more than five thousand acres of land in any of the Territories of the United States; and no railroad, canal, or turnpike corporation shall hereafter acquire, hold, or own lands in any Territory, other than as may be necessary for the proper operation of its railroad, canal, or turnpike, except such lands as may have been granted to it by act of Congress. But the prohibition of this section shall not affect the title to any lands now lawfully held by any such corporation.

SEC. 4. That all property acquired, held, or owned in violation. of the provisions of this act shall be forfeited to the United States, and it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to enforce every such forfeiture by bill in equity or other proper process. And in any suit or proceeding that may be commenced to enforce the provisions of this act, it shall be the duty of the court to determine the very right of the matter without regard to matters of form, joinder of parties, multifariousness, or other matters not affecting the substantial rights either of the United States or of the parties concerned in any such proceeding arising out of the matters in this act mentioned.

An Act to restrict the ownership of real estate in the Territories to American citizens, and so forth." (24 Stat. 476; I Supp. 2d Ed. 556; U. S. Comp. Stat., Secs. 3498, 3499, and 3500.)

Act October 2, 1888, c. 1069-Irrigation Survey of Arid Regions; Withdrawal of Lands.

For the purpose of investigating the extent to which the arid region of the United States can be redeemed by irrigation, and the segregation of the irrigable lands in such arid region, and for the

selection of sites for reservoirs and other hydraulic works necessary for the storage and utilization of water for irrigation and the prevention of floods and overflows, and to make the necessary maps, including the pay of employees in field and in office, the cost of all instruments, apparatus, and materials, and all other necessary expenses connected therewith, the work to be performed by the Geological Survey, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, the sum of one hundred thousand dollars or so much thereof as may be necessary. And the Director of the Geological Survey under the supervision of the Secretary of the Interior shall make a report to Congress on the first Monday in December of each year, showing in detail how the said money has been expended, the amount used for actual survey and engineer work in the field in locating sites for reservoires and an itemized account of the expenditures under this appropriation. And all the lands which may hereafter be designated or selected by such United States surveys for sites for reservoirs, ditches or canals for irrigation purposes and all the lands made susceptible of irrigation by such reservoirs, ditches or canals are from this time henceforth hereby reserved from sale as the property of the United States, and shall not be subject after the passage of this act, to entry, settlement or occupation until further provided by law:

Provided, That the President may at any time in his discretion by proclamation open any portion or all of the lands reserved by this provision to settlement under the homestead laws.

Extract from "An act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Gor ernment for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, and for other purposes." (25 Stat. 526–527; 1 Supp. 2nd Ed. 626; U. S. Comp. Stat. Sec. 4696.)

Act March 2, 1889, c. 411-Irrigation Survey of the Arid Region.

For the purpose of investigating the extent to which the arid region of the United States can be redeemed by irrigation and the segregation of irrigable lands in such arid region, and for the selection of sites for reservoirs and other hydraulic works necessary for the storage and utilization of water for irrigation and for ascertaining the cost thereof, and the prevention of floods and overflows, and to make the necessary maps, including the pay of employees in field and in office, the cost of all instruments, apparatus, and materials, and all other necessary expenses connected therewith, the work to be performed by the Geological Survey under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, of which sum fifty thousand dollars shall be immediately available; and the Director of the Geological Survey, under the supervision of the Secretary of the Interior, shall make a report to Congress on the first Monday in December of each year, showing in detail

how the said money has been expended, the amount used for actual survey and engineer work in the field in locating sites for reservoirs, and an itemized account of the expenditures under this and any future appropriation.

Extract from "An act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety, and for other purposes." (25 Stat. 960-961; 1 Supp. 2d Ed. 698; U. S. Comp. Stat. Sec. 776.)

Act August 30, 1890, c. 837-Restoration of Withdrawn Lands; Reservation for Ditches.

For topographic surveys in various portions of the United States, three hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, one-half of which sum shall be expended west of the one hundredth meridian; and so much of the act of October second, eighteen hundred and eightyeight, entitled "An act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, and for other purposes," as provides for the withdrawal of the public lands from entry, occupation and settlement, is hereby repealed, and all entries made or claims initiated in good faith and valid but for said act, shall be recognized and may be perfected in the same manner as if said law had not been enacted, except that reservoir sites heretofore located or selected shall remain segregated and reserved from entry or settlement as provided by said act, until otherwise provided by law, and reservoir sites hereafter located or selected on public lands shall in like manner be reserved from the date of the location or selection thereof.

No person who shall after the passage of this act, enter upon any of the public lands with a view to occupation, entry or settlement under any of the land laws shall be permitted to acquire title to more than three hundred and twenty acres in the aggregate, under all of said laws, but this limitation shall not operate to curtail the right of any person who has heretofore made entry or settlement on the public lands, or whose occupation, entry or settlement, is validated by this act: Provided, That in all patents for lands hereafter taken up under any of the land laws of the United States or on entries or claims validated by this act west of the one hundredth meridian, it shall be expressed that there is reserved from the lands in said patent described, a right of way thereon for ditches or canals constructed by the authority of the United States.

Extract from "An act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, and for other purposes." (26 Stat. 391; 1 Supp. 2d Ed. 791-792; U. S. Comp. Stat.,

Sec. 4558.)

Act September 19, 1890, c. 907, sec. 10-Prohibition of Obstruction to Navigable Capacity of Waters.

SEC. 10. That the creation of any obstruction, not affirmatively authorized by law, to the navigable capacity of any waters, in respect