3. In the absence of a decision by this Department that land in a school section is either mineral or non-mineral in character the State may proceed in one of three ways to have her rights and title defined, as follows:

(a) By applying to the Secretary of the Interior through the proper district office, where the land has been returned as non-mineral, for his certificate that the land was rightly so classed when the grant took effect. Such certificate will determine the matter" and establish the title of the State beyond attack by mineral claimants. Notice of such proceeding must be given by publication and posting, in the manner prescribed by the Rules of Practice.

(b) By proceeding to prove land which has been returned as mineral to be in fact non-mineral in the manner prescribed in Circulars "N" of September 23, 1880, and October 31, 1881.

(c) By relying upon the record for indemnity where lands have been entered as mineral. Where the State authorities have information that the mineral character of tracts in sections 16 and 36 is shown by evi. dence in this office, a list of them may be sent here, through the proper district office, to determine whether they may be used as bases for selections. If the decision should be in the negative, the character of such tracts may be determined under the procedure indicated in subdivisions a and b hereof.

4. Selections are restricted to lands returned as agricultural. The selected tracts must be connected with specific bases of not less than the quantity selected, and containing as near such quantity as practirable. Should the aggregate quantity of the bases in any list exceed that of the tracts selected the State will receive due credit upon adjustment of her grant. The character of selected tracts will be determined under the rules existing as to agricultural land entries. In all cases the selected tracts must be covered by non mineral affidavits made by the selecting agent of the State or an agent duly appointed by the State Board of Land Commissioners for the purpose, and in case of such appointment evidence thereof should accompany the affidavits.

5. In making selections on mineral bases the acts of 1875 and 1884 must be construed together. The law restricts selections to not more than one quarter section, and the tracts selected must be "as contiguous as may be" to the bases. As to such contiguity the rule is prescribed that vacant public land as near the basis as practicable shall be selected. Selections of land in a different district from that embrac ing the basis will not be admitted, unless it be clearly shown that there are no public lands in the district in which the basis is situated. The circular of the General Land Office of May 19, 1886, which allowed ap plications to be presented for lands in a different land district from that embracing the bases, is hereby modified accordingly.

6. The date of the filing in the district land office of each application to select must be certified to by the district officers and the application

noted on the records. When an application is allowed by direction of this office, the selections must be made of record as of date of filing the application in the usual manner. Lists of selections on mineral bases will be numbered in the current series of school selections in each district.

7. A fee of one dollar each allowed registers and receivers for each final location of one hundred and sixty acres by the act of July 1, 1864 (seventh subdivision of section 2238, U. S. Revised Statutes), must be paid by the State upon admission of school selections, and the total amount of the fees received should be stated on the list in their certificate admitting the same.

Approved, May 2, 1887.

H. L. MULDROW,

Acting Secretary.

AN ACT to enable the people of Colorado to form a constitution and State government, and for the admission of the said State into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, approved March 3, 1875 (18 Stat., 474).

SEC. 7. That sections numbered sixteen and thirty-six in every township, and where such sections have been sold or otherwise disposed of by any act of Congress, other lands, equivalent thereto, in legal subdivisions of not more than one quarter section, and as contiguous as may be, are hereby granted to said State for the support of common schools.

SEC. 14. That the two sections of land in each township herein granted for the support of common schools shall be disposed of only at public sale and at a price not less than two dollars and fifty cents per acre, the proceeds to constitute a permanent school fund, the interest of which to be expended in the support of common schools.

SEC. 15. That all mineral lands shall be excepted from the operation and grants of this act.

AN ACT to enable the State of Colorado to take land in lieu of the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections found to be mineral lands, and to secure to the State of Colorado the benefit of the act of July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, entitled "An act donating public lands to the several States and Territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agricultural and mechanic arts," approved April 2, 1884 (23 Stat., 10).

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 enable the people of Colorado to form a constitution and State gov ernment, and for the admission of the said State into the Union on an

equal footing with the original States," approved March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-five, shall be construed as giving to the State of Colorado the right to select for school purposes other lands in lieu of such sixteenth aud thirty-sixth sections as may have been or shall be found to be mineral lands: Provided, That such selections shall be made from lands returned as agricultural, and upon which at the date of selection no valuable mineral discoveries have been made; and all such selections shall be reported to the Secretary of the Interior, who shall, if he is satisfied such lands so selected are not mineral, so certify, and thereupon the right of said State to such selected lands shall finally attach; and the Secretary of the Interior shall also ascertain whether any of such sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections are mineral lands, and shall certify their character, which certificate shall determine the matter. SEC. 2. That it shall be the duty of the deputy surveyor, at the time of executing the survey of any township, to make a critical examination of the character of sections sixteen and thirty-six, and to embrace in his field-notes a full report of any and all mineral discoveries found to the surveyor-general, who shall report to the Secretary of the Interior whether the whole or any part of either of said sections is mineral in character.

MATTSON v. ST. PAUL, M. & M. Ry. Co.

Motion for review of decision of January 13, 1887 (5 L. D., 356) denied by Acting Secretary Muldrow, May 26, 1887.

SURVEYS-SUBDIVISION OF SECTIONS.

CIRCULAR.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Washington, D. C., June 2, 1887.

This office being in receipt of many letters making inquiry in regard to the proper method of subdividing sections of the public lands, the following general rules have been prepared as a reply to such inquiries. The rules for subdivision are based upon the laws governing the survey of the public lands. When cases arise which are not covered by these rules and the advice of this office in the matter is desired, the letter of inquiry should, in every instance, contain a description of the particular tract or corner with reference to township, range, and section of the public surveys, to enable the office to consult the record.

Under the provisions of the act of Congress approved February 11, 1805, the course to be pursued in the subdivision of sections is to run straight lines from the established quarter-section corners, United States

surveys, to the opposite corresponding corners, and the point of intersection of the lines so run will be the corner common to the several quarter-sections, or, in other words, the legal center of the section.

In the subdivision of fractional quarter-sections where no opposite corresponding corners have been or can be fixed, the subdivision lines should be ascertained by running from the established corners due north, south, east or west lines, as the case may be, to the water-course, Indian boundary line, or other external boundary of such fractional section.

The law presupposes the section lines surveyed and marked in the field by the United States deputy surveyors to be due north and south or east and west lines, but in actual experience this is not always the case; hence, in order to carry out the spirit of the law, it will be neces sary, in running the subdivisional lines through fractional sections, to adopt mean courses where the section lines are not due lines, or to run the subdivision line parallel to the section line when there is no opposite section line.

Upon the lines closing on the north and west boundaries of a township, the quarter-section corners are established by the United States deputy surveyors at precisely forty chains to the north or west of the last interior section corners, and the excess or deficiency in the measurement is thrown on the outer tier of lots, as per act of Congress approved May 10, 1800.

In the subdivision of quarter-sections the quarter-quarter corners are to be placed at points equidistant between the sections and quarter-section corners and between the quarter corners and the common center of the section, except on the last half mile of the lines closing on the north or west boundaries of a township, where they should be placed at twenty chains, proportionate measurement, to the north or west of the quarter-section corner.

The subdivision lines of fractional quarter sections should be run from points on the section lines intermediate between the section and quartersection corners due north, south, east, or west, to the lake, water-course, or reservation which render such tracts fractional.

When there are double sets of section corners on township and range lines, the quarter corners for the section south of the township lines and east of the range lines are not established in the field by the United States surveyors, but in subdividing such sections said quarter corners should be so placed as to suit the calculations of the areas of the quartersections adjoining the township boundaries as expressed upon the official plat, adopting proportionate measurements where the present measurements of the north or west boundaries of the sections differ from the original measurements.

By "proportionate measurement" as used in this circular is meant a measurement having the same ratio to that recorded in the original field notes as the length of chain used in the new measurement has to the

length of chain used in the original survey, assuming that the original measurement was correctly made.

For example: The length of the line from the quarter-section corner on the west side of section 2, township 24 north, range 14 east, Wisconsin, to the north line of the township, by the United States surveyor's chain was reported as 45.40 chains, and by the county surveyor's measure is reported as 42.90 chains, then the distance which the quarter-quarter corner should be located north of the quarter-section corner would be determined as follows:

As 45.40 chains, the government measure of the whole distance, is to 42.90 chains, the county surveyor's measure of the same distance, so is 20.00 chains, original measurement, to 18.90 chains by the county surveyor's measure, showing that by proportionate measurement in this case the quarter-quarter corner would be set at 18.90 chains north of the quarter-section corner instead of at 20.00 chains north of such corner as represented on the official plat. In this manner the deficiency of measurement by the county surveyor's chain from that by the government surveyor's chain is equitably distributed.

Very respectfully,

Approved June 2, 1887:

H. L. MULDROW,

Acting Secretary.

WM. A. J. SPARKS,

Commissioner.

PRE-EMPTION-FINAL PROOF-MORTGAGE-RESIDENCE.

YOUNG.v. ARNOLD.

The intention to mortgage the land, after the issuance of final certificate, for the purpose of securing the purchase price thereof, does not invalidate the final proof. Acting Secretary Muldrow to Commissioner Sparks, June 11, 1887.

On the 9th of November, 1885, Frank Arnold procured and filed the relinquishment of R. II. Brown's timber-culture entry for the W. of the SE., the NE. 4 of the SE. 4, and the SE. 1 of the NE. of Sec. 32, T. 111, R. 60, Huron district, Dakota; at the same time filing pre-emption declaratory statement for the tract described, alleging settlement November 5th.

May 23, 1886, Arnold filed notice of intention to make final proof on the 25th of May ensuing.

On said 25th of May George W. Young made homestead entry of the tract, and filed protest against Arnold's proof. After examination the local officers decided in favor of Arnold. Young appealed to your of fice, which decided, December 7, 1886, rejecting Arnold's proof but al lowing him "to come in at any time within the lifetime of his entry and