160 acres of land in violation of the act of Mar. 3, 1891 (26 Stat. 1095) his disqualification is not removed by later disposal of his land holdings. 57-169 Where an entryman makes a second stock-raising entry, his qualifications must be determined, not as of the date when he made his first entry, but as of the date of his second entry, and it is therefore no defense to contest proceedings, instituted on the ground that he was disqualified by ownership of more than 160 acres of land in violation of the act of Mar. 3, 1891 (26 Stat. 1095, 1098, Rev. Stat. sec. 2289, 43 U.S.C. 161), that he was not so disqualified at the time he made his first entry. 57-169 If an entryman in his answer to charges admits all that is essential to show that his entry is invalid and fails to show that the charges are immaterial, there is no issue of fact that requires a hearing. 57-170 Since the homestead law contemplates that the entryman establish his home on the entry, his mere personal presence thereon is not alone sufficient to comply with the homestead law when he maintains a family home elsewhere. 57-183 The purpose of 43 CFR 166.38, requiring an entryman to file notice at the local land office of the time he departs from and returns to his entry, is to assist the General Land Office in supervising pending homestead entries. Failure to file such notice on taking leave of absence may impose a heavier burden on the entryman in making a convincing showing as to his residence, but it will not, in the ordinary case, forfeit his privilege of taking proper leaves of absence. 57-185 Where a homestead entryman's final proof is ambiguous so that it is not clear whether or not he had complied with the homestead law, and where he may have, in fact, fully complied, he will be given an opportunity to make a proper showing as to whether he actually had complied. 57-185 An entryman is under no obligation to establish residence until 6 months after the date his entry is allowed. Hence, where an entryman established residence in Aug. 1932, but his entry was not allowed until May 1933, his residence may properly be counted from the allowance of his entry and he need not be charged with any absences between Aug. 1932 and May 1933. 57-186 An entryman must establish and maintain his home on his entry to the exclusion of a home elsewhere in order to comply with the homestead law. 57-186 An entryman who has served between 90 days and 7 months in the Federal military forces in connection with World War I is entitled to a residence credit by deducting the period of his Federal service from the third residence year. 57-186 an A stock-raising homestead application to enter undesignated lands, filed as amendment of an earlier application and including other lands, is a substitute for, rather than an amendment of the earlier one, and, upon designation, the applicant's rights relate back to the later application and not to the earlier one. 57-283 Since the necessary consequence of granting the applications would be to grant the applicants the power substantially to deprive the mortgagee of the use of property which a court of competent jurisdiction has decreed now belongs to the mortgagee, the Department should exercise its undoubted power to refuse to allow the bounty of the public land laws to be used for inequitable ends. Following Williams v. United States, 138 U.S. 514, 524 (1891); Northern Pacific Ry. Co. v. McComas, 250 U.S. 387, 393 (1919); Payne v. U.S. ex rel. Olson, 269 Fed. 198, 50 App. D.C. 119 (1920). 57-339 The law of New Mexico (N. Mex. Stat. Ann. (1929) secs. 111-107 and 151-156) permits the mortgage of a valid interest in the improvements, water rights and other rights on public lands even though such improvements or rights may be attached or appurtenant to the land. But apart from this, principles of comity and estoppel are persuasive that this Department should not permit to be brought into question before it in this proceeding, a determination by a Federal court which has resolved the validity of the mortgages in favor of the mortgagee, where the mortgagors and the mortgagee were parties to the suit. Section 2296, Revised Statutes, act of Apr. 28, 1922 (42 Stat. 502, 43 U.S.C. sec. 175), exempting homestead land from liability for the satisfaction of a debt contracted prior to the issuance of a patent therefor, is not applicable to mortgages. Ruddy v. Rossi, 248 U.S. 104 (1918) is not to the contrary. The mortgages here involved did not cover the lands. The question as to whether section 2296, supra, renders invalid the mortgages on the improvements and grazing and water rights has similarly been determined by the decree of the court. 57-339 When applicants have been deprived of all the improvements and rights, without which the land cannot be put to any use as a home for stock-raising purposes before application for entry, it cannot reasonably be said that the applications are "honestly and in good faith made for the purpose of actual settlement, use, and improvement by the applicant, *** in good faith to obtain a home * * *."" 57-339 When settlers who file applications for stock-raising homestead entries have previously mortgaged their entire interest in every improvement on the land, together with all feed, range, pasturage, and water rights, have defaulted on the mortgages and suffered foreclosure and rendition of deficiency judgments against them and have permitted the time for redemption to expire, they have stripped themselves of all the essentials of settlement and stockraising so that they have in effect, abandoned their right to make stock-raising homestead entries. 57-339 Even if the applications here involved were not rejected in their entirety, they still could not be allowed under the stockraising homestead law since the lands applied for were not designated under that act prior to the Executive order of withdrawal of Nov. 26, 1934. At most, if lands are subject to designation under the enlarged homestead act, the applicants are entitled to 320 acres under each application, and, if not, then to only 160-acre entries. 57-340 The issue as to what rights may have been acquired under a tax sale certificate issued during the existence of the mortgage for taxes due prior to the foreclosure, which certificate was obtained by the son of a mortgagor after foreclosure but prior to the expiration of the period of redemption, is not a question for determination 656477-63 Vol. 52- -30 by this Department since the son is not a party to, and a determination of his rights has no place in, a proceeding on an application by the mortgagors for stock-raising homestead entries. 57-340 After rejection of his proof for insufficiency of permanent improvements, entryman, alleging financial embarrassment, applied to amend his stock-raising entry to comprise the same tracts in an enlarged homestead entry and an additional stockraising entry in order to obtain final certificate to all the desired tracts without supplying the deficiency in improvements required for the original entry. Held, that the Secretary's supervisory power does not authorize him to abrogate a provision of the stock-raising act for the convenience of an entryman; that this entryman was not entitled to the statutory relief of amendment prescribed by Rev. Stat. sec. 2372, as amended by the act of Feb. 24, 1909, having made no mistake in the designation of the tracts entered; that he was not entitled to the equitable relief permissible under the supervisory authority of the Secretary and the regulations of Apr. 22, 1909, to prevent unmerited loss or hardship arising through ignorance, misinformation or unsound advice as to the lands entered, his debts not constituting any such equitable ground for amendment; and that his deficiency in improvements was greater than had been calculated, a well having water but no equipment to make it available being considered a dry well and therefore not a 57-449 permanent improvement. Where an entryman submits final proof which is clearly insufficient on its face, there is no occasion for further proceedings. In some instances the entryman may be allowed an opportunity to make a further showing but adverse proceedings against the entry by the Government are not warranted. 58-574 no A World War I veteran cannot claim the benefits of the act of Aug. 27, 1935 (49 Stat. 909; 43 U.S.C. 256b), if he incurred his disability after the life of his homestead entry had terminated. 59-485 Reinstatement of an entry is not granted in a case in which an entryman is not helped by the veterans' legislation and does not derive any support from the general statute concerning equitable adjudication (act of Sept. 20, 1922, 42 Stat. 857; 43 U.S.C. 1161), for the reason that the life of an entry, which is fixed by statute, may not be extended. 59-485 The benefits of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act of 1940 (54 Stat. 1178, 1187; 50 U.S.C., App. (1946 ed.) 561)— the nonforfeiture clause (section 501); the provision granting credit towards residence (section 502); and the provision permitting final proof without further residence (section 503 (2))—are not available to a person whose entry was canceled prior to the enactment of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act of Oct. 17, 1940. 59-485 Under the act of Feb. 25, 1919 (40 Stat. 1161; 43 U.S.C. 272a), the time of military service during World War I is deducted from the time otherwise required to perfect title, but residence of at least 7 months during a particular year (i.e., a consecutive period of 12 months) must be shown before patent can issue. 59-485 Oil and gas deposits are "minerals" within the meaning of the Stock-Raising Homestead Act, which reserves to the United States the minerals in lands patented thereunder. 60-167 A contention by an entryman that he failed in a former proceeding under the homstead laws adequately to present available evidence on the subject of residence does not constitute a proper basis for the reinstatement of an entry which was canceled after full consideration and an observance of all the procedural steps that have been prescribed for the purpose of insuring fair treatment to those who seek to acquire public lands under the homestead laws. 60-226 II. ADDITIONAL ENTRY An entrywoman who, after her marriage, made her home upon her husband's entry as authorized by the homestead law, continues to own and reside upon her original entry within the meaning of section 5 of the stock-raising homestead act, and is entitled to make an additional entry thereunder of land within 20 miles of her original entry. 52-424 A regulation to the effect that one who had made a stock-raising homestead entry, whether original or additional, is not qualified to make an additional entry under secion 3 of the stock-raising homestead act, even though he had not obtained the maximum acreage allowed by the stockraising homestead law, is not authorized by that act and will no longer be applied. 53-180 To perfect title to an additional entry made under section 4 of the stock-raising homestead act based on a commuted original entry the entryman must show compliance with the law as to residence for a period of three years either on the perfected original entry, if ownership thereof be continued during that time or partly on the original and partly on the additional entry. 53-274 One who perfects a forest homestead under the act of June 11, 1906 (34 Stat. 233) for less than the allowed acreage, is not thereby disqualified from later making a stock-raising homstead entry of additional lands to the aggregate permitted, and such later entry should be considered and treated as an original and not an additional entry, and accordingly not subject to the conditions and limitations of an additional entry. 54-463 Where, following approval and acceptance by the Department of final proof submitted by an entryman under section 5 of the enlarged homestead act, the entryman applies to make additional homestead entry under section 6 of the stock-raising homestead act, it is within the province of the Department to inquire into, and the entryman may be required to show, all the facts and circumstances relating to the character and extent of his residence upon the land embraced in the original entry, for the purpose of determining whether he was residing upon such land in good faith at the time of application for the additional entry, this being contemplated by section 5 of the stock-raising act. 55-576 III. LANDS SUBJECT TO Lands within a petroleum reserve are not subject to entry under the stock-raising homestead act. 52-517 Lands in oil and gas permits or applications for permits are subject to entry under both the enlarged and stock-raising home stead laws in the absence of valid objections by the mineral claimant and upon compliance with the governing regulations. 52-620 Lands not in a producing field or under lease, but within an oil and gas withdrawal or reservation may be entered under the enlarged homestead act, but not under the stock-raising homestead act. 52-621 A valid mining claim to which the owner has a vested right of exclusive possession under the mining law is not subject to entry under the stock-raising homestead act. 53-382 Applications and proofs of a homestead entryman are ex parte, not adversary, and if he misrepresents the facts which it is his duty to disclose and obtains a patent based thereon, when there was a pre-existing valid mining location on the ground, he may be declared a trustee for the benefit of the locator at the suit of the latter. 54-47 The essential prerequisites to the allowance of a stock-raising homestead entry are that the tracts applied for be unappropriated, unreserved public land, designated as stock-raising land, and supported by an affidavit to the effect that no part of the land is claimed, occupied, or being worked under the mining laws. 54-47 Lands abutting on a stream the entire flow of which is insufficient to supply the priorities for irrigation already established and which are not therefore susceptible to irrigation may be designated under the stock-raising homestead act, if otherwise of the character contemplated by the act. 54-83 An agricultural application for a fractional part of a legal subdivision of land classified as agricultural will not be allowed where the remaining part is covered by a surveyed mining claim for which no application for patent has been filed, unless the agricultural applicant submits a satisfactory affidavit, corroborated by two witnesses, showing that the land within the mining location is in fact mineral in character, or following an adjudication that the mining claim was valid from the evidence adduced in a contest proceeding between the agricultural and mineral claimant, as prescribed in sections 101, 105-108, of the General Mining Regulations. 54-228 Instructions of July 11, 1933, stockraising homestead entries in geologic structures of producing oil or gas fields. (Cir. No. 1304). 54-242 The right conferred upon an applicant by section 2 of the stock-raising homestead act, and that created by section 8 thereof, are not vested rights, but are mere preference rights, not attaching to the land unless and until it is designated as subject to said act. There can be no appropriation of the land, therefore, under either section of the law, prior to such designation. Accordingly, the Department of the Interior, in the face of the withdrawal of the land by the President's order of Nov. 26, 1934, is without jurisdiction to designate it as subject to entry under said stock-raising homestead act. 55-448 Government maintenance in every land district of public records of material facts as to the status of public lands constitutes notice of their content. Held, That one buying a relinquishment of a stock-raising homestead entry is chargeable with knowledge of the status of the lands and of the law as to relinquishment and is not entitled to equitable consideration of a rejected application on the plea of ignorance and lack of notice. 56-281 Lands withdrawn by competent authority from settlement or entry are not open to either. Held, That a stock-raising homestead application for such lands filed subsequent to the withdrawal order of Nov. 26, 1934, issued in aid of the Taylor Grazing Act, may be rejected without action on the accompanying petition for designation. 56-295 Under section 2 of the act of Dec. 29, 1916 (39 Stat. 862), as amended, the stockraising homestead act, acts of settlement performed on lands undesignated as stock raising do not initiate in anyone any right to a stock-raising homestead and confer no homestead rights of any sort whatever upon an entryman seeking additional stock-raising homestead entry. Held, That where an entryman desiring additional stock-raising homestead entry brings his contest of an enlarged homestead entry to successful termination on Nov. 23, 1934, three days before the issuance of the withdrawal order of Nov. 26, 1934, he acquires no rights of any sort from acts of settlement performed on said lands prior to Nov. 23, 1934, the lands not then having been open to entry or settlement; and no rights from those acts performed between Nov. 23 and Nov. 26, 1934, when the lands were open to entry or settlement, first, because as one already a stock-raising homestead entryman of 320 acres he is not qualified to make either ordinary or enlarged homestead entry, and second, because the lands were not designated as stock raising and the statute prohibits settlement on undesignated lands from initiating rights to a stock-raising homestead. 56-295 STRATEGIC AND CRITICAL MATERIALS In the absence of a specific statutory prohibition, there is no legal objection to the employment of Canadian contractors to drill for strategic minerals in Alaska under the act of June 7, 1939 (53 Stat. 811, sec. 7,50 U.S.C. 98f). The domestic preference act of Mar. 3, 1933 (47 Stat. 1520, 41 U.S.C. 10(b)), is not applicable since the drilling contract is not a contract for the construction, alteration, or repair of a public building or public work. 58-124 In order to assure the production of strategic minerals discovered by it, the Bureau of Mines may, in executing agreements for mineral explorations on privately owned lands, include as a condition an option in favor of the United States which will allow an authorized agency of the Government to undertake further development and production of the minerals discovered. 58-179 The Surplus Property Act of 1944 (58 Stat. 765), requires the Secretary of the Interior to participate jointly with the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy in making recommendations to Congress, through the agency of the Army and Navy Munitions Board, respecting the maximum and minimum amounts of each strategic mineral or metal which should be held in the stockpile authorized by the Strategic War Materials Act (act of June 7, 1939, 53 Stat. 811, 50 U.S.C. 98 et seq.) 58-787 SUBMERGED LANDS In the State of Iowa a riparian owner takes title only to the water's edge of streams or other bodies of water, whether navigable or nonnavigable, and Government patents for marginal lands follow the State rule and convey no land under a nonnavigable lake. 53-429 The United States does not retain the ownership of the beds of streams or other bodies of water, whether navigable or nonnavigable, after the marginal uplands have been disposed of without reservations or restrictions, and the extent of riparian rights is governed by local law. Hardin v. Jordan (140 U.S. 371). 53-429 In the case of navigable waters, the submerged lands do not belong to the Federal Government, having passed to the State upon its admission to the Union. In the case of lands bounded by nonnavigable waters, title to the submerged lands is surrendered if the patent for the marginal uplands issues without reservation or restriction. In either case, the effect of the grant on the title to the submerged lands will depend upon the law of the State where the lands lie. 55-310 In the State of Michigan, in the absence of words of reservation or restriction, or unless the contrary appears, a grant of land bounded by a water-course conveys riparian rights, and the title of the riparian owner extends to the middle line of the lake or stream. The shore proprietor takes by virtue of shore ownership, and his interest in the bed of the lake or stream is acquired as appurtenant to the grant, the extent of his interest depending upon his frontage and the form, length, and breadth of the body of water upon which his land abuts. 55-311 Lands beneath the waters of a nonnavigable lake which is surrounded by tracts which have been patented by the Government are not subject to oil and gas prospecting under the terms of the Mineral Leasing Act of Feb. 25, 1920. 55-311 The implied authority of the executive branch of the Government to take protective measures where lands of the United States are found to contain oil or gas which is being drained by adjoining landowners, and where such lands are not sub |