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Compiled and edited by Charles J. Kappler. Washington : Government Printing Office, 1929.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in any Indian reservation heretofore or hereafter opened to settlement and entry pursuant to a classification of the surplus lands therein as mineral and nonmineral, such surplus lands not otherwise reserved or disposed of, which have been or may be withdrawn or classified as coal lands or are valuable for coal deposits, shall be subject to the same disposition as is or may be prescribed by law for the nonmineral lands in such reservation whenever proper application shall be made with a view of obtaining title to such lands, with a reservation to the United
States of the coal deposits therein and of the right to prospect for, mine, and remove the same: Provided, That such surplus lands, prior to any disposition hereunder, shall be examined, separated into classes the same as are the nonmineral lands in such reservations, and appraised as to their value, exclusive of the coal deposits therein, under such rules and regulations as shall be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior for that purpose.
That any applicant for such lands shall state in his application that the same is made in accordance with and subject to the provisions and reservations of this Act, and upon submission of satisfactory proof of full compliance with the provisions of law under which application or entry is made and of this Act shall be entitled to a patent to the lands applied for and entered by him, which patent shall contain a reservation to the United States of all the coal deposits in the lands so patented, together with the right to prospect for, mine, and remove the same.
That if the coal-land laws have been or shall be extended over lands applied for, entered, or patented hereunder the coal deposits therein shall be subject to disposal by the United States in accordance with the provisions of the coal-land laws in force at the time of such disposal. Any person qualified to acquire coal deposits or the right to mine and remove the coal under the laws of the United States shall have the right at all times to enter upon the lands applied for, entered, or patented under this Act for the purpose of prospecting for coal thereon, if such coal deposits are then subject to disposition, upon the approval by the Secretary of the Interior of a bond or undertaking to be filed with him as security for the payment of all damages to the crops and improvements on such lands by reason of such prospecting. Any person who has acquired from the United States the coal deposits in any such lands, or the right to mine or remove the same, may reenter and occupy so much of the surface thereof as may be required for all purposes reasonably incident to the ruining and removal of the coal therefrom, and mine and remove the coal, upon payment of the damages caused thereby to the owner thereof, or upon giving a good and sufficient bond or undertaking in an action instituted in any competent court to ascertain and fix said damages: Provided, That the owner under such limited patent shall have the right td mine coal for personal use upon the land for domestic purposes at any time prior to the disposal by the United States of the Coal deposits: Provided further, That nothing herein contained shall lie held to deny or abridge the right to present and have prompt Consideration of applications made under the applicable land laws of the United States for any such surplus lands which have been or may be classified as coal lands with a view of disproving such classification and securing a patent without reservation.1
That the net proceeds derived from the sale and entry of such surplus lands in conformity with the provisions of this Act shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States to the credit of the same fund under the same conditions and limitations as are or may be prescribed by law for the disposition of the proceeds arising from the disposal of other surplus lands in such Indian reservation: Provided, That the provisions of this Act shall not apply to the lands of the Five Civilized Tribes of Indians in Oklahoma.
Approved, February 27, 1917.
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