Like the Homestead and Timber Culture Acts, the Timber and
Stone Culture Act allowed Americans settlers to obtain another
160 acres of public land. Under this piece of legislation the
land could be purchased for $1.25 per acre. Only land located
in the far western states could be obtained in this manner.
Since much of the land remained unfit for cultivation, the
government offered it for sale at a reduced rate.
An act for the sale of timber lands in the States of
California, Oregon, Nevada, and in Washington Territory.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That
surveyed public lands of the United States within the States of
California, Oregon and Nevada and in Washington Territory,
not included within military, Indian, or other reservations of
the United States, valuable chiefly for timber, but unfit for
cultivation, and which have not been offered at public sale
according to law, may be sold to citizens of the United States,
or persons who have declared their intention to become such,
in quantities not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres to
any one person or associations of persons, at the minimum
price of two dollars and fifty cents per acre; and lands valuable chiefly for stone may be sold on the same terms as timber lands: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall
defeat or impair any bona-fide claim under any law of the
United States, or authorize the sale of any mining claim, or
the improvements of any bona-fide settler, or lands containing gold, silver, cinnabar, copper, or coal, or lands selected by
said States under any law of the United States donating lands
for internal improvements, education, or other purposes:
And provided further, That none of the rights conferred by
the act approved July twenty-six, eighteen hundred and sixtysix, entitled “An act granting the right of way to ditch and
canal owners over the public lands, and for other purposes,”
shall be abrogated by this act; and all patents granted 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 and by the provisions of said act; and such rights shall be expressly reserved in
any patent issued under this act.
Sec. 2. That any person desiring to avail himself of the provisions of this act shall file with the register of the proper district a written statement in duplicate, one of which is to be
transmitted to the General Land Office, designating by legal
subdivisions the particular tract of land he desires to purchase, setting forth that the same is unfit for cultivation, and
valuable chiefly for its timber or stone; that it is uninhabited;
contains no mining or other improvements, except for ditch
or canal purposes, where any such do exist, save such as were
made by or belong to the applicant, nor, as deponent verily
believes, any valuable deposit of gold, silver, cinnabar, copper,
or coal; that deponent had made no other application under
this act; that he does not apply to purchase the same on speculation, but in good faith to appropriate it to his own exclusive use and benefit; and that he has not, directly or indirectly,
made any agreement or contract, in any way or manner, with
any person or persons whatsoever, by which the title which he
may acquire from the government of the United States
should inure, in whole or in part, to the benefit of any person
except himself; which statement must be verified by the oath
of the applicant before the register or the receiver of the landoffice within the district where the land is situated; and if any
person taking such oath shall swear falsely in the premises, he
shall be subject to all the pains and penalties of perjury, and
shall forfeit the money which he may have paid for said lands,
and all right and title to the same; and any grant or conveyance which he may have made, except in the hands of the
bona-fide purchasers, shall be null and void.
Sec. 3. That upon the filing of said statement, as provided
in the second section of this act, the register of the land office,
shall post a notice of such application embracing a description of the land by legal subdivisions, in his office, for a period of sixty days, and shall furnish the applicant a copy of
the same for publication, at the expense of such applicant, in
a newspaper published nearest the location of the premises,
for a like period of time; and after the expiration of said sixty
days, if no adverse claim shall have been filed, the person
desiring to purchase shall furnish to the register of the land-
office satisfactory evidence, first, that said notice of the application prepared by the register as aforesaid was duly published in a newspaper as herein required; secondly, that the
land is of the character contemplated in this act, unoccupied
and without improvements, other than those excepted, either
mining or agricultural, and that it apparently contains no
valuable deposits of gold, silver, cinnabar, copper, or coal; and
upon payment to the proper officer of the purchase money of
said land, together with the fees of the register and the receiver, as provided for in case of mining claims in the twelfth
section of the act approved May tenth, eighteen hundred and
seventy-two, the applicant may be permitted to enter said
tract, and, on the transmission to the General Land Office of
the papers and testimony in the case, a patent shall issue
thereon: Provided, That any person having a valid claim to
any portion of the land may object, in writing, to the issuance
of a patent to lands so held by him, stating the nature of his
claim thereto; and evidence shall be taken, and the merits of
said objection shall be determined by the officers of the landoffice, subject to appeal, as in other land cases. Effect shall be
given to the foregoing provisions of this act by regulations to
be prescribed by the Commissioner of the General Land
Office.
Sec. 4. That after the passage of this act it shall be unlawful to cut, or cause or procure to be cut, or wantonly destroy,
any timber growing on any lands of the United States, in said
States and Territory or remove, or cause to be removed, any
timber from said public lands, with intent to export or dispose of the same; and no owner, director, or agent of any railroad, shall knowingly transport the same, or any lumber
manufactured therefrom; and any person violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on
conviction, shall be fined for every such offense a sum not less
than one hundred nor more than one thousand dollar:
Provided, That nothing herein contained shall prevent any
miner or agriculturist from clearing his land in the ordinary
working of his mining claim, or preparing his farm for tillage,
or from taking the timber necessary to support his improvements, or the taking of the timber for the use of the United
States; and the penalties herein provided shall not take effect
until ninety days after the passage of this act.
Sec. 5. That any person prosecuted in said States and
Territory for violating section two thousand four hundred
and sixty-one of the Revised Statutes of the United States
who is not prosecuted for cutting timber for export from the
United States, may be relieved from further prosecution and
liability therefor upon payment, into the court wherein such
action is pending, of the sum of two dollars and fifty cents per
acre for all lands on which he shall have cut or caused to be
cut timber, or removed or caused to be removed the same:
Provided, That nothing contained in this section shall be
construed as granting to the person hereby relieved the title
to said lands for said payment; but he shall have the right to
purchase the same upon the same terms and conditions as
other persons, as provided hereinbefore in this act: And further provided, that all moneys collected under this act shall
be covered into the Treasury of the United States. And section
four thousand seven hundred and fifty-one of the Revised
Statutes is hereby repealed, so far as it relates to the States and
Territory herein named.
Sec 6. That all acts and parts of this act inconsistent with
the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.
Approved, June 3, 1878.