Although the Homestead Act encouraged Americans to settle
in certain parts of the West, Congress also recognized the
need to encourage growth of timber on the prairies. Under
the Timber Culture Act, settlers could claim an additional
160 acres of public land in the region for a small fee if they
planted one-quarter of the land in trees. This policy not only
enticed settlers onto the Great Plains, which would become
the breadbasket of the United States, but also prevented soil
erosion.
An Act to encourage the Growth of Timber on western
Prairies.
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any person who shall plant, protect, and keep in a
healthy, growing condition for ten years forty acres of timber,
the trees thereon not being more than twelve feet apart each
way on any quarter-section of any of the public lands of the
United States shall be entitled to a patent for the whole of said
quarter-section at the expiration of said ten years, on making
proof of such fact by not less than two credible witnesses;
Provided, That only one quarter in any section shall be thus
granted.
Section 2. That the person applying for the benefit of this
act shall, upon application to the register of the land-office in
which he or she is about to make such entry, make affidavit
before said register or receiver that said entry is made for the
cultivation of timber, and upon filing said affidavit with said
register and receiver, and on payment of ten dollars, he or she
shall thereupon be permitted to enter the quantity of land
specified: Provided however, That no certificate shall be given
at patent issue therefor until after the expiration of at least ten
years from the date of such entry; and if at the expiration of
such time, or at any time within three years thereafter, the
person making such entry, or if he or she be dead, his or her
heirs or legal representatives, shall prove by two credible witnesses that he, she, or they have planted, and not for less than
ten years have cultivated and protected such quantity and
character of timber as aforesaid, they shall receive the patent
for such quarter-section of land.
Section 3. That if at any time after the filing of said affidavit, and prior to the issuing of the patent for said land, it
shall be proven after due notice to the party making such
entry and claiming to cultivate such timber, to the satisfaction of the register of the land-office that such person has
abandoned or failed to cultivate, protect and keep in good
condition such timber, then, and in that event, said land shall
revert to the United States.
Section 4. That each and every person who, under the provisions of an act entitled “An act to secure homesteads to
actual settlers on the public domain” approved May twentieth, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, or any amendment
thereto, having a homestead on said public domain, who at
the end of the third year of his or her residence thereon, shall
have had under cultivation, for two years, one acre of timber,
the trees thereon not being more than twelve feet apart each
way, and in a good, thrifty condition, for each and every sixteen acres of said homestead, shall upon due proof of said
fact by two credible witnesses receive his or her patent for said
homestead.
Section 5. That no land acquired under provisions of this
act shall, in any event, become liable to the satisfaction of
any debt or debts contracted prior to the issuing of patent
therefor.
Section 6. That the commissioner of the general landoffice is hereby required to prepare and issue such rules and
regulations, consistent with this act, as shall be necessary and
proper to carry its provisions into effect; and the registers and
the receivers of the several land-offices shall be entitled to
receive the same compensation for any lands entered under
the provisions of this that they are now entitled to receive
when the quantity of land is entered without money.
Section 7. That the fifth section of the act entitled “An act
in addition to an act to punish crimes against the United
States, and for other purposes” approved March third, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, shall extend to all oaths, affirmations, and affidavits required or authorized by this act.
Approved, March 3, 1873.