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Show BUILDING STONE LANDS. A Letter from tha rninmlisloner or th. (ieueral Land Olllce. A communication from Commissioner Graff of the general land office to the register anil receiver of tho tho I'nited States land office in this city relative to the recent decision of the honorable secretary of the interior regarding the character of the entry of building stone lands, and which materially effects the status of many claimants in Utah who initiated their claims under the placer mining laws will be of interest to the public generally and of especial interest inter-est to lhoe who are effected by the decision. Tho following is Commissioner Commis-sioner Groff's letter: Washington. Marc h 7. tfll. Re rlster and Recover. Halt Lake Cltv. Utah: sirs: I am In receipt of your letter of t:i 13th ultimo. In-i In-i ldsinK one fr.itti Mr. l V. Calmer addressed to you ittut ly you forwarded with a request tor an early reply thereto. Mr. Culiner propounds pro-pounds a iiiiestion In MihHtanee as follow: (hiving taken up atiout Wo 'tt of land as a placer n l ilnif cl.iitn Hurler the former ncng-nlzeil ncng-nlzeil practice, no 1 ait of which Is capalile of t.iUK cultivated, nor contain" any valuable metalliferous ore. and of uo value whatever excent lor Its deposit, of sandstone suitahlo for nutldtns; purposes, how can title he obtained ob-tained In view of t ie r'Cent decision In Conllu vs. Kelly il'J. L.1U). In answer to this iuesflm I ran only say rto-fln rto-fln tely that under said decision such a tract as that ilewrined can'ot be entered under the mineral land Inws. Under said decision a deposit de-posit of the character of thnt ilescrib d would not render the laud contalidnR It. subject to entry under the mineral land laws, nor would such a deposit except the land unbracin it trom pre emptlnn entry. I cannot undertake to be more explicit In reply to this Inipilrv nor should I express an opinion which nilKht be construed as prejudicing a c;i!-e which may come before this otuce regularly for adjudication. adjudica-tion. V.rv resnectfully, Lewis A. UluifT, Commissioner. |