Show UTAH LAKE it cannot ie used as a reservoir THE SELECTION A PIECE OF NONSENSE and the order devoid of congressional authority quite recently the commissioner of the general land office telegraphed the register and receiver at salt lake city to allow no more entries or disposals of lands within two statute miles of the borders of lake utah county utah in the several townships in which the lake is situated as the lake has been selected and reserved as a reservoir site the result of this telegram has been to create apprehension on the part of the settlers and residents in the vicinity of the lake it is charged thai anch telegraphic order is foolish and illegal and means a confiscation of the claims of many persons who i live within the reserved limits it is further charged that the selection of this lake as a reservoir for the storage of water for irrigating purposes is wholly useless as well as dangerous in addition to the uselessness of such selection it is further charged that the commissioners order was without any authority constitutional or congressional and is in effect a suspension of the general land laws of the country aa they apply to d par nicular section and the citizens thereof these charges seem to us of sufficient gravity to call for an investigation of the facts connected with the issuance of the telegraphic order above menti faed and for an examination of the law in which the land official found authority to order the reservation of the lands from disposal under the general laws the action of the commissioner and its consequences are of importance not only to the settlers in this particular portion of utah but to settlers others interested in lands hi alT pArts of the western country where arid land exists and where irrigation has to bo resorted to in order to make the soil productive until recently the reclamation of arid lands depended entirely upon private enterprise and private capital A short time ago after a great deal of agitation of the subject congress appropriated for the purpose of investigating the extent to which the arid country could be redeemed by irrigation and the segregation of irrigable lands in such country and for the selection of sites for reservoirs and other hydraulic works necessary for the storage and utilization of water for irrigation the telegraph order of the commissioner reserving from sale and entry the lands in the vicinity of utah lake because of its having been selected as a reservoir for the storage of water is one of the first acts of the land office made with a view to carry out the provisions of the several acts of congress upon this question and as it will probably bo followed by other orders of a similar nature we deem it to be for the good of our readers to present to them the laws providing for such executive orders and the methods and by whom these selections are made the act of congress of march 20 1888 after certain preambles re citina tha advisability of examining the arid regions of the public domain with a view to their irrigation resolved that the secretary of the interior by means of the director of the geology ical survey be and he is hereby directed to make an examination of that portion of the arid regions of the united states where agriculture is carried on by means of irrigation as to the natural advantages for the storage of water for irrigating purposes with the practicability of con reservoirs together with the capacity and the cost of construction reservoirs and such other facts as bear on the question of storage of water for irrigating purposes and that he be further directed to report to congress as soon as practicable the result of such investigation it will from this law that while the duty of these examinations ami nations and reports is devolved upon the secretary 0 the interior yet the means which he is empowered to use are those which may be furnished by the director of the geological survey anch director orders his subordinates to make the act and after a report thereof he reports to the secretary with a request that certain actions be taken thereon by the act of congress of october it was provided that all the land which may hereafter be designated or selected by such united states surreys for sites for reservoirs ditches or canals for irrigation purposes and all the lands made susceptible cep tible of irrigation by such reservoirs ditches or canals are from this time henceforth hereby reserved from sale as the property of the united states and shah not be sub after the passage of this act to entry settlement or occupation until further provided by law this latter act it will be noted does not leave the matter of reserving the land from sale and entry to the discretion of the secretary of the interior ant makes a legislative r es er of all lands that maybe se as the site of the reservoirs or that may be e of irrigation by means of such reservoirs ditches or canalo the act constitutes a continuing active instrument of depending for its operation solely upon the act of selection or designation by the survey of the director of the geological survey the eniy discretion devolved upon the executive branch of the government is that to be exercised in tho reservoirs and the designation of the lands to bo benefited by the proposed means of irrigation applying the ordinary declared for railroads and other poses we are of the opinion that just as soon as the united states selecting such sites and land are approved by the director of the geological survey at any rate by the secretary the legislative withdrawal takes effect and it then become the duty of the secretary through his proper subordinates the commissioner of the land office to notify the public of the existence of such reservations or withdrawal of lands from sale and entry what the effect will be af this act of congress and the consequent reservation er of these lands upon the rights of settlers thereon under the preemption homestead and other laws and who have not yet perfected their claims it is difficult for us at this time to say as we have not had the opportunity to give the question that consideration which would enable us to form an opinion whether irwill cause a confiscation of the lands claimed by this class of settlers or will affect only those lands that at the date of such reservation are unoccupied and prevent them from being hereafter settled upon and claimed is a question that the department will have to settle according to the well established principles of the homestead law a homestead entry segregates the land from the public domain and confers upon tho a vested right of which he can not be deprived even by act of congress without due process of law the claims of the settler under the preemption law who has not perfected his entry and received his final certificate seem to be affected by another rule of construction st as to his rights and the power of congress to deal with the same in one of the leading cases on this subject commonly known as the yosemite valley case the U S supreme court declared that the power of regulation and disposition over the lands of the united states conferred upon congress by the constitution ution only ceases under the pro emption laws when all tho prel imir ary acts prescribed by those laws for the acquisition of the title including the payment of the price of the land have boon performed by the settler when these prerequisites have been complied with the bottler for the first time acquires a vested interest in the premises occupied by him of which be cannot subsequently be deprived until such payment and entry the preemption laws give to the settler only a privilege of preemption in case the lands are offered for sale in the usual manner the legislation thus adopted for the benefit of settlers was not intended to deprive congress of the power to make any other disposition of the lands before they are offered for sale or to appropriate them to any public use when the established principles of the law applicable to the rights of claimants to the public lands are considered si in connection with the above mentioned acts of congress provided for the reservation of lands for the purposes of irrigation and the fact that there are immense regions of arid country to which these acts are applicable is remembered the subject matter under discussion becomes one of great importance to the settlers and others seeking title to the government lands and should be carefully examined both by the government authorities and the thoughtful men of every community likely to be affected by the operations of the law which is the power of god to administer in all the ordinances of life and salvation both for the living and the dead we are held responsible for the use we make of this priest |