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Show LAND OFFICE DISPOSES OF GREATER NUMBER OF CASES Increased Activity in Development of Public Lands in Utah Jurisdiction Is Indicated by Work of Field Division, INCREASE of the number of investigations inves-tigations handled by the Salt Lake field division of the United States general land office during the past year is regarded by H. Stanley Hein-ricbs, Hein-ricbs, chief of the division, as indicative of greater activity in development of public lands in this jurisdiction. The order of the secretary of the interior that desert land applications be investigated inves-tigated as soon v aw practicable after they are 'filed is one of the features of the. present service that lends aid to the homesteader in getting started. A further increase in the demand for investigations, especially of mineral claims, is expected in 1916. One point upon which the chief of the local division divi-sion is trying to enlighten citizens is that of the privilege of cutting timber on the public lands. Settlers are permitted per-mitted to cut for their own use not to eiceed $50 worth of timber each year, provided that they have first gained permission from the local office. Work Is Summarized. In summarizing the vrorlc of the office of-fice for the past year Mr. Heinrichs gave out the following statement: During the calendar year just closing clos-ing the Salt Lrfike neld division of the general land office, which hivs . jurisdiction juris-diction over the public lands In the Ftates of Ttah, northern Arizona and southern Idaho, hfis disro?eU of 14-53 cases, which is a small Increase over '' the number of enses disposed of dnr-ln dnr-ln the. ' year 19H. The cases investigated in-vestigated comprise Carev act projects. proj-ects. Irrigation, enterprises, mining claims, coal claims, power sites, desert des-ert land claims, home5toa'd claims, timber claims, applications to purchase, pur-chase, selections of lands bv the states, and in addition the InvestiRa-tion InvestiRa-tion of changes of various ports involving in-volving attempts to secure public lands by fraud under these various forms of entries. The caRCB received during the year for lnvestitmtlon number 1706, an increase in-crease of 50? over the inimb-T of caes listed for investigation during the year 1914, which shows that the work of the division is on the increase and indicates a corresponding increase In the activities of those ensra:ed In the work of developing the public Innds In this Jurisdiction. Inasmuch as the only ca-sei which are acted upon ry this division are those Involving; some question or difficulty requiring field i examination by the general land of-j of-j flee, of course the above numbers represent rep-resent only a very small proportion of tt'e number of entries made at the various land offices included In this I Interior ordered that desert land applications ap-plications be investigated as soon as practical after they are filed. As a consequence, the claimants now have the benefit of an early field examination examina-tion by an engineer of their proposed pro-posed plan of irrigation, and it Is expected ex-pected that a great deal of monev will be saved to these claimants,' who mlRht otherwise expend money upon Impracticable projects, and one of the other benefits to be derived from tills present practice will be that entiles made for speculative purposes, with a view to holdinc possession of the land for as many years as possible without any intention of actual development, will be canceled -without undue delay. de-lay. During the year a system has been adopted by which the engineers, special spe-cial agents and timber cruisers who are employed in the division will dispose dis-pose of all the work in one section of the country after another, and an earnest effort Is being made to cover even part of the state at leaat once a year. I'ntll last July the office accepted for examination applications to'Tiave land designated under what Is known as the non-residence clause of the enlarged homestead net, and nhout 8(i of such tracts have ben examined and reported upon to Washington, There are .not more than 250 applications appli-cations awiltlng examination, and as soon as hese cases are disposed of the force will .'he able to devote all of Its time to the other classes of work as applications for rlr-sinat ion filed sine Inst July are being investigated inves-tigated by the United Siates geologl- ' cal survey. Regulations Published. TMp office has lately been making " special efforts to disseminate inforn-tion inforn-tion r-arding the regulations of the secretary nf the Interior governing the free use of timber from the public domain. The sett'ers are permitted to cut for their own use not exceeding exceed-ing $")0 worth of timber during a twelve -month-period, but thev must first applv to this office for permission permis-sion . A large amount of the timber that lias been cut In the past has been taken withe :t securing permission permis-sion to do so. The exercise of tills right within proper bounds is very essential, otherwise the land would soon be denuded of all of its timber, the watersheds would be seriously affected and the settlers would find no timber in the neighborhood for fencing their land and for necessary fuel purposes. Persons who cut timber from the public dums in without first a ppI-.-ing for permission to do so are tres-pnssers tres-pnssers and are required to pay not only the stumpa-e value of the timber cut. but the value of The timber after It has been severe : from the stump. tion of the law, in many instances the trespassers claim lack of knowledge knowl-edge of the provisions of the laws and regulations, and the collection of the severed value of the timber from them oftentimes works a hardship. Therefore, this office has recently been making efforts to acquaint all oX the people of the state with the provisions of the laws and regulations, regula-tions, and it Is hoped that these cases of hardship will materially decrease during the coming year. Increase in Cases. There has "been an Increase durtny the past year in the number of mineral min-eral cases, due, no doubt, partly to the very liberal decisions of the present pres-ent secretary of the interior and the commissioner of the general land office in construing the mineral laws. It is expected that during the coming year there will be still a further increase in the applications for mineral land, inasmuch as there are many mineral resources In this district which have not been developed. The present force of the Salt Lake field division office includes, besides Chief Heinrichs. the following employees: Engineers En-gineers George B. Archibald, John S. Hamman, Robert A. Ilolley and Julius Hornbeln ; Special Agents J. J. Brosnan, Theo N. Espe, William J. Hana. Thomas Hunt and j3uy Stevens, and Clerks E. J. Hilton, Clyde Rasmussen und l. E. , Shirley. - |