exposure of an oil-shale deposit within the limits of an asserted oil-shale placermining location is sufficient to constitute an adequate discovery of mineral under the mining laws, but each case presented must be determined upon the facts there disclosed. 52-202

As between the Government and a mining claimant the test of the validity of the latter's oil-shale claim is found in the provisions of section 37 of the leasing act, and not in that part of section 2324, Revised Statutes, which defines his rights with respect to some stranger who seeks to relocate the claim. 52-295

Where, subsequent to the passage of the leasing act, a claimant of an oil-shale location fails to perform the annual assessment work within the period prescribed by law, all his rights against the Government in and to the location are extinguished, and entry and performance thereafter by him or his successors of work on the claim constitute a trespass and neither revive nor initiate any rights. 52-296

Section 20 of the act of Feb. 25, 1920 (41 Stat. 437), which grants a preference right to a surface entryman in the award of a permit to prospect for oil and gas in the entered lands relates to oil and gas deposits to be obtained by means of drilling wells and it has no application to oil shale deposits.

52-329

The word "oil" as used in the act of July 17, 1914 (38 Stat. 509), includes oil shale and a recital in a patent issued pursuant to that act, reserving to the United States all the oil and gas in the lands patented, is sufficient to reserve the oil shale deposits. 52-329

The rules of the general mining laws as to discovery and assessment work are applicable to oil-shale claims unaffected by the act of Feb. 12, 1903 (32 Stat. 825). 52-333

The term "oil lands" in the act of Feb. 12, 1903 (32 Stat. 825), does not comprehend oil-shale lands. 52-333

Oil-shale claimants who performed assessment work upon the theory that the act of Feb. 12, 1903 (32 Stat. 825) applied to such claims are not prejudiced thereby, inasmuch as under the liberal construction heretofore expressed in numerous depart

mental decisions, any group assessment work that will meet the requirements of that act will satisfy the requirements of section 2324, Revised Statutes. 52-334

The applicability of assessment work on oil-shale claims is to be adjudicated under the rules of the general mining laws unaffected by the act of Feb. 12, 1903 (32 Stat. 825). 52-334

Work of strictly an exploratory nature, performed on a group of oil-shale claims, such as work that is shown to have value in determining the oil-bearing character of the shale on a contiguous group of claims, is acceptable as expenditure required as a basis for patent, other essentials of the rules of group development being established; and work of similar character may also be credited as annual assessment work where an antecedent discovery is shown; but the burden of proof is upon the claimant both under the act of Feb. 12, 1903 (32 Stat. 825), and under section 2324, Revised Statutes. 52-334

Where an oil-shale claimant neither performed the annual assessment work for the year 1919, nor caused the notice provided by the public resolution of Nov. 13, 1919 (41 Stat. 354) to be recorded in lieu thereof, all of his rights under the mining law ceased and he could not thereafter bring his claim within the exception in section 37 of the leasing act of Feb. 25, 1920. 52-522

The restriction in the act of Feb. 12, 1903 (32 Stat. 825), relating to oil placers, which limits the benefits of common improvement work to five claims, is not applicable to oil-shale claims. 52-523

Where development work has actually been done upon a group of oil-shale claims in good faith and is reasonably adapted to the purpose for which it was designed, although it may not have been the best possible mode of development, the department will not substitute its judgment as to its wisdom or expediency for that of the 52-523

owner.

II. WITHDRAWALS Instructions of June 4, 1935, modifying oil shale withdrawals to allow sodium prospecting permits and leases. Cir. No. 1220, June 9, 1930 (53 I.D. 127), modified. 55-280

Instructions of June 18, 1928, use of revested Oregon and California Railroad and Coos Bay Wagon Road grant lands for recreational purposes. Cir. No. 1085 (51 L.D. 505), supplemented (Cir. No. 1156). 52-407

The act of May 31, 1918 (40 Stat. 593), which authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to exchange revested lands formerly within the grant to the Oregon and California Railroad Company with a view to the consolidation of the holdings of public timber lands is not limited to timber lands, but applies with equal force to agricultural lands, and where it is advantageous to the United States to exchange cut-over lands or lands with a reservation of the timber thereon for timbered lands, such exchange is within the provision of the statute.

52-738

A grant of rights under mining law in revested Oregon and California and reconveyed Coos Bay grant lands is clearly inconsistent with the objects and purposes of the act of Aug. 28, 1937. 57-365

Lands classified under section 3 of the act of Aug. 28, 1937 (50 Stat. 874), as more valuable for agriculture than for timber, if in fact more valuable for mineral than for agriculture, and not therefore subject to disposition under section 3, are subject to location, entry and purchase under the mining laws in accordance with section 3 of the act of June 9, 1916 (39 Stat. 218).

57-365

The act of Aug. 28, 1937, repealed all acts and particularly any part or parts of

the acts of June 9, 1916 (39 Stat. 218) and Feb. 26, 1919 (50 Stat. 874), inconsistent with its provisions. The act of Aug. 28, 1937, contains nothing which authorizes the lease of minerals. 57-365

II. LEASES

The act of Apr. 13, 1928 (45 Stat. 429; 43 U.S.C. 869a), while permitting the issuance of recreational leases on O. and C. lands to States, counties, or municipalities, does not authorize leases to individuals or business organizations. 59-313

The act of Aug. 24, 1937 (50 Stat. 874), does not authorize the Secretary to lease O. and C. lands for recreational purposes. 59-313

III. MINING CLAIMS

The provisions of section 3 of the act of June 9, 1916 (39 Stat. 218), revesting in the United States title to lands forfeited by the Oregon and California Railroad Company, expressly refrained from extending the mining laws to power site lands. 55-430

The policy of making mineral lands in national forests subject to the operation of the mining law was continued with certain restrictions and limitations in the act of June 9, 1916 (39 Stat. 218), but the act of Aug. 28, 1937 (50 Stat. 874) as to timber lands made the objects and purposes of that act paramount, notwithstanding any conflict with any provision of the mineral land laws. 57-365

VI. TIMBER SALES

Instructions of July 29, 1929, Oregon and California Railroad and Coos Bay Wagon Road grant lands; sale of timber. Cirs, of Sept. 15, 1917 (46 L.D. 447); Sept. 26, 1919 (47 L.D. 381); and Apr. 14, 1924 (50 L.D. 376), superseded (Cir. No. 1200). 52-683

The act of May 31, 1918 (40 Stat. 593), which authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to exchange revested lands formerly within the grant to the Oregon and California Railroad Company with a view to the consolidation of the holdings of public timber lands is not limited to timber lands, but applies with equal force to agricultural lands, and where it is advantageous to the United States to exchange cut-over lands or lands with a reservation of the timber thereon for timbered lands, such exchange is within the provision of the statute.

52-738 Instructions of Jan. 23, 1931, Oregon and California Railroad and Coos Bay Wagon Road grant lands; extension of time for cutting and removing timber under act of May 19, 1930. (46 Stat. 369). (Cir. No. 1235.) 53-249

The sale of timber on the Oregon and California revested lands within sustainedyield forest units established under the act of Aug. 28, 1937 (50 Stat. 874) may be consummated without competitive bidding and such timber is subject to disposal by other methods designed to secure a price reflecting its fair value. The competitive bidding requirement of the act of June 9, 1916 (39 Stat. 218) was repealed by the act of Aug. 28, 1937. 58-414

OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF LANDS

ACT

of charge, a patent-owning corporation, composed of Federal officers and employees, may enter into contractual relations with individuals or corporations as to the thing patented, including contracts for its manufacture and sale on a royalty basis. 54-388

Bureaus of the Interior Department are not authorized to pay royalties for the use of patented devices to employees of the United States Government or their assignees, or to former employees of the Government who invented or discovered the devices while they were employed by the Government. 58-763

Contractors authorized by the Bureaus of the Interior Department to use inventions patented by employees of the United States are protected from liability to the patentees for infringement and for payment of royalties by the act of June 25, 1910 (36 Stat. 851), as amended by the act of July 1, 1918 (40 Stat. 705; 35 U.S.C. 68). 58-763

Specifications on Interior Department contracts may properly include provisions stating that the United States has the right to use inventions patented by employees of the United States and that no royalties are to be chargeable to the United States for the use of such inventions. 58-763

The public use of an invention for more than 2 years without filing a patent application thereon is a bar to the issuance of a valid patent thereon under section 4886, Revised Statutes, as amended by the act of Aug. 5, 1939 (53 Stat. 1212; 35 U.S.C. 31). 59-29

PATENTS OF PUBLIC LANDS

Instructions of Apr. 15, 1929, color of title claims to public lands; adverse possession (act of Dec. 22, 1928, 45 Stat. 1069). (Cir. No. 1186.) 52-611

The distinction that may be made in law between assignees and transferees and those who succeed to the title or interest in property upon and in consequence of the demise of the owner is not a sufficient reason for modification of the existing rule of the department that in the purchase of a town lot all necessary papers and patent will be issued in the name of the purchaser. 53-146

In the State of Iowa a riparian owner takes title only to the water's edge of streams or other bodies of water, whether navigable or nonnavigable, and Government patents for marginal lands follow the State rule and convey no land under a nonnavigable lake.

53-429

There is marked unanimity of opinion among authorities that to overcome the presumption that a patent to public land was issued upon sufficient evidence, clear, unequivocal and convincing proof must be produced, and, in consideration of the mineral character of the land, not only must it satisfactorily appear that the land was known mineral land at the time the patentee's rights would have otherwise vested, but it must be more valuable for mineral than for agricultural or other purposes. 54-475

Regulations of Oct. 19, 1934, as to issue of patents to States to designated school sections in place (Cir. No. 1338). 55-7

In the case of navigable waters, the submerged lands do not belong to the Federal Government, having passed to the State

upon its admission to the Union. In the case of lands bounded by nonnavigable waters, title to the submerged lands is surrendered if the patent for the marginal uplands issues without reservation or restriction. In either case, the effect of the grant on the title to the submerged lands will depend upon the law of the State where the lands lie. 55-310

After the lapse of two years from the date of issuance of a receiver's receipt upon a final entry under a homestead law, if no contest or protest be then pending, the Land Department is required by section 7 of the act of Mar. 3, 1891 (26 Stat. 1093) to issue a patent for the land embraced in the entry, and its action in thereafter canceling the entry for failure to comply with applicable regulations is without authority and has no effect on the rights of the entryman. 55-485

Where a mining location is made upon land embraced in an outstanding oil and gas permit, patents issued for the land are not for this reason subject to cancellation upon the ground of fraud over 6 years after issuance of the patents. 59-204

The question as to whether a patent conveys land between a platted traverse line and the waters of a navigable stream, being a Federal question and governed by Federal law, is not required, by the decision of Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64, to be decided solely on the basis of State law. This case is, therefore, not governed solely by the North Dakota decision in Oberly v. Carpenter, 67 N. Dak. 495, 274 N.W. 509. 59-415

Where a homestead entry is made on the basis of a patented survey plat, the redesignation of the land in a subsequent survey plat, approved between the date of the entry and the date of the patent, will not necessarily control in the interpretation of the patent; and the patent, where governed by the plat of earlier survey, is subject to reformation. (Secretary's Instructions, M-33711, June 20, 1946.)

59-416

Two years from the date of the issuance of the register's receipt upon the final entry of any tract of land under the homestead laws, the entryman is entitled to receive a patent without regard to whether a final certificate has been issued. The

running of the 2-year period may be tolled, however, if within that time the entryman has received notice of a protest and appeared to seek its dismissal, even though the trial of the protest is not commenced within the 2-year period. 59-458

II. AMENDMENTS

Where mineral lands have been patented to an adverse party without protection of the Indian occupants thereon, action may be taken by the United States to modify the patent to exclude the lands occupied or to obtain a declaration that the title is subject to the occupancy rights of the Indians. 56-395

III. EFFECT

A patent issued under the act of Oct. 2, 1917 (40 Stat. 297), confers title to the surface and to everything contained within the land, and precludes the granting of a permit to prospect for oil and gas thereupon under the act of Feb. 25, 1920. 52-44

A patent for public lands carries with it an implied affirmation or finding of every fact made a prerequisite to its issue, and no executive officer of the Government is authorized to reconsider the facts on which it was issued or to recall or rescind it.

of the Interior which is equivalent to the granting of a patent, such action by him ends the jurisdiction of his Department.

54-475

Generally, a meander line along a bank or shore is not a line of boundary, the boundary line being the waterline itself. There are, however, exceptions to this general rule. Thus, the meander line is held to be the true boundary line if the meander line was run where no lake or stream calling for it exists; or where it is established so far from the actual shoreline as to indicate fraud or mistake; or if, at the time a homestead entry is made, a large body of land previously formed by accretion is existing between the meander line and the water of the stream. In such cases, the patent will be construed to convey only the lands within the meander line. 59-415

Where, prior to the entry and patent of a lot of public land abutting on a meander line, a substantial accretion had formed between the meander line of the lot and the actual shoreline of the Missouri River, title to the added area did not pass under a patent for the surveyed upland. 59-415

Although issued by mistake and inadvertence, a patent issued under authority of law vests title in the patentee and removes from the jurisdiction of this Department inquiry into and consideration of all disputed questions of fact, as well as of rights to land. 61-397

IV. RESERVATIONS

Final certificate and patent for nonmineral entry need not contain a reference to section 29 of the leasing act of Feb. 25, 1920, if the oil and gas claim to the land has been finally eliminated prior to the issuance of the final certificate, notwithstanding that the reservation required by the act of July 17, 1914, or other like reservation such as that contained in the stockraising homestead act be retained. Instructions, Dec. 3, 1929. (Instructions of July 2, 1925, 51 L.D. 166, modified.)

52-732

The act of Mar. 3, 1925 (43 Stat. 1185), authorizing issuance of patent to the State of South Dakota with mineral reservation to the United States to any unpatented lands within the Custer State Park held or claimed under the Federal mining laws