This circular was found among the M. L. Fugina material and so the 200,000 acres references here likely refer to the land available within western Wisconsin, Buffalo or Trempealeau counties.

The 4-page pamphlet provides legal and procedural information about claiming government lands, in accordance with the prevailing homesteading and preemption acts of the time.

1895-circular-suggestions-for-entering-government-lands.jpg

1. There are about 200,000 acres of land in this district belonging to the government. No lands are subject to private Cash entry, except in the State of Missouri. The timber culture and pre-emption laws have been repealed.
2. Homestead entries can be made for not more than one quarter section, or 160 acres of land.
3. All applicants must stand upon equal footing, with equal rights and privileges to enter the public lands. “First come, first served."
4. The land office fees and commissions, payable when application is made, are as follows:
On lands outside the railroad limits, $14.00 for 160 acres; $13.00 for 120 acres; $7.00 for 80 acres ; $6.00 for 40 acres.
On lands within the railroad limits, $18.00 for 160 acres; $16 for 120 acres; $9.00 for 80 acres ; $7.00 for 40 acres.
An entry of 81 acres will cost $10.00 fee besides the regular commission, at either $1.25 or $2.50 per acre.
In the Pacific States and Rocky Mountain region the charges are a little more.
5 The applicant must in every case state in his application his place of actual residence, and the post office address to which notices relative to his entry shall be sent, and his full name.
6. Amendments of filings and entries are allowed by the General Land Office for real errors, where improvements were made by mistake on the wrong tract, but not for blunders which the claimant could have avoided by reasonable care and investigation.
Application for amendment must be sworn to and corroborated under seal and in no case need be more than two pages in length; must show how the error was made; that applicant has not sold or encumbered the tract, and that the amendment is not asked for the purpose of letting some one else enter the tract vacated.
7. When a person desires to enter a tract of land, he may appear personally at the district land office and present his application and make the required affidavit before the Register and Receiver. He must establish his residence in a house to be built on the land within six months from the date of entry, and must, in order to maintain his entry, reside on and cultivate the tract for five years, unless he desires to commute and pay for the land in cash or equivalent, which can be done after fourteen months actual residence on and cultivation of the tract.
8. The homestead affidavit can be made before the judge or clerk of a court of record or before a commissioner of the United States Circuit Court, and save the journey to the Land Office.
9. Entries under the homestead law can be completed after five years' actual residence; but the applicant is required to file with the Register his notice of intention to make proof, with the required fee for publication, and it is the duty of the Register to have said notice published, when the applicant will appear with two witnesses named in the notice and make proof on day named, and before officer mentioned.
10. In case of death of entryman, his widow has the right, at the proper time, to make proof of his residence, and her residence or cultivation of the tract for required time, and in case of the death of the widow, then the heirs.
A homestead right cannot be devised away from the widow or minor children.
11. Under an act of Congress approved March 2d, 1889, a party who entered lands, prior to said act, has the right, where his said entry was canceled for any cause, to enter again, and where his entry is of record, he having failed to comply with the law as to residence, has the right to relinquish his claim to the United States, and enter the same or other tract, provided no other right has attached; the act further provides that, where an entry has been made, and the applicant is residing on the land entered which was for less than 160 acres, he has the right to enter, if adjoining, enough land to make 160 acres ; and if none is adjoining he has the right to make entry elsewhere, after having proved up his first entry, the two entries not to contain over 160 acres.
12. Under act of Congress approved August 30, 1890, one person can enter only 320 acres of public land. This act is held to be prospective and not retroactive. That is, no matter how much land a party entered prior to the date of the above act, he may thereafter, if in other respects qualified, enter 320 acres, but not more. This law does not apply to mineral or coal lands, but to lands which are classed as agricultural lands. The government does not guarantee that its "agricultural" lands will produce crops. Hence the intending settler should carefully examine in person or by agent the land he or she intends to enter.
13. A party desiring to relinquish his land to the United States for the purpose of re-entering or for the purpose of letting others enter, must make the following relinquishment on the back of his duplicate receipt acknowledged before some officer with a seal. “I hereby relinquish all my right, title, interest and claim in and to the within described lands to the United States." Relinquishment made at the Land Office can be made without any cost. In the event of the loss of the duplicate receipt, an affidavit accounting for the loss, made under seal, and relinquishment thereon, will be sufficient.
14. A single woman does not forfeit her homestead entry by marriage if thereafter she continues to comply with the law as to residence, improvements and cultivation.
15. The first actual settler who makes entry within three months after actual settlement is entitled to land, while the first man who makes entry may have been last to make settlement, and hence have the least claim to the land. A preemption filing is no bar to a homestead entry.
16. A settlement does not mean actual residence, but preparation for it, to be followed up in good faith. The claimant should, in person, not by agent, start the erection of a house, or begin some other improvement on the land he claims. A homestead entry does not require prior settlement, but it is safest to make a settlement at the earliest date.
17. Final proof in homestead entries can be made after five years from date of entry or of actual residence on the land, and must be made before the expiration of seven years from date of entry.
The time during the Rebellion, if not less than ninety days, which the homestead settler served in the Army, Navy or Marine Corps shall be deducted from the time heretofore required to perfect title, or if discharged on account of wounds received or disability incurred in the line of duty then the term of enlistment shall be deducted from the time heretofore required to perfect title, without reference to the length of time he may have served; but no patent shall issue to any homestead settler who has not resided upon, improved and cultivated his homestead for a period of at least one year after he shall have commenced his improvements.
18. The Receiver's duplicate homestead receipt, which the entryman received on making entry, should be surrendered on making commuted or final homestead proof. In making cash entry proof on pre-emption filing, it is not necessary to surrender the original certificate.
Parties are often put to a great loss and inconvenience by the loss of Receiver's receipts, which should always be carefully preserved.
19. The application to make proof, blank No. 4-348, homestead, should be signed by the claimant himself. His four witnesses should, if possible, be near neighbors, fully conversant with the facts essential to perfect proof, and none of them should be relatives of the claimant.
20. It is the duty of applicant who makes proof before county officers to see that each question is filled out with complete answer ; must show that he is a native born citizen of the United States, if such is the case; and, if not, then certified copy of naturalization papers will be sufficient; if the entry is by a woman she must state specifically in the proof whether or not she is married or single; applicants should in every case see that the names of witnesses used in making proof are properly advertised; and that they sign their names as advertised, and in giving the names to be published they should ascertain and give their full Christian names, and, if possible, the four living nearest the land for which proof is to be made. Much trouble and delay has been occasioned by doubtful or different spelling of names. Some persons have actually spelled their names three different ways in making one proof. This makes necessary correspondence and explanatory affidavits, causes delays in receipt of patents and places suspicion on proof
21. The proof should, if possible, be taken on the day advertised, before the officer advertised, with the evidence of at least two of the witnesses advertised; these together with the duplicate receipt and the required fees and commissions to be sealed up, and transmitted to the Receiver, on the same day proof is taken.
22 The land office commissions, payable at the time of making final homestead proof, are as follows. On land outside the Railroad limits:
For 160 acres . . . . . . $4.00
‘ ‘ 120 ‘ ‘ . . . . . . 3.00
‘ ‘ 80 ‘ ‘ . . . . . . 2.00
‘ ‘ 40 ‘ ‘ . . . . . . 1.00
On land within the Railroad limits:
For 160 acres . . . . . . $8.00
‘ ‘ 120 ‘ ‘ . . . . . . 6.00
‘ ‘ 80 ‘ ‘ . . . . . 4.00
‘ ‘ 40 ‘ ‘ . . . . . 2.00
The fees for reducing testimony to writing in making final proof are 15 cents for each 100 words, which in each case amounts to one dollar, sometimes $1.50, which must be transmitted with the other final proof commissions. In the Pacific States and Rocky Mountain regions the charges are one-half higher.
23. All applicants for lands should see that their applications are made out for the exact numbers of land desired to be entered, which must lie and form a compact body. If for an adjoining farm, the land owned and resided on must form a compact body with the public land; and the two together must not exceed 160 acres.
24. A married woman has no right to make a homestead entry.
25. A single woman over the age of twenty-one years has the right to make a homestead entry.
26. A man has to be twenty-one years of age to make an entry, unless he is married or the head of a family.
27. If a married woman who has been deserted by her husband desires to prove up, she should address the local officers of the Land Office, stating the nature of her case, and ascertain if she has the right to make proof.
28. In case of the death of both father and mother, the guardian of the minor children, after obtaining the required order of the Probate Court within two years of the death of the surviving parent, may sell the land for the exclusive benefit of such minor children, and patent will issue to the purchaser on payment of the office fees.
29. The widow or children of a homesteader are not required to reside on their homestead after his death, but must continue cultivation by agent or otherwise. The widow can enter a homestead in her own right while cultivating that of her deceased husband, in which event she must actually reside on the land entered in her own name.
30. In contests initiated by affidavit, the affidavit should be corroborated by preferably two witnesses. When service is had by publication, the posting of a copy of notice on the land, and mailing (by registered letter), a copy to contestee, to his last known address, are absolutely essential, as is also proof of both, and this is the duty of the parties or their attorneys, not of the land officers.
31. Where a party desires to file a protest against an entry on the day of proof, it is the duty of the officer taking the proof to take down the protestant's testimony and that of his witnesses, and transmit the same with the proof to the local office. The party protesting must pay the cost of reducing the evidence of himself and witnesses to writing.
32. The Government does not issue a general map showing what are public untaken lands. Land officers are authorized by law to furnish plats or diagrams showing what lands are vacant and what lands are taken. Parties writing for numbers, dates, descriptions, etc., of several tracts can get this information by ordering plats from the local officers.
The charges to be made by the local officers for the plat or diagram of a particular township are fixed as follows:
For plat, showing what land is public, and what entered......$1.00
For plat showing entries and names of claimants .......... 2.00
For plat showing entries and names, numbers and character of land. 3.00
For plat showing entries and names, numbers and character and date of entry, together with topography ...... ...... 4.00
For plat or diagram of a part of a township or section, a proportionate amount is charged.
33. Any person desiring information about public land should always give the section, township and range, for which information is asked, together with the numbers of land, and such information will always be furnished free of charge by the local officers.
34. When patents are received at the office, the Register and Receiver at once prepare notice and send to the entrymen, when they can return their duplicate final receipts given them when proof was made, and patent will be sent free of charge.
35. Papers once filed cannot be returned unless it be to correct a clerical error.
36. It is the duty of the applicant when he makes application to ascertain from county or other records the exact area in the tract, and if over 160 acres, he must, in addition to the $14.00 entrance fee, pay for the excess over 160 acres at the rate of $1.25 or $2.50 per acre, as the case may be; many parties having lost their lands by such failure.
37. Where an entry is made for land that has been covered by a prior entry, the residence will date from the time when the last entry is placed of record, or from date of cancellation of the first entry, or from date of settlement if settlement was after the date of cancellation.
38. No person who is the proprietor of more than 160 acres of land in any State or Territory shall acquire any right under the homestead law.
39. A homesteader forfeits his entry if he transfers any portion thereof before final receipt issues, except it be for school, church, or cemetery purposes, or for the right of way of railroads, canals, or ditches for irrigating purposes.
40. Land warrants and other cheap scrip can be used only in pre-emption claims and commuted homestead entries, where the entryman having resided on and cultivated the tract embraced by his homestead entry for fourteen months, advertises and makes the required proof.
41. The Secretary of the Interior is authorized, upon proof being made, to his satisfaction, that any tract of land has been erroneously sold by the United States, so that from any cause the sale cannot be confirmed, to repay to the purchaser, or to his legal representatives or assigns, the sum of money which was paid therefor, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.
42. In case of application for repayment where patent has not issued, the duplicate receipt must be surrendered. The applicant must also make affidavit that he has not transferred or otherwise encumbered the title to the land, and that said title has not become a matter of record. This affidavit may be made before either the Register or Receiver of the district land office, or before a notary public or a justice of the peace, or other officer authorized to administer oaths. When made before a notary public or justice of the peace, a certificate of official character is required.
43. Parties who have made entries of less than 160 acres of land are, under some circumstances, allowed to enter enough more land to make up 160 acres; in some cases they are permitted to relinquish their entries and make new entries. A full statement of the facts in each case should be submitted to the local officers for their judgment and advice.
44. The Commissioner of the General Land office expressly forbids the local officers to furnish blank entry papers and affidavits to anybody, except claimants in person. Land Office blanks can be obtained of Henry N. Copp, Washington, D. C.
45. Every person interested in the public lands will find Copp's SETTLER'S GUIDE, price 25 cts., of great assistance. It tells about surveys, gives pictures of corner posts and corner-stones, all about the homestead, desert and other land laws, etc. It is the land claimant's vade mecum, and will repay its cost a hundred fold. A copy of the new land law of March 3, 1891, will be included in the SETTLER'S GUIDE.
Address, HENRY N. COPP,
Attorney-at. Law,
Washington, D. C.
Of the law firm of COPP & LUCKETT.