George Sutherland

“ Section 452 affects a class of persons having superior opportunities and power to perpetrate frauds and secure undue advantage over the general public in the acquisition of public lands. 'The purpose of the prohibition is to guard against the temptations and partiality likely to attend efforts to acquire public lands, or interests therein, by persons so situated, and thereby to prevent abuse and inspire confidence in the administration of the public-land laws.' Waskey v. ”

“ And the rule is the same where a homestead entry has been made by a minor who comes of age prior to the inception of an adverse claim. Huff v. Geis, 71 Colo. 7, 203 P. 677; Dillard v. Hurd, 46 L. D. 51. We are unable to perceive any substantial ground for denying the applicability of the logic of these decisions to the present case.
It follows, as the Land Department held, that Lowe's contest was filed against a validated and subsisting entry which had had the effect of segregating the land from the public domain and thereby precluding the subsequent entry attempted to be made by Dickson. ”

“ Prosser, a special agent of the General Land Office and held to be within the terms of the statute, made a timber culture entry of certain land and complied with the law in respect to cultivation and in other particulars. ”

“ The Land Department for many years has uniformly held that the old entry may stand (John J. Stewart, 9 L. D. 543; George W. Blackwell, 11 L. D. 384; Smith et al. v. Taylor, 23 L. D. 440) , and its decision should not be disturbed except for cogent reasons (McLaren v. Fleischer, 256 U.S. 477, 481, 41 S.C.t. 577, 65 L. Ed. 1052; United States v. Pugh, 99 U.S. 265, 269, 25 L. Ed. 322) , which here do not exist. On the contrary, as we have indicated, the reasons convincingly are the other way. ”