Horace Harmon Lurton

“ That in cases in which a tract covered by an unperfected bona fide claim or by a patent is included within the limits of a public forest reservation, the settler or owner thereof may, if he desires to do so, relinquish the tract to the government, and may select in lieu thereof a tract of vacant land open to settlement, not exceeding in area the tract covered by his claim or patent ”

“ The issue is a sharp one. The complainant insists that when he made and delivered his deed, with an abstract showing a clear title to 160 acres within a forest reservation, he became entitled to make a selection of 160 acres in lieu thereof at any time, and that the repeal of the act did not deprive him of the right to a patent for the land selected on March 14, 1905. The plaintiff in error does not bring himself within any of the exceptions to the repealing act. ”

“ To take advantage of the proposal contained in this act, the applicant must select the land he wishes to receive in lieu, and file a sufficient relinquishment of land within a forest reserve. Manifestly there must be an acceptance of the relinquishment by someone authorized to decide upon its sufficiency, and an assent to the particular selection made in lieu. ”