“ A single right is always for less, and generally much less, than one hundred and sixty acres, but rights aggregating many times that number of acres may be and often are held by a single assignee. When the provision was adopted there were almost no restrictions upon the use of such rights outside Alaska. Indeed, the only restriction of any moment was one, uniformly respected, preventing the inclusion of more than one hundred and sixty acres in a single entry. ”

“ The homestead laws were the next to receive attention. By the Act of May 14, 1898, c. 299, 30 Stat. 409, they were extended to that district with the restrictions (a) that 'no homestead' should exceed eighty acres in extent, and (b) that 'no entry' should extend more than eighty rods along the shore of any navigable water, and along such shore a space of at least eighty rods should be reserved from entry between all such claims. ”

“ They are rights to enter and acquire unappropriated nonmineral public land without settlement, residence, improvement, or cultivation, and without payment of any purchase price. They are not personal to the original beneficiaries but are transferable at will, and the number that may be assigned to the same person is not limited. ”