Proclamation 1362—Modfying the Boundaries of the Crook National Forest, Arizona

Whereas, an Executive Order dated February seventeenth, nineteen hundred and twelve, excluded from the Crook National Forest, Arizona, that part of the White Mountain Apache Indian Reservation included therein by Proclamation of September twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred and ten; and

Whereas, it appears that the public good will be promoted by adding certain lands to the Crook National Forest, by excluding certain areas and withdrawing a portion thereof for classification, by providing for the disposition of that portion of the area hereby excluded within the former Fort Grant Military Reservation under the law applicable to abandoned military reservations, and by restoring the public lands subject to disposition in the remaining excluded areas in a manner authorized by the Act of Congress approved September thirtieth, nineteen hundred and thirteen (38 Stat., 113), entitled "An Act to authorize the President to provide a method for opening lands restored from reservation or withdrawal, and for other purposes";

Now, Therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the power in me vested by the Act of Congress approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one (26 Stat., 1095), entitled "An Act to repeal timber-culture laws, and for other purposes," and also by the Act approved June fourth, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven (30 Stat., 11 at 34 and 36), entitled "An Act Making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and for other purposes", do proclaim that the boundaries of the Crook National Forest are hereby changed to include the areas indicated as additions on the diagram hereto annexed and forming a part hereof and to exclude the areas indicated thereon as eliminations.

The withdrawal for national forest purposes made hereby shall, as to all lands which are at this date legally appropriated under the public land laws or reserved for any public purpose, be subject to, and shall not interfere with or defeat legal rights under such appropriation, nor prevent the use for such public purpose of lands so reserved, so long as such appropriation is legally maintained, or such reservation remains in force.

And I do also proclaim that the following described lands excluded from the Crook National Forest by this Proclamation are hereby temporarily withdrawn for classification under authority of the Act of Congress approved June twenty-fifth, nineteen hundred and ten (36 Stat., 847), as amended by the Act of August Twenty-fourth, nineteen hundred and twelve (37 Stat., 497), to wit: The north half of the northeast quarter and the west half of section thirty-one (31), township one (1) north, range fifteen (15) east; and that the portion of the former Fort Grant Military Reservation within the excluded area, namely, lots one (1), two (2), three (3), and the northwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section nine (9), township ten (10) south, range twenty-four (24) east, is hereby placed under the control of the Secretary of the Interior under the provisions of the Act of Congress approved July fifth, eighteen hundred and eighty-four (23 Stat., 103), for disposition under said Act or as may be otherwise provided by law.

And I do further proclaim and make known, pursuant to the authority reposed in me by the aforesaid Act of September thirtieth, nineteen hundred and thirteen, that the remainder of the excluded lands, subject to valid rights, existing withdrawals and the provisions hereof, shall be open to settlement and disposition under any public land laws applicable thereto at and after, but not before, nine o'clock a.m., standard time, on the sixty-third day after the date hereof: Provided, That during a period of twenty days preceding the date on which such lands shall become subject to appropriation generally, and at nine o'clock a.m., standard time, on said day, applications under the general provisions of the homestead laws to enter any of such lands subject thereto may be presented to the United States land office at Phoenix, Arizona, and all such applications lawfully executed and accompanied by the required payments shall be considered as filed simultaneously and shall have priority over rights asserted through settlement made, or applications, filings or selections under other laws offered at said hour. Conflicts of equal rights shall be determined by drawing in the manner prescribed by existing regulations.

Persons who go upon any of the lands to be restored as herein provided and perform any act of settlement thereon from and including the date of this Proclamation until nine o'clock a.m., standard time, on the sixty-third day from and after the date hereof, or who are on or are occupying any part of such lands at said hour, except those having valid subsisting settlement rights initiated prior to reservation and since maintained, and those having preferences to make entry under the provisions of the Act of Congress approved June eleventh, nineteen hundred and six (34 Stat., 233), entitled "An Act To Provide for the entry of Agricultural lands within forest reserves", and Acts amendatory, will be considered and dealt with as trespassers and preference will be given the prior legal applicant notwithstanding such unlawful settlement or occupancy: Provided, however, that nothing herein shall prevent persons from going upon and over the lands to examine them with a view to making entry thereof or settlement thereon when the lands shall become subject thereto in accordance with this Proclamation. Persons having prior settlement rights or preferences, as above defined, will be allowed to make entry in conformity with existing law and regulations.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington this twenty-first day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and seventeen, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and forty-first.

WOODROW WILSON

By the President:

ROBERT LANSING

Secretary of State.