Proclamation 1677—Changing the Boundaries of the Sitgreaves National Forest

Whereas, an Executive Order signed February seventeenth and effective March first, nineteen hundred and twelve, excluded from the Sitgreaves National Forest, in Arizona, certain Indian reservation lands included therein March second, nineteen hundred and nine;

And Whereas, it appears that the public good will be promoted by adding certain lands to the Sitgreaves National Forest, and by excluding certain areas therefrom and restoring the public lands subject to disposition therein to entry by ex-service men in advance of the general public, in accordance with existing law;

Now, Therefore, I, Calvin Coolidge, 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 repeat timber-culture laws, and for other purposes", and also by the Act of Congress 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 Sitgreaves National Forest are hereby changed to include the area indicated as an addition upon the diagram hereto annexed and forming a part hereof and to exclude the areas indicated thereon as eliminations.

The withdrawal made by this proclamation 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 further proclaim and make known that pursuant to Public Resolution Number Twenty-nine, approved February fourteenth, nineteen hundred and twenty (41 Stat., 434), as amended by the Resolutions approved January twenty-first and December twenty-eighth, nineteen hundred and twenty-two, respectively (42 Stat., 358, 1067), it is hereby ordered that the public lands in the excluded areas, subject to valid rights and the provisions of existing withdrawals, shall be opened only to entry under the homestead and desert-land laws by qualified ex-service men of the War with Germany, under the terms and conditions of said resolutions and the regulations issued thereunder, for a period of ninety-one days, beginning with the sixty-third day from and after the date hereof, and thereafter any of said land remaining unentered will be subject to appropriation under any public land law applicable thereto by the general public. Subsequent to the date hereof and prior to the date of restoration to general disposition as herein provided, no rights may be acquired to the excluded lands by settlement in advance of entry, or otherwise except strictly in accordance herewith.

Prospective applicants may, during the period of twenty days preceding the date on which the lands shall become subject to entry, selection or location of the form desired under the provisions of this proclamation, execute their applications in the manner provided by law and present the same, accompanied by the required payments, to the United States land office at Phoenix, Arizona, in person, by mail or otherwise, and all applications so filed, together with such as may be submitted at nine o'clock a.m., standard time, on the dates fixed, shall be treated as though simultaneously filed and shall be disposed of in the manner prescribed by existing regulations. Under such regulations conflicts of equal rights will be determined by a drawing.

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 13th day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and twenty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and forty-eighth.

CALVIN COOLIDGE

By the President:

CHARLES E. HUGHES

Secretary of State.