Leslie F. Bleamaster and Norma v. Bleamaster v. Rogers C. B. Morton, Secretary of the Interior

Appellants brought suit to overturn a decision of the Secretary of the Interior declining to classify certain public lands near Palm Springs, in the Coachella Valley in Riverside County, California, as suitable for entry under the Enlarged Homestead Act of February 19, 1909, 35 Stat. 639 , as amended, 43 U.S.C. § 218 (1964). Summary judgment was granted for the Secretary and this appeal followed. We affirm.

On November 26, 1934, by Executive Order, all of the disputed lands had been withdrawn from settlement, location, sale or entry and reserved for classification pending the Secretary’s determination of the most useful purposes to which they might be put pursuant to the provisions of the Taylor Grazing Act, 48 Stat. 1269 , 43 U.S.C. § 315 et seq. (1964).

On October 29, 1966, appellants filed an application for enlargement of their homestead by seeking entry to the disputed lands. The Palm Springs Desert Museum had previously filed an application for a fifty-year lease of part of the lands under the Public Recreational and Other Public Purposes Act of June 14, 1926, 44 Stat. 741 as amended, 43 U.S.C. § 869 (1964) A field report had been entered in response to the Desert Museum’s…