Leonard F. Nelson v. Thomas S. Kleppe, the Secretary of the Interior of the United States

Nelson appeals from a summary judgment which upheld a decision of the Department of the Interior denying Nelson a homestead patent. The principal question raised is whether the district court erred in holding that the Department’s finding that Nelson did not have a habitable house on his homestead at the time of filing final proof is supported by substantial evidence. We reverse.

I. History of the Homestead

Nelson, a veteran, filed a notice of Homestead Location with the Bureau óf Land Management on February 11, 1963. On April 9, 1963, the Bureau acknowledged the entry, indicating that the land was available for homesteading.

The saga of Nelson’s efforts to comply with the requirement of the Homestead laws is a fascinating one, and should give pause to anyone who might think that modern machinery will take the hardships and uncertainties out of homesteading. Suffice it to say that Nelson had to overcome problems ranging from mountainous terrain, which made access and cultivation difficult, expensive and chancy, to uncooperative and hostile neighbors, to sabotage, to the severity of Alaska winters, to lack of finances, to vandalism and theft, to injunctions, to the need…