Land non-mineral in character, and not contiguous to the vein or lode, used by the locator and proprietor for mining or milling purposes, can be included in any application for patent, to an extent not to exceed five acres, and subject to examination and payment as fixed for the superficies of the lode. The owner of a quartz mill or reduction, not a mine owner in connection therewith, may also receive a mill-site patent. Such sites are located under the mining act, and in compliance with local law and customs as recognized. Such possessory rights give title also to all growing timber thereon. There must in every case be given satisfactory proof of the non-mineral character of the site, and the improvements thereon must be equal to $500 in value. A mill passes to a railroad, if located after a land grant inured to the road. Homestead and Pre-emption. Homesteads.--Every head of a family, widow, single man or woman of the age of twenty-one years, who is a citizen of the United States, or who has declared his or her intention of becoming so, can enter upon 80 acres of government land within the limits of a railroad grant, or 160 acres outside said limits; and after a continuous residence upon it and cultivation for five years, an absolute title to the land will be given by the United States government, at a total cost of about $9 on 80 acres, or $18 on 160 acres. Soldier’s Homestead.--Any soldier or sailor who served during the rebellion not less than 90 days, and was honorably discharged, can homestead 160 acres, either within or outside of the limits of a land grant, and his term of service will be deducted from the five years’ residence required upon the land; but in any event he must reside one year upon it. Thus, if he served three years, he would have to reside upon the land two years; and in the event of his having served four or five years, one year’s residence would be necessary. A soldier or sailor has the privilege of filing application for homestead upon the land through an agent or attorney, and need not for six months commence actual settlement upon it. Absence from a homestead at any time, for more than six months, works a forfeiture of right to the land.