USC Chapter 14

in effect

43 U.S.C. § 641 Grant of desert land to States authorized

To aid the public-land States in the reclamation of the desert lands therein, and the settlement, cultivation and sale thereof in small tracts to actual settlers, the Secretary of the Interior with the approval of the President is, as of August 18, 1894, authorized and empowered, upon proper application of the State to contract and agree, from time to time, with each of the States in which there may be situated desert lands as defined by the Act approved March 3, 1877, and the Act amendatory thereof, approved March 3, 1891, binding the United States to donate, grant, and patent to the State free of cost for survey or price such desert lands, not exceeding one million acres in each State, as the State may cause to be irrigated, reclaimed, occupied, and not less than twenty acres of each one hundred and sixty acre tract cultivated by actual settlers, as thoroughly as is required of citizens who may enter under the desert-land law within ten years from the date of approval by the Secretary of the Interior of the State’s application for the segregation of such lands; and if actual construction of reclamation works is not begun within three years after the segregation of the lands or within such further period not exceeding three years, as shall be allowed by the Secretary of the Interior, the said Secretary of the Interior, in his discretion, may restore such lands to the public domain; and if the State fails, within ten years from the date of such segregation, to cause the whole or any part of the lands so segregated to be so irrigated and reclaimed, the Secretary of the Interior may, in his discretion, continue said segregation for a period not exceeding five years, or may, in his discretion, restore such lands not irrigated and reclaimed to the public domain upon the expiration of the ten-year period or of any extension thereof. Before the application of any State is allowed or any contract or agreement is executed or any segregation of any of the land from the public domain is ordered by the Secretary of the Interior, the State shall file a map of the said land proposed to be irrigated which shall exhibit a plan showing the mode of the contemplated irrigation and which plan shall be sufficient to thoroughly irrigate and reclaim said land and prepare it to raise ordinary agricultural crops and shall also show the source of the water to be used for irrigation and reclamation. Any State contracting under this section is authorized to make all necessary contracts to cause the said lands to be reclaimed, and to induce their settlement and cultivation in accordance with and subject to the provisions of this section; but the State shall not be authorized to lease any of said lands or to use or dispose of the same in any way whatever, except to secure their reclamation, cultivation, and settlement. As fast as any State may furnish satisfactory proof according to such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, that any of said lands are irrigated, reclaimed, and occupied by actual settlers, patents shall be issued to the State or its assigns for said lands so reclaimed and settled: Provided, That said States shall not sell or dispose of more than one hundred and sixty acres of said lands to any one person, and any surplus of money derived by any State from the sale of said lands in excess of the cost of their reclamation, shall be held as a trust fund for and be applied to the reclamation of other desert lands in such State.

43 U.S.C. § 641a Issuance of quitclaim deeds; patents for segregated lands

The Secretary of the Interior shall issue quitclaim deeds to the public-land States for all lands patented to such States under section 641 of this title. He shall also issue a patent for all unpatented public lands within each State now segregated under that section for which the State issued final certificates or other evidence of right prior to June 1, 1953, or as to which equitable claims to the lands accrued prior to that date (by reason of cultivation or improvement of the lands for agricultural development purposes) for conveyance to the holders of such rights or claims, or to their heirs, successors, or assigns.

43 U.S.C. § 641b Filing of application for quitclaim deeds

The Secretary shall not issue such quitclaim deeds or patents to any State, however, unless that State files a proper application for the transfer of these lands within three years after August 13, 1954.

43 U.S.C. § 641c Requirements of application for quitclaim deed

The application must include a list of all the lands which the State certifies should be transferred under the terms of section 641a of this title, the basis for the certification of each tract included, and a quitclaim or relinquishment of all right, title, and interest in the State to any and all other lands under section 641 of this title. Such quitclaim or relinquishment by the State shall not affect any private rights obtained from the State prior to August 13, 1954.

43 U.S.C. § 641d Effective date of quitclaim; administration of lands relinquished by States

The quitclaim or relinquishment of all right, title, and interest by the State to any lands under sections 641a to 641d of this title shall not be effective until the Secretary has transferred the lands applied for under section 641a of this title. The Secretary shall provide for the administration and disposition under the public-land laws of the lands quitclaimed or relinquished by the States pursuant to sections 641a to 641d of this title.

43 U.S.C. § 642 Liens for expenses of reclamation

Under any law heretofore or hereafter enacted by any State, providing for the reclamation of arid lands, in pursuance and acceptance of the terms of the grant made in section 641 of this title, a lien or liens is authorized to be created by the State to which such lands are granted and by no other authority whatever, and when created shall be valid on and against the separate legal subdivisions of land reclaimed, for the actual cost and necessary expenses of reclamation and reasonable interest thereon from the date of reclamation until disposed of to actual settlers; and when an ample supply of water is actually furnished in a substantial ditch or canal, or by artesian wells or reservoirs, to reclaim a particular tract or tracts of such lands, then patents shall issue for the same to such State without regard to settlement or cultivation: Provided, That in no event, in no contingency, and under no circumstances shall the United States be in any manner directly or indirectly liable for any amount of any such lien or liability, in whole or in part.

43 U.S.C. § 644 Preference right to entryman under State laws

The Secretary of the Interior, when restoring to the public domain lands that have been segregated to a State under sections 641, 642 and 643 11 See References in Text note below. of this title is authorized, in his discretion and under such rules and regulations as he may establish to allow for not exceeding ninety days to any entryman under section 641 of this title a preference right of entry under applicable land laws of any of such lands which such person had entered under and pursuant to the State laws providing for the administration of the grant under section 641 of this title and upon which such person had established actual bona fide residence or had made substantial and permanent improvements: Provided, That each entryman shall be entitled to a credit as residence upon his new homestead entry allowed hereunder of the time that he has actually lived upon the claim as a bona fide resident thereof.

43 U.S.C. § 645 Additional arid lands available to Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, and Wyoming for reclamation

An additional one million acres of arid lands within each of the States of Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, and Wyoming is made available and subject to the terms of section 641 of this title, and the States of Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, and Wyoming are allowed under the provisions of said section said additional area or so much thereof as may be necessary for the purposes and under the provisions of said section.

43 U.S.C. § 646 Grant extended to New Mexico and Arizona

All the provisions of sections 641, 642 and 643 11 See References in Text note below. of this title are extended to the States of New Mexico and Arizona, and the said States upon complying with the provisions of said sections shall be entitled to have and receive all of the benefits therein conferred upon the States.

43 U.S.C. § 647 Grant extended to desert lands within part of former Ute Indian Reservation in Colorado

The provisions of sections 641, 642 and 643 11 See References in Text note below. of this title are extended over and shall apply to the desert lands within the limits of all that portion of the former Ute Indian Reservation, not included in any national forest, in the State of Colorado, described and embraced in the Act entitled “An Act relating to lands in Colorado lately occupied by the Uncompahgre and White River Ute Indians,” approved July 28, 1882: Provided, That before a patent shall issue for any of the lands aforesaid under the terms of the said sections the State of Colorado shall pay into the Treasury of the United States the sum of $1.25 per acre for the lands so patented, and the money so paid shall be subject to the provisions of section 3 of the Act of June 15, 1880, entitled “An Act to accept and ratify the agreements submitted by the confederated bands of Ute Indians in Colorado for the sale of their reservation in said State, and for other purposes, and to make the necessary appropriation for carrying out same.” No lands shall be included in any tract to be segregated under the provisions of this section on which the United States Government has valuable improvements, or which have been reserved for any Indian schools or farm purposes.