43 U.S.C. § 641 — Grant of desert land to States authorized
submitted 132 years ago by ch. 301 to r/title-43-PUBLIC-LANDS · 618 words · no verdicts yet
As of August 18, 1894, with the President’s approval, the Secretary of the Interior may contract with States to grant them desert land for irrigation, reclamation, settlement, and cultivation. The section sets acreage, deadlines, maps, use restrictions, proof requirements, sale limits, and trust-fund rules.
To help public-land States reclaim desert land and settle, cultivate, and sell it in small tracts to actual settlers, the Secretary of the Interior, with the President’s approval, is authorized and empowered, as of August 18, 1894, to contract with each State that has desert land described by the Acts of March 3, 1877, and March 3, 1891. On a proper State application, the United States must donate, grant, and patent to the State, without survey cost or price, up to 1 million acres in that State that the State causes to be irrigated, reclaimed, occupied, and cultivated by actual settlers. At least 20 acres of each 160-acre tract must be cultivated as thoroughly as required of people entering land under the desert-land law. This must occur within 10 years after the Secretary approves the State’s application to set the land apart.
Actual construction of reclamation works must begin within three years after the land is set apart, unless the Secretary allows an additional period of no more than three years. If construction does not begin on time, the Secretary may return the land to the public domain. If the State has not caused all or part of the land to be irrigated and reclaimed within 10 years after it was set apart, the Secretary may extend the segregation for up to five years or may return the unimproved land to the public domain when the 10-year period or extension ends.
Before approving an application, making an agreement, or ordering land set apart, the State must file a map of the proposed irrigated land. The map must show an irrigation plan sufficient to irrigate and reclaim the land thoroughly and prepare it for ordinary agricultural crops. It must also show the water source.
A State contracting under this section may make necessary contracts to reclaim the land and encourage settlement and cultivation under this section. But it may not lease the land or use or dispose of it in any way except to secure reclamation, cultivation, and settlement.
As a State gives satisfactory proof under the Secretary’s rules that land has been irrigated, reclaimed, and occupied by actual settlers, patents must be issued to the State or its assignees for that land. A State may not sell or dispose of more than 160 acres to one person. Any money from sales above reclamation costs must be held as a trust fund and used to reclaim other desert land in that State.
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.
Source credit: (Aug. 18, 1894, ch. 301, § 4, 28 Stat. 422; Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 853, § 3, 31 Stat. 1188; Jan. 6, 1921, ch. 10, 41 Stat. 1085; Pub. L. 94–579, title VII, § 704(a), Oct. 21, 1976, 90 Stat. 2792.)
- 1894Enacted · Act of Aug. 18, 1894, ch. 301 · 28 Stat. 422
- 1901Amended · Act of Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 853 · 31 Stat. 1188
- 1921Amended · Act of Jan. 6, 1921, ch. 10 · 41 Stat. 1085
- 1976Amended · Pub. L. 94-579 · 90 Stat. 2792
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by ch. 301 on 1894-08-18.
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