30 U.S.C. § 40 — Verification of affidavits

This section is one undivided rule. Affidavits required under the listed mining-claim sections can be sworn before any officer who is authorized to administer oaths and is located within the same land district as the claim — they don't have to go through the land office register. The same goes for testimony and proof: they can be taken before that local officer instead. Once the officer certifies that testimony, it counts exactly as if it had been taken before the register of the land office. When a dispute involves whether land is mineral or agricultural, the testimony can be taken after giving the other side personal notice of at least ten days. If that party cannot be found, notice can instead be published at least once a week for thirty days in a newspaper — chosen by the land office register as the paper published closest to the land. The register must be shown proof that this notice was actually given before the testimony counts.