§34 — Title 30 Mineral Lands and Mining | U.S. Code

Summary

Descriptions of vein or lode claims on surveyed land must refer to the public survey lines, but they do not have to exactly match those lines. If a patent was issued for a claim on land that was not yet surveyed and the public survey is later extended, the Director of the Bureau of Land Management must adjust the survey to fit the patented claim so the claim’s true location on the ground is not changed. Only the land actually bounded by the survey monuments on the ground is considered patented. Those physical monuments control future surveys, and if they conflict with the written patent, the monuments govern and any conflicting words in the patent must be ignored.

Title 30, §34

Mineral Lands and Mining — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The description of vein or lode claims upon surveyed lands shall designate the location of the claims with reference to the lines of the public survey, but need not conform therewith; but where patents have been or shall be issued for claims upon unsurveyed lands, the Director of the Bureau of Land Management in extending the public survey, shall adjust the same to the boundaries of said patented claims so as in no case to interfere with or change the true location of such claims as they are officially established upon the ground. Where patents have issued for mineral lands, those lands only shall be segregated and shall be deemed to be patented which are bounded by the lines actually marked, defined, and established upon the ground by the monuments of the official survey upon which the patent grant is based, and the Director of the Bureau of Land Management in executing subsequent patent surveys, whether upon surveyed or unsurveyed lands, shall be governed accordingly. The said monuments shall at all times constitute the highest authority as to what land is patented, and in case of any conflict between the said monuments of such patented claims and the descriptions of said claims in the patents issued therefor the monuments on the ground shall govern, and erroneous or inconsistent descriptions or calls in the patent descriptions shall give way thereto.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification R.S. § 2327 derived from act May 10, 1872, ch. 152, § 8, 17 Stat. 94.

Amendments

1925—Act Mar. 3, 1925, affected words now reading “United States supervisor of surveys” in first and second sentences of text. These words formerly read “the surveyor-general.” This act abolished the office of surveyor general, and transferred to and consolidated with the Field Surveying Service, under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Supervisor of Surveys, the administration, equipment, etc., of such office.

Executive Documents

Transfer of Functions

Director of the Bureau of Land Management, substituted for United States Supervisor of Surveys wherever appearing. In the establishment of the Bureau of Land Management by Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1946, § 403, eff. July 16, 1946, 11 F.R. 7876, 60 Stat. 1100, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, the office of Supervisor of Surveys was abolished and the functions and powers were transferred to the Secretary of the Interior, to be performed by such officers or agencies of the Department as might be designated by the Secretary. Under that authority, the functions and powers formerly exercised by the Supervisor of Surveys were delegated to the Chief Cadastral Engineer, subject to the supervision of the Director of the Bureau of Land Management. In the general reorganization and realignment of functions of the Bureau, the office of the Chief Cadastral Engineer was abolished, and the functions of that office have been delegated to the Director of the Bureau of Land Management. See 43 C.F.R. § 9180.0–3(a)(1). See also note set out under section 1 of this title.

§34 Description of vein claims on surveyed and unsurveyed lands; monuments on ground to govern conflicting calls