Title 30Mineral Lands and MiningRelease 119-73

§36 Subdivisions of 10-acre tracts; maximum of placer locations; homestead claims of agricultural lands; sale of improvements

Title 30 › Chapter CHAPTER 2— - MINERAL LANDS AND REGULATIONS IN GENERAL › § 36

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Allows 40‑acre parcels to be split into 10‑acre tracts and lets adjoining claimants, even if each is under 10 acres, file together. Placer claims made after July 9, 1870 are limited to 160 acres per person or group, must follow U.S. surveys, and protect valid homesteads and settlers’ improvements.

Full Legal Text

Title 30, §36

Mineral Lands and Mining — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Legal subdivisions of forty acres may be subdivided into ten-acre tracts; and two or more persons, or associations of persons, having contiguous claims of any size, although such claims may be less than ten acres each, may make joint entry thereof; but no location of a placer claim, made after the 9th day of July 1870, shall exceed one hundred and sixty acres for any one person or association of persons, which location shall conform to the United States surveys; and nothing in this section contained shall defeat or impair any bona fide homestead claim upon agricultural lands, or authorize the sale of the improvements of any bona fide settler to any purchaser.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification R.S. § 2330 derived from act July 9, 1870, ch. 235, § 12, 16 Stat. 217.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Submerged Lands ActProvisions of this section as not amended, modified or repealed by the Submerged Lands Act, see section 1303 of Title 43, Public Lands.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

30 U.S.C. § 36

Title 30Mineral Lands and Mining

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73