§321 Entry right generally; extent of right to appropriate waters

Summary

A U.S. citizen, or a person who has filed a declaration to become a citizen, may pay 25 cents per acre and swear to the land officer named by the Secretary of the Interior that they will reclaim a tract of desert land up to one-half section (not over 320 acres) by bringing water onto it within three years. If the tract is 320 acres, the right to use water depends on a genuine earlier claim to that water, and the person may only use the amount actually claimed and actually needed for irrigation and reclamation. Any extra water, and water from lakes, rivers, or other non-navigable sources on public land, remains available for public use for irrigation, mining, and manufacturing, subject to existing rights. The declaration must describe the land precisely if surveyed, or as well as possible if not. If, within three years, the person proves they reclaimed the land and pays an extra $1 per acre (for a tract not over 320 acres), a patent (title) will be issued. Except as provided in section 3 of the Act of June 16, 1955, as amended, a person may make only one entry under these sections. That one entry may include one or more tracts that need not touch, but the total entered for one person may not exceed 320 acres. All tracts entered by one person must be close enough to be managed as a single economic unit under rules set by the Secretary of the Interior.