Title 43 — Public LandsRelease 119-73
§338 Election to perfect entry; final proof
Title 43 › Chapter CHAPTER 9— - DESERT-LAND ENTRIES › § 338
Summary
Within 60 days of the notice, an entryman or the person he assigned the entry to can pay 50¢ per acre to the officer named by the Secretary of the Interior at the local land office. To complete the entry within five years they must show permanent improvements worth at least $1.25 per acre, have farmed the land in good faith for three years, and pay 75¢ per acre at final proof. If they fail, the payments are lost and the entry is canceled; assignments made before March 4, 1915, still qualify.
Full Legal Text
Title 43, §338
Public Lands — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Any desert-land entryman or his assignee entitled to the benefit of section 337 of this title may, if he shall so elect within sixty days from the notice therein provided, pay to the officer designated by the Secretary of the Interior of the local land office the sum of 50 cents per acre for each acre embraced in the entry, and thereafter perfect such entry upon proof that he has upon the tract permanent improvements conducive to the agricultural development thereof of the value of not less than $1.25 per acre, and that he has, in good faith, used the land for agricultural purposes for three years and the payment to the officer, at the time of final proof, of the sum of 75 cents per acre: Provided, That in such case final proof may be submitted at any time within five years from the date of the entryman’s election to proceed as provided in this section, and in the event of failure to perfect the entry as herein provided, all moneys theretofore paid shall be forfeited and the entry canceled: Provided, That in cases where such entries have been assigned prior to March 4, 1915, the assignees shall, if otherwise qualified, be entitled to the benefit hereof.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
Codification Section is comprised of fourth paragraph of section 5 of act Mar. 4, 1915. First paragraph of such section 5, which was classified to section 26 of former Title 41, Public Contracts, was repealed by act
June 30, 1949, ch. 288, title VI, § 602(a)(26), 63 Stat. 401, eff.
July 1, 1949, renumbered Sept. 5, 1950, ch. 849, § 6(a), (b), 64 Stat. 583; second and third paragraphs of such section 5 are classified to section 335 and 337 of this title, respectively. Act Mar. 21, 1918 added the last proviso.
Executive Documents
Transfer of Functions
For
Transfer of Functions
of other officers, employees, and agencies of Department of the Interior, with certain exceptions, to Secretary of the Interior, with power to delegate, see Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1950, §§ 1, 2, eff. May 24, 1950, 15 F.R. 3174, 64 Stat. 1262, set out under section 1451 of this title. “Officer designated by the Secretary of the Interior” substituted for “register” on authority of section 403 of Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1946, which abolished all registers of district land offices and transferred functions of register of district land offices to Secretary of the Interior. See section 403 of Reorg. Plan No. 3, of 1946, set out as a note under section 1 of this title. Previously, references to “receiver” changed to “register” by acts Oct. 28, 1921, and Mar. 3, 1925, which consolidated offices of register and receiver and provided for a single officer to be known as register.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
43 U.S.C. § 338
Title 43 — Public Lands
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73