Title 43Public LandsRelease 119-73

§419 Contract for irrigation project; notice as to lands irrigable, unit of entry, and construction charges

Title 43 › Chapter CHAPTER 12— - RECLAMATION AND IRRIGATION OF LANDS BY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER III— - INSTITUTION AND CONSTRUCTION OF PROJECTS › § 419

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

When the Secretary of the Interior finds an irrigation project practical, they may hire contractors to build it in parts if money is available. The Secretary must announce which lands can be irrigated, the maximum acreage per entry (enough to support a family), the per-acre charges for entries and for private lands, how many yearly payments are required, and when payments start. For construction work, eight hours count as a day’s work.

Full Legal Text

Title 43, §419

Public Lands — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Upon the determination that any irrigation project is practicable, the Secretary of the Interior may cause to be let contracts for the construction of the same, in such portions or sections as it may be practicable to construct and complete as parts of the whole project, providing the necessary funds for such portions or sections are available, and thereupon he shall give public notice of the lands irrigable under such project, and limit of area per entry, which limit shall represent the acreage which, in the opinion of the Secretary, may be reasonably required for the support of a family upon the lands in question; also of the charges which shall be made per acre upon the said entries, and upon lands in private ownership which may be irrigated by the waters of the said irrigation project, and the number of annual installments in which such charges shall be paid and the time when such payments shall commence: Provided, That in all construction work eight hours shall constitute a day’s work.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification Section is comprised of part of section 4 of act June 17, 1902. Remainder of such section 4 is classified to section 461 of this title.

Amendments

1956—Act May 10, 1956, substituted a period for the comma after “work” in proviso, and struck out “and no Mongolian labor shall be employed thereon.”

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Section as Unaffected by Submerged Lands ActProvisions of this section as not amended, modified, or repealed by the Submerged Lands Act, see section 1303 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

43 U.S.C. § 419

Title 43Public Lands

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73