Title 43 — Public LandsRelease 119-73
§948 Application to existing and future canals
Title 43 › Chapter CHAPTER 22— - RIGHTS-OF-WAY AND OTHER EASEMENTS IN PUBLIC LANDS › § 948
Summary
Applies sections 946–949 to all canals, ditches, and reservoirs, built before or after by companies, persons, or groups, once required certificates and maps are filed. Persons or groups must file a map with the Secretary of the Interior and local land office including owner names and any association papers. Maps filed before March 3, 1891 count from their filing date. Any part not finished within five years after its location loses rights.
Full Legal Text
Title 43, §948
Public Lands — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
The provisions of sections 946 to 949 of this title shall apply to all canals, ditches, or reservoirs, heretofore or hereafter constructed, whether constructed by corporations, individuals, or association of individuals, on the filing of the certificates and maps therein provided for. If such ditch, canal, or reservoir has been or shall be constructed by an individual or association of individuals, it shall be sufficient for such individual or association of individuals to file with the Secretary of the Interior, and with the officer, as the Secretary of the Interior may designate, of the land office where said land is located, a map of the line of such canal, ditch, or reservoir, as in case of a corporation, with the name of the individual owner or owners thereof, together with the articles of association, if any there be. Plats filed before March 3, 1891, shall have the benefits of sections 946 to 949 of this title from the date of their filing, as though filed thereunder: Provided, That if any section of said canal or ditch shall not be completed within five years after the location of said section, the rights therein granted shall be forfeited as to any uncompleted section of said canal, ditch, or reservoir, to the extent that the same is not completed at the date of the forfeiture.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Repeal;
Savings Provision
Section repealed by Pub. L. 94–579, title VII, § 706(a), Oct. 21, 1976, 90 Stat. 2793, effective on and after Oct. 21, 1976, insofar as applicable to the issuance of rights-of-way over, upon, under, and through the public lands and lands in the National Forest System. Such repeal not to be construed as terminating any valid lease, permit, patent, etc., existing on Oct. 21, 1976, see section 701 of Pub. L. 94–579, set out as a note under section 1701 of this title.
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, as the Secretary of the Interior may designate” substituted for “register” on authority of section 403 of Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1946, which abolished all registers of district lands offices and transferred functions of register of district land office 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.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
43 U.S.C. § 948
Title 43 — Public Lands
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73