§993 Sale of lands in Louisiana; preference rights; application for purchase; appraisal; payment for land

Summary

The Secretary of the Interior may sell certain lands in Louisiana that were originally mapped by mistake as water and that are not legally claimed under the public land laws. Any U.S. citizen who, or whose ancestors in good faith held title or claimed as a riverside owner, before February 19, 1925, improved or farmed those lands has the first right to apply to buy them. That person must file an application at the U.S. land office the Secretary names within 90 days after February 19, 1925, or within 90 days after being officially told the survey and plats were filed. The application must include proof of the right to preference and show that no one else legally or actually possesses the land or is trying to claim it under land office rules. After an application and proof are filed, the Secretary will order an appraisal. The price is the land’s value at appraisal, but it must not include any extra value from the applicant’s or predecessor’s farming improvements; it must include the stumpage value of timber removed. The applicant must pay the appraised price to the designated land office within six months after getting notice of the appraisal. When paid, a patent will be issued for the land the Secretary finds the applicant may buy. Sale money goes to the U.S. Treasury as law requires. The Secretary may make rules and decide disputes. All sales keep for the United States the coal, oil, gas, and other minerals and the right to search for, mine, and remove them.