Title 30, Mineral Lands and MiningRelease 119-102
§36 Subdivisions of 10-acre Tracts; Maximum of Placer Locations; Homestead Claims of Agricultural Lands; Sale of Improvements
Title 30 › CHAPTER 2 — MINERAL LANDS AND REGULATIONS IN GENERAL › § 36
Summary
Splits 40-acre parcels into 10-acre tracts and lets neighbors join small adjoining claims. Placer claims after July 9, 1870 are capped at 160 acres per person or group and must match U.S. surveys; homestead claims and settler improvements stay protected.
Full Legal Text
Title 30, §36
Mineral Lands and Mining, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legal subdivisions of forty acres may be subdivided into ten-acre tracts; and two or more persons, or associations of persons, having contiguous claims of any size, although such claims may be less than ten acres each, may make joint entry thereof; but no location of a placer claim, made after the 9th day of July 1870, shall exceed one hundred and sixty acres for any one person or association of persons, which location shall conform to the United States surveys; and nothing in this section contained shall defeat or impair any bona fide homestead claim upon agricultural lands, or authorize the sale of the improvements of any bona fide settler to any purchaser.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
Codification R.S. § 2330 derived from act July 9, 1870, ch. 235, § 12, 16 Stat. 217.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Submerged Lands ActProvisions of this section as not amended, modified or repealed by the Submerged Lands Act, see section 1303 of Title 43, Public Lands.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
30 U.S.C. § 36
Title 30, Mineral Lands and Mining
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102