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Title 43 — Public LandsRelease 119-73not60

§333 Extension of Time for Completion of Irrigation Works

Title 43 › Chapter 9— DESERT-LAND ENTRIES › § 333

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

If you took land under sections 321–323, 325, or 327–329 and you tried in good faith to meet those rules but cannot finish the irrigation work because of delays beyond your control, you can get more time. You must convince the Secretary of the Interior (or an officer he chooses) that you acted in good faith and were not at fault, and file a corroborated affidavit at the land office where the land is located saying so. If you do that, you will be given up to three extra years, with the exact length decided by the Secretary, to prove the work is finished.

Full Legal Text

Title 43, §333

Public Lands — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Any entryman under sections 321 to 323, 325, and 327 to 329 of this title who shall show to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Interior or such officer as he may designate that he has in good faith complied with the terms, requirements, and provisions of said sections, but that because of some unavoidable delay in the construction of the irrigating works intended to convey water to the said lands, he is, without fault on his part, unable to make proof of the reclamation and cultivation of said land, as required by said sections, shall, upon filing his corroborated affidavit with the land office in which said land is located, setting forth said facts, be allowed an additional period of not to exceed three years, within the discretion of the Secretary or such officer, within which to furnish proof as required by said sections of the completion of said work.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Other Extension PeriodsAct
June 24, 1921, ch. 28, 42 Stat. 66, provided that desert-land entries in certain townships in Riverside County, California, should not be canceled prior to
May 1, 1923, for failure to make annual or final proof, that the requirements of the law should become operative from that date, and that a further extension might be granted. A further extension of time to make final proof on desert-land entries in the counties of Benton, Yakima, and Klickitat, in the State of Washington, was authorized by act Feb. 28, 1911, ch. 180, 36 Stat. 960. Previous provisions for extension of time for making final proofs under entries of desert lands in certain cases were made by act Aug. 4, 1894, ch. 208, 28 Stat. 226.

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. “Secretary of the Interior or such officer as he may designate” and “Secretary or such officer” substituted for “Commissioner of the General Land Office” on authority of section 403 of Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1946, which abolished General Land Offices and Commissioner thereof and transferred function of General Land Office to a new agency in Department of the Interior to be known as Bureau of Land Management. 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. § 333

Title 43 — Public Lands

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60