§434 — Title 43 Public Lands | U.S. Code

Summary

Public lands planned for irrigation must be claimed in plots between 40 and 160 acres. Under the Reclamation Act (June 17, 1902), the Secretary of the Interior can allow a smaller minimum than 40 acres when markets and the land’s ability to grow fruit or garden crops mean a family can be supported on less. The Secretary can set farm units from 10 to 160 acres. If needed to describe the land, the Reclamation Service can make subdivision surveys that are usually rectangular but can be irregular for practical irrigation. Those surveys are recorded in the Bureau of Land Management tract books and paid from the reclamation fund. A person claiming land may choose a smaller area than the stated minimum in any State or Territory.

Title 43, §434

Public Lands — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Public lands which it is proposed to irrigate by means of any contemplated works shall be subject to entry in tracts of not less than forty nor more than one hundred and sixty acres: Provided, That whenever, in the opinion of the Secretary of the Interior, by reason of market conditions and the special fitness of the soil and climate for the growth of fruit and garden produce, a lesser area than forty acres may be sufficient for the support of a family on lands to be irrigated under the provisions of the Act of June seventeenth, nineteen hundred and two, known as the reclamation Act, he may fix a lesser area than forty acres as the minimum entry and may establish farm units of not less than ten nor more than one hundred and sixty acres. Wherever it may be necessary, for the purpose of accurate description, to further subdivide lands to be irrigated under the provisions of said reclamation Act, the Secretary of the Interior may cause subdivision surveys to be made by the officers of the reclamation service, which subdivisions shall be rectangular in form, except in cases where irregular subdivisions may be necessary in order to provide for practicable and economical irrigation. Such subdivision surveys shall be noted upon the tract books in the Bureau of Land Management, and they shall be paid for from the reclamation fund: Provided, That an entryman may elect to enter under said reclamation Act a lesser area than the minimum limit in any State or Territory.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Act of June seventeenth, nineteen hundred and two, referred to in text, is act June 17, 1902, ch. 1093, 32 Stat. 388, popularly known as the Reclamation Act, which is classified generally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 371 of this title and Tables. Codification Section is comprised of a part of section 3 of act

June 17, 1902, and section 1 of act

June 27, 1906. Remainder of section 3 of act

June 17, 1902, is classified to section 416 and 432 of this title.

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.

Executive Documents

Change of Name

The Reclamation Service, established in July 1902, changed to the Bureau of Reclamation on

June 20, 1923, then to the Water and Power Resources Service on Nov. 6, 1979, and then to the Bureau of Reclamation on

May 18, 1981. See 155 Dep’t of the Interior, Departmental Manual 1.1 (2008 repl.); Sec’y Hubert Work, Dep’t of the Interior, Order (

June 20, 1923); Sec’y Cecil D. Andrus, Dep’t of the Interior, Secretarial Order 3042, §§ 1, 4 (Nov. 6, 1979); Sec’y James G. Watt, Dep’t of the Interior, Secretarial Order 3064, §§ 3, 5 (

May 18, 1981).

Transfer of Functions

“Bureau of Land Management” substituted in text for “General Land Office” on authority of section 403 of Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1946, set out as a note under section 1 of this title.

§434 Amount of Land for Which Entry May Be Made; Farm Unit; Subdivision of Lands