Title 43, Public LandsRelease 119-102
§447 Relinquishment of Homestead Entry and Making New Entry
Title 43 › CHAPTER 12 — RECLAMATION AND IRRIGATION OF LANDS BY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT › SUBCHAPTER VI — WATER RIGHT APPLICATIONS AND LAND ENTRIES › § 447
Summary
Before March 4, 1915, anyone who made a homestead entry under the June 17, 1902 law for land thought to be irrigable may give that entry up if the land, or more than twenty acres of it, later proves not to be irrigable. They may then choose any farm unit in the final project and must get credit for the time they lived on the original entry.
Full Legal Text
Title 43, §447
Public Lands, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Any person who prior to March 4, 1915, made homestead entry under the Act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. 388), for land believed to be susceptible of irrigation which at the time of said entry was withdrawn for any contemplated irrigation project, may relinquish the same, provided that it has since been determined that the land embraced in such entry or all thereof in excess of twenty acres is not or will not be irrigable under the project, and in lieu thereof may select and make entry for any farm unit included within such irrigation project as finally established, notwithstanding the provisions of section 436 and 437 of this title: Provided, That such entrymen shall be given credit on the new entry for the time of bona fide residence maintained on the original entry.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
References in Text
Act of June 17, 1902, referred to in text, is 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.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
43 U.S.C. § 447
Title 43, Public Lands
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102