Title 43, Public LandsRelease 119-102

§906 Purchase by Bona Fide Purchasers From Grantees; Removal of Crops and Improvements

Title 43 › CHAPTER 21 — GRANTS IN AID OF RAILROADS AND WAGON ROADS › § 906

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

If you were a U.S. citizen or had declared your intent to become one, and you were living on or had settled land that had been returned to the United States because of a deed, contract, or license made before January 1, 1888, you can buy up to 320 acres of that land at $1.25 an acre. You must buy before January 1, 1899. If you improved the land before January 1, 1890, and you already paid the railroad company for it before that date, those payments can count toward the United States’ price, but only up to $1.25 per acre. You may also give up this purchase right and instead claim the land under the homestead law (see section 905). People or companies who were allowed to use the land but are not covered by sections 904–907 have six months to remove growing crops and movable buildings. Land in Iowa with a good-faith preemption or homestead claim is excluded. Rights given in sections 894–899 and any claims against the original seller stay in force. You do not have to live on the land to buy it if you fenced, farmed, or improved it, and you may buy two or more legal pieces up to 320 acres total. Adverse claims are not affected.

Full Legal Text

Title 43, §906

Public Lands, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

In all cases where persons being citizens of the United States, or who have declared their intentions to become such, in accordance with the naturalization laws of the United States, are in possession of any of the lands affected by any such grant and resumed by and restored to the United States, under deed, written contract with, or license from, the State or corporation to which such grant was made, or its assignees, executed prior to January 1, 1888, or where persons may have settled said lands with bona fide intent to secure title thereto by purchase from the State or corporation when earned by compliance with the conditions or requirements of the granting Acts of Congress they shall be entitled to purchase the same from the United States, in quantities not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres to any one such person, at the rate of $1.25 per acre, at any time prior to January 1, 1899, and on making said payments to receive patents therefor, and where any such person in actual possession of any such lands and having improved the same prior to the 1st day of January, 1890, under deed, written contract, or license as aforesaid, or his assignor, has made partial or full payments to said railroad company prior to said date, on account of the purchase price of said lands from it, on proof of the amount of such payments he shall be entitled to have the same, to the extent and amount of $1.25 per acre, if so much has been paid, and not more, credited to him on account of and as part of the purchase price herein provided to be paid the United States for said lands, or such persons may elect to abandon their purchases and make claim on said lands under the homestead law and as provided in section 905 of this title: Provided, That in all cases where parties, persons, or corporations, with the permission of such State or corporation, or its assignees, are in the possession of and have made improvements upon any of the lands resumed and restored, and are not entitled to enter the same under the provisions of sections 904 to 907 of this title, such parties, persons, or corporations shall have six months in which to remove any growing crop, and within which time they shall also be entitled to remove all buildings and other movable improvements from said lands: Provided further, That the provisions of this section shall not apply to any lands situated in the State of Iowa on which any person in good faith has made or asserted the right to make a preemption or homestead settlement: And provided further, That nothing in sections 904 to 907 of this title contained shall be construed as limiting the rights granted to purchasers or settlers by sections 894 to 899 of this title, or as repealing, altering, or amending said sections, nor as in any manner affecting any cause of action existing in favor of any purchaser against his grantor for breach of any covenants of title. Actual residence upon the lands by persons claiming the right to purchase the same shall not be required where such lands have been fenced, cultivated, or otherwise improved by such claimants, and such persons shall be permitted to purchase two or more tracts of such lands by legal subdivisions, whether contiguous or not, but not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres in the aggregate. Nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to interfere with any adverse claim that may have attached to the lands or any part thereof.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

43 U.S.C. § 906

Title 43, Public Lands

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102