§987 Lands to Be Certified to State Within One Year

Summary

The Commissioner of the General Land Office must transfer to California any land shown as swamp and overflowed on approved township surveys and plats, whether those surveys were made before or after July 23, 1866. The Supervisor of Surveys, working under the Commissioner, must check the State’s segregation maps and surveys. If they match the United States survey system, the Supervisor will make and approve township plats and send them to the General Land Office. Big areas that are clearly swampy only need their outer lines run instead of being subdivided. If the State’s surveys do not match the U.S. system, or if the United States never made a survey in a township, the Commissioner must order the Supervisor to do segregation surveys after the governor asks for them. Those surveys and a report must be done and sent to the General Land Office within one year of the governor’s request, describing what land was swamp and overflowed under the grant using the best evidence available. If the State claims land not shown as swamp on the original maps or returns, the land’s condition on September 28, 1850, and the right to it will be decided by testimony taken before the Supervisor of Surveys, whose decision is subject to the Commissioner’s approval.