§987 Lands to Be Certified to State Within One Year

Summary

The Commissioner of the General Land Office must give the State of California the lands shown as swamp and overflowed on approved township surveys and plats made under U.S. authority, whether those surveys were done 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 U.S. survey system, the Supervisor will make and approve township plats and send them to the General Land Office. For large, clearly swampy areas, only the outside boundary needs to be run. If the State’s surveys do not match the U.S. system, or if the United States made no survey of a township, the Commissioner must order the Supervisor to make segregation surveys when the governor asks. Those surveys must be done and reported within one year of the governor’s request, showing what land was swamp or overflowed under the grant based on the best evidence. If the State claims land not shown as swamp on the maps or survey returns, the land’s condition on September 28, 1850, and who has the right to it will be decided by testimony taken before the Supervisor, whose decision is subject to the Commissioner’s approval.