§302 Method of Apportionment and Selection; Issuance of Land Scrip

Summary

After the land is surveyed, it must be divided among the States into sections or smaller parts no smaller than one-quarter of a section. If a State has public lands inside its borders that can be bought privately for $1.25 per acre, the State’s share must come from those lands. If a State does not have enough such land, the Secretary of the Interior must give the State land scrip equal to the missing number of acres. The State must sell that scrip and use the money only for the purposes already set by law. The State may not use the scrip to claim land in another State or Territory, but people the State assigns the scrip to may locate it on unclaimed federal land that sells for $1.25 per acre or less. Those assignees may not locate more than one million acres in any one State, and no locations may be made before July 2, 1863.