§ 52. — Surveying duties.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 43USC52]
TITLE 43--PUBLIC LANDS
CHAPTER 3--SURVEYS
Sec. 52. Surveying duties
The Secretary of the Interior or such officer as he may designate
shall engage a sufficient number of skillful surveyors as his deputies,
to whom he is authorized to administer the necessary oaths upon their
appointments. He shall have authority to frame regulations for their
direction, not inconsistent with law or the instructions of the Bureau
of Land Management, and to remove them for negligence or misconduct in
office.
Second. He shall cause to be surveyed, measured, and marked, without
delay, all base and meridian lines through such points and perpetuated
by such monuments, and such other correction parallels and meridians as
may be prescribed by law or by instructions from the Bureau of Land
Management, in respect to the public lands to which the Indian title has
been or may be extinguished.
Third. He shall cause to be surveyed all private land claims after
they have been confirmed by authority of Congress, so far as may be
necessary to complete the survey of the public lands.
Fourth. He shall transmit to the officer, as the Secretary of the
Interior may designate, of the respective land offices general and
particular plats of all lands surveyed by him for each land district;
and he shall forward copies of such plats to such officer as the
Secretary may designate.
Fifth. He shall, so far as is compatible with the desk duties of his
office, occasionally inspect the surveying operations while in progress
in the field, sufficiently to satisfy himself of the fidelity of the
execution of the work according to contract, and the actual and
necessary expenses incurred by him while so engaged shall be allowed;
and where it is incompatible with his other duties for the Secretary of
the Interior or such officer as he may designate to devote the time
necessary to make a personal inspection of the work in progress, then he
is authorized to depute a confidential agent to make such examination;
and the actual and necessary expenses of such person shall be allowed
and paid for that service, and $5 a day during the examination in the
field; but such examination shall not be protracted beyond thirty days;
and in no case longer than is actually necessary; and when the Secretary
or such officer, or any person employed in his office at a regular
salary, is engaged in such special service, he shall receive only his
necessary expenses in addition to his regular salary.
(R.S. Sec. 2223; Mar. 3, 1925, ch. 462, 43 Stat. 1144; 1946 Reorg. Plan
No. 3, Sec. 403, eff. July 16, 1946, 11 F.R. 7876, 60 Stat. 1100.)
Codification
Provisions different from those of the fifth paragraph of this
section, for inspection of surveying operations, were made by several
Sundry Civil Appropriation Acts, in connection with the appropriations
for surveys and resurveys, and limited to the expenditure of the
particular appropriation.
R.S. Sec. 2223 derived from acts May 18, 1796, ch. 29, Sec. 1, 1
Stat. 464; Apr. 29, 1816, ch. 151, Sec. 1, 3 Stat. 325; Mar. 3, 1831,
ch. 116, Sec. 1, 4 Stat. 492; Mar. 3, 1853, ch. 145, Secs. 3, 10, 10
Stat. 245, 247; Apr. 24, 1874, ch. 127, 18 Stat. 34; Aug. 9, 1876, ch.
256, 19 Stat. 126.
Transfer of Functions
References to Supervisor of Surveys and Commissioner of General Land
Office changed to Secretary of the Interior or such officer as he may
designate, reference to manager changed to officer designated by
Secretary of the Interior, and ``Bureau of Land Management'' substituted
for ``General Land Office'' on authority of section 403 of Reorg. Plan
No. 3 of 1946. See note set out under section 1 of this title.
Previously, references to surveyors general were changed to
supervisor of surveys and provisions limiting application of section to
points ``within his surveying district'' were omitted on authority of
act Mar. 3, 1925, which abolished office of surveyor general and
transferred its activities to Field Surveying Service under jurisdiction
of United States Supervisor of Surveys.
