§ 29. — Patents; procurement procedure; filing: application under oath, plat and field notes, notices, and affidavits; posting plat and notice on claim; publication and posting notice in office; certificate; adverse claims; payment per acre; objections; nonresident claimant's agent for execution of application and affidavits.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 30USC29]
TITLE 30--MINERAL LANDS AND MINING
CHAPTER 2--MINERAL LANDS AND REGULATIONS IN GENERAL
Sec. 29. Patents; procurement procedure; filing: application
under oath, plat and field notes, notices, and affidavits;
posting plat and notice on claim; publication and posting notice
in office; certificate; adverse claims; payment per acre;
objections; nonresident claimant's agent for execution of
application and affidavits
A patent for any land claimed and located for valuable deposits may
be obtained in the following manner: Any person, association, or
corporation authorized to locate a claim under sections 21, 22 to 24, 26
to 28, 29, 30, 33 to 48, 50 to 52, 71 to 76 of this title and section
661 of title 43, having claimed and located a piece of land for such
purposes, who has, or have, complied with the terms of sections 21, 22
to 24, 26 to 28, 29, 30, 33 to 48, 50 to 52, 71 to 76 of this title, and
section 661 of title 43, may file in the proper land office an
application for a patent, under oath, showing such compliance, together
with a plat and field notes of the claim or claims in common, made by or
under the direction of the Director of the Bureau of Land Management,
showing accurately the boundaries of the claim or claims, which shall be
distinctly marked by monuments on the ground, and shall post a copy of
such plat, together with a notice of such application for a patent, in a
conspicuous place on the land embraced in such plat previous to the
filing of the application for a patent, and shall file an affidavit of
at least two persons that such notice has been duly posted, and shall
file a copy of the notice in such land office, and shall thereupon be
entitled to a patent for the land, in the manner following: The register
of the land office, upon the filing of such application, plat, field
notes, notices, and affidavits, shall publish a notice that such
application has been made, for the period of sixty days, in a newspaper
to be by him designated as published nearest to such claim; and he shall
also post such notice in his office for the same period. The claimant at
the time of filing this application, or at any time thereafter, within
the sixty days of publication, shall file with the register a
certificate of the Director of the Bureau of Land Management that $500
worth of labor has been expended or improvements made upon the claim by
himself or grantors; that the plat is correct, with such further
description by such reference to natural objects or permanent monuments
as shall identify the claim, and furnish an accurate description, to be
incorporated in the patent. At the expiration of the sixty days of
publication the claimant shall file his affidavit, showing that the plat
and notice have been posted in a conspicuous place on the claim during
such period of publication. If no adverse claim shall have been filed
with the register of the proper land office at the expiration of the
sixty days of publication, it shall be assumed that the applicant is
entitled to a patent, upon the payment to the proper officer of $5 per
acre, and that no adverse claim exists; and thereafter no objection from
third parties to the issuance of a patent shall be heard, except it be
shown that the applicant has failed to comply with the terms of sections
21, 22 to 24, 26 to 28, 29, 30, 33 to 48, 50 to 52, 71 to 76 of this
title and section 661 of title 43. Where the claimant for a patent is
not a resident of or within the land district wherein the vein, lode,
ledge, or deposit sought to be patented is located, the application for
patent and the affidavits required to be made in this section by the
claimant for such patent may be made by his, her, or its authorized
agent, where said agent is conversant with the facts sought to be
established by said affidavits.
(R.S. Sec. 2325; Jan. 22, 1880, ch. 9, Sec. 1, 21 Stat. 61; Mar. 3,
1925, ch. 462, 43 Stat. 1144, 1145; 1946 Reorg. Plan No. 3, Sec. 403,
eff. July 16, 1946, 11 F.R. 7876, 60 Stat. 1100.)
References in Text
Sections 21, 22 to 24, 26 to 28, 29, 30, 33 to 48, 50 to 52, 71 to
76 of this title and section 661 of title 43, referred to in text, were
in the original ``this chapter'', meaning chapter 6 of title 32 of the
Revised Statutes, consisting of R.S. Secs. 2318 to 2352.
Codification
R.S. Sec. 2325 derived from act May 10, 1872, ch. 152, Sec. 6, 17
Stat. 92.
Amendments
1925--Act Mar. 3, 1925, affected words, in first sentence of text,
now reading ``United States supervisor of surveys,'' and words, in next
to last sentence of text, now reading ``register of the proper land
office.'' Those words formerly read ``United States surveyor general''
and ``register and receiver of the proper land office,'' respectively.
This act abolished the office of surveyor general, and transferred to
and consolidated with the Field Surveying Service, under the
jurisdiction of the U.S. Supervisor of Surveys, the administration,
equipment, etc., of such office, and consolidated the offices and
functions of the register and receiver.
Transfer of Functions
Director of the Bureau of Land Management substituted for United
States Supervisor of Surveys wherever appearing. In the establishment of
The Bureau of Land Management by Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1946, Sec. 403,
eff. July 16, 1946, 11 F.R. 7876, 60 Stat. 1100, set out in the Appendix
to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, the office of
Supervisor of Surveys was abolished and the functions and powers were
transferred to the Secretary of the Interior, to be performed by such
officers or agencies of the Department as might be designated by the
Secretary. Under that authority, the functions and powers formerly
exercised by the Supervisor of Surveys were delegated to the Chief
Cadastral Engineer, subject to the supervision of the Director of the
Bureau of Land Management. In the general reorganization and realignment
of functions of the Bureau, the office of the Chief Cadastral Engineer
was abolished, and the functions of that office have been delegated to
the Director of the Bureau of Land Management. See 43 C.F.R.
Sec. 9180.0-3(a)(1).
Office of register of district land office abolished and all
functions of register transferred to Secretary of the Interior, or to
officers and agencies of Department of the Interior as Secretary may
designate, by Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1946, Sec. 403, set out in the
Appendix to Title 5.
See also Transfer of Functions note set out under section 1 of this
title.
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in sections 24, 33, 37, 38, 39, 40, 42,
46, 47, 48, 49, 102, 541b of this title; title 16 section 460mm-1; title
25 section 640d-10; title 43 sections 1712, 1714, 1732.
