§ 987. — Lands to be certified to State within one year.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 43USC987]
TITLE 43--PUBLIC LANDS
CHAPTER 23--GRANTS OF SWAMP AND OVERFLOWED LANDS
Sec. 987. Lands to be certified to State within one year
It shall be the duty of the Commissioner of the General Land Office,
to certify over to the State of California as swamp and overflowed
lands, all the lands represented as such upon the approved township
surveys and plats, whether made before or after the 23d day of July
1866, under the authority of the United States.
The Supervisor of Surveys shall under the direction of the
Commissioner of the General Land Office, examine the segregation maps
and surveys of the swamp and overflowed lands, made by said State; and
where he shall find them to conform to the system of surveys adopted by
the United States, he shall construct and approve township plats
accordingly, and forward to the General Land Office for approval.
In segregating large bodies of land, notoriously and obviously swamp
and overflowed, it shall not be necessary to subdivide the same, but to
run the exterior lines of such body of land.
In case such State surveys are found not to be in accordance with
the system of United States surveys, and in such other townships as no
survey has been made by the United States, the commissioner shall direct
the Supervisor of Surveys to make segregation surveys, upon application
by the governor of said State, within one year of such application, of
all the swamp and overflowed land in such townships, and to report the
same to the General Land Office, representing and describing what land
was swamp and overflowed, under the grant, according to the best
evidence he can obtain.
If the authorities of said State, shall claim as swamp and
overflowed, any land not represented as such upon the map or in the
returns of the surveyors, the character of such land at the date of the
grant September 28, 1850, and the right to the same shall be determined
by testimony, to be taken before the Supervisor of Surveys, who shall
decide the same, subject to the approval of the Commissioner of the
General Land Office.
(R.S. Sec. 2488; Mar. 3, 1925, ch. 462, 43 Stat. 1144.)
Codification
R.S. Sec. 2488 derived from act July 23, 1866, ch. 219, Sec. 4, 14
Stat. 219.
Transfer of Functions
For transfer of functions of other officers, employees, and agencies
of Department of the Interior, with certain exceptions, to Secretary of
the Interior, with power to delegate, see Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1950,
Secs. 1, 2, eff. May 24, 1950, 15 F.R. 3174, 64 Stat. 1262, set out
under section 1451 of this title.
Offices of Commissioner of General Land Office and Supervisor of
Surveys, and General Land Office abolished by Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1946,
Sec. 403, eff. July 16, 1946, 11 F.R. 7876, 60 Stat. 1100. Functions of
Commissioner and Supervisor transferred to Secretary of the Interior or
those officers as he may designate, and functions of General Land Office
transferred by Bureau of Land Management, by that plan. See section 403
of Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1946, set out as a note under section 1 of this
title.
Act Mar. 3, 1925, abolished office of surveyor general and
transferred administration of all activities in charge of surveyors
general to Field Surveying Service under jurisdiction of United States
Supervisor of Surveys.
