Volume 74 · 335
Public Law 86–596
To provide for payment for lands heretofore conveyed to the United States as a basis for lieu selections from the public domain, and for other purposes.
Approved July 6, 1960
Statutory text
AN ACT
To provide for payment for lands heretofore conveyed to the United States as a basis for lieu selections from the public domain, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That the Secretary of the Interior shall certify to the General Accounting Office for audit the claim of any person who relinquished or conveyed lands to the United States as a basis for a lieu selection in accordance with the provisions of the fifteenth paragraph under the heading “Surveying the Public Lands” in the Act of June 4, 1897 (30 Stat. 11, 36), as amended and supplemented by the Acts of June 6, 1900 (31 Stat. 588, 614), March 3, 1901 (31 Stat. 1010, 1037), March 3, 1905 (33
42 Stat. 1017.
Stat. 1264) and the Act of September 22, 1922 (42 Stat. 1067, 16 U.S.C. 483), and who has not heretofore received his lieu selection, a reconveyance of his lands, or authority to cut and remove timber, as provided by law, and there shall be paid to each such person whose claim is found to be valid the sum of $1.25 per acre for the lands conveyed by him to the United States with interest thereon at the rate of 4 per centum per annum, from the date on which application was last made by said person for a lieu selection, for reconveyance, or for authority to cut and remove timber or, if no such application has been made, from the date of this Act. Said payment shall be made from moneys appropriated under the heading “Claims for Damages, Audited Claims, and Judgments,” and acceptance thereof shall constitute a full and complete satisfaction of all claims which the person to whom payment is made may have against the United States arising from the transaction in connection with which the payment
Condition for payment.
is made. No person shall receive, or be entitled to receive, payment under this Act except upon demand therefor made in writing to the Secretary, or any officer of the Department of the Interior to whom the Secretary delegates authority to receive such demand, within one year from the date of this Act.
Sec. 2.
The right to receive payment under this Act shall not be assignable.
For purposes of payment under this Act, the term “person who conveyed lands to the United States” includes (i) the heirs and devisees of any such person and (ii) any other person to whom he or his heirs or devisees lawfully assigned, before enactment of this Act, their right to a lieu selection or a reconveyance, or their right to receive authority to cut and remove timber. If more than one heir, devisee, or assignee is entitled to share in a payment to be made under this Act, each may individually claim and receive his proper share of the total amount of $1.25 per acre, with interest, which is payable hereunder.
No agent or attorney acting on behalf of another to procure a payment under this Act shall demand, accept, or receive more than 10 per centum of the payment made, and any agreement to the contrary shall be null and void.
Sec. 3.
The Act of September 22, 1922 (42 Stat. 1017; 16 U.S.C. 483) is hereby repealed. No reconveyance of lands to which section 1 of this Act applies shall hereafter be made under section 6 of the Act of April 28, 1930 (46 Stat. 257; 43 U.S.C. 872).
Sec. 4.
Any land for which the United States makes payment under
Disposition of land.
section 1 of this Act, or any land for which it might make payment thereunder upon application by the proper party, but for which no demand is made, shall (unless it has heretofore been disposed of by the United States) be a part of the national forest, national park, or other area within the boundaries of which it is embraced, shall be administered as a part thereof, and shall be subject to the laws, rules, and regulations applicable to land set apart and reserved from the public domain in that national forest, national park, or other area.
Approved July 6, 1960.