An Act to permit the mining, development, and utilization of the mineral resources of all public lands withdrawn or reserved for power development, and for other purposes
PL 84-359 (H.R.100), enacted 08/11/1955

69 
S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 359-AUG. 11, 1955 
681 
contained in public-land deposits considered as valuable under the 
coal-land classification standards established by the Secretary of the 
Interior and prescribed in section 30, Code of Federal Regulations, 
part 201; and "source material" sliall mean uranium, thoriurn, or any 
other material which is determined by the Atomic Energy Commission 
pursuant to the provisions of section 61 of the Atomic Energy Act of 
1954 to be source material. 
SEC. 7. All moneys received under the provisions of this Act shall 
be paid into the Treasury of the United States and distributed in the 
same manner as provided in section 35 of the Mineral Leasing Act of 
1920, as amended, and section 9 of the Alaska Coal Leasing Act of 
October 20,1914 (38 Stat. 741). 
SEC. 8. The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to issue such 
rules and regulations as may be necessary or appropriate to effectuate 
the purposes of this Act. 
SEC. 9. Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to amend or repeal any 
provisions of the Act of August 13, 1954 (68 Stat. 708), or any right 
granted thereunder. 
SEC. 10. Twenty years after the effective date of this Act, all lands 
subject to the provisions of section 1 shall be withdrawn from all 
forms of entry under this Act. 
All claims made pursuant to the 
provisions of this Act shall expire at that time, except for (1) claims 
for which patent has already been issued, and (2) claims on which 
application for patent has already been made and on which patent is 
subsequently issued: Provided, That, if the President shall so provide 
by Executive order, the provisions of this section shall not become 
effective until thirty years after the effective date of this Act. 
Approved August 11, 1955. 
30CFR Part201. 
68 Stat. 932. 
4 2 u s e 2091. 
41 Stat. 450. 
30 u s e 191. 
48 u s e 437-439. 
30 u s e 521-531. 
Public Law 358 
CHAPTER 796 
AN ACT 
To amend the joint resolution entitled "Joint resolution to establish a commis-
sion for the celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of 
Alexander Hamilton", approved August 20,1954. 
August 11, 1955 
[S.1395] 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 7 of 
the joint resolution entitled "Joint resolution to establish a commis-
sion for the celebration of the two-hundredth anniversary of the birth 
of Alexander Hamilton", approved August 20, 1954, is amended to 
read as follows: 
•'SEC. 7. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated such sums, 
not to exceed $150,000 in addition to the sum of $25,000 heretofore 
appropriated, as the Congress may determine to be necessary to carry 
out the provisions of this joint resolution." 
Approved August 11, 1955. 
Alexander Ham-
ilton. 
B i c e n t e n n i a l , 
eommission. 
68 Stat. 747. 
Appropriation. 
Ante, p. 460. 
Public Law 359 
CHAPTER 797 
AN ACT 
To permit the mining, development, and utilization of the mineral resources of 
all public lands withdrawn or reserved for power development, and for other 
purposes. , 
August 11, 1955 
[H.R. 100] 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may 
be cited as the "Mining Claims Rights Restoration Act of 1955". 
Act of 1955. 
682 
PUBLIC LAW 359-AUG. 11, 1955 
[69 S T A T . 
SEC. 2. All public lands belonging to the United States heretofore, 
now or hereafter withdrawn or reserved for power development or 
power sites shall be open to entry for location and patent of mining 
claims and for mining, development, beneficiation, removal, and utili-
zation of the mineral resources of such lands under applicable Federal 
statutes: Provided^ That all power rights to such lands shall be 
retained by the United States: Provided further^ That locations made 
under this Act within the revested Oregon and California Railroad 
and reconveyed Coos Bay Wagon grant lands shall also be subject 
to the provisions of the Act of April 8, 1948, Public Law 477 
62 Stat. 162. 
(Eightieth Congress, second session) : And provided further^ That 
nothing contained herein shall be construed to open for the purposes 
described in this section any lands (1) which are included in any proj-
ect operating or being constructed under a license or permit issued 
stlt.^8^6*3.^°^^' ^^ under the Federal Power Act or other Act of Congress, or (2) which 
16 use 791a. 
are under examination and survey by a prospective licensee of the 
Federal Power Commission, if such prospective licensee holds an 
uncanceled preliminary permit issued under the Federal Power Act 
authorizing him to conduct such examination and survey with respect 
to such lands and such permit has not been renewed in the case of 
such prospective licensee more than once. 
(b) The locator of a placer claim under this Act, however, shall 
conduct no mining operations for a period of sixty days after the 
filing of a notice of location pursuant to section 4 of this Act. 
If the 
Secretary of the Interior, within sixty days from the filing of the 
notice of location, notifies the locator by registered mail of the Sec-
retary's intention to hold a public hearing to determine whether placer 
mining operations would substantially interfere with other uses of the 
land included within the placer claim, mining operations on that claim 
shall be further suspended until the Secretary has held the hearing 
and has issued an appropriate order. 
The order issued by the Sec-
retary of the Interior shall provide for one of the following: (1) a 
com])lete prohibition of placer mining; (2) a permission to engage 
in placer mining upon the condition that the locator shall, follow-
ing placer operations, restore the surface of the claim to the condition 
in which it was immediately prior to those operations; or (3) a gen-
eral permission to engage in placer mining. 
No order by the Sec-
retary with respect to such operations shall be valid unless a certified 
copy is filed in the same State or county office in which the locator's 
notice of location has been filed in compliance with the United States 
mining laws. 
The Secretary shall establish such rules and regulations as he deems 
desirable concerning bonds and deposits with respect to the restoration 
of lands to their condition prior to placer mining operations. Moneys 
received from any bond or deposit shall be used for the restoration of 
the surface of the claim involved, and any money received in excess 
of the amount needed for the restoration of the surface of that claim 
shall be refunded. 
(c) Nothing in this Act shall affect the validity of withdrawals or 
reservations for purposes other than power development. 
SEC. 3. Prospecting and exploration for and the development and 
utilization of mineral resources authorized in this Act shall be entered 
into or continued at the financial risk of the individual party or parties 
undertaking such work: Provided^ That the United States, its per-
mittees and licensees shall not be responsible or held liable or incur 
any liability for the damage, destruction, or loss of any mining claim, 
mill site, facility installed or erected, income, or other property or 
investments resulting from the actual use of such lands or portions 
thereof for power development at any time where such power develop-
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S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 360-AUG. 11, 1955 
ment is made by or under the authority of the United States, except 
where such damage, destruction, or loss results from the negligence of 
the United States, its permittees and licensees. 
SEC. 4. The owner of any unpatented mining claim located on land 
described in section 2 of this Act shall file for record in the United 
States district land office of the land district in which the claim is 
situated (1) within one year after the effective date of this Act, as 
to any or all locations heretofore made, or within sixty days of location 
as to locations hereafter made, a copy of the notice of location of the 
claim; (2) within sixty days after the expiration of any annual as-
sessment year, a statement as to the assessment work done or improve-
ments made during the previous assessment year. 
SEC. 5. Nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to limit or 
restrict the rights of the owner or owners of any valid mining claim 
located prior to the date of withdrawal or reservation: Provided^ 
That nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit or restrict the 
rights of the owner or owners of any mining claim who are diligently 
working to make a discovery of valuable minerals at the time any 
future withdrawal or reservation for power development is made. 
SEC. 6. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Act, all mining 
claims and mill sites or mineral rights located under the terms of this 
Act or otherwise contained on the public lands as described in section 2 
shall be used only for the purposes specified in section 2 and no facility 
or activity shall be erected or conducted thereon for other purposes. 
Approved August 11, 1955. 
Public Law 360 
CHAPTER 798 
AN ACT 
To amend Public Law 83, Eighty-third Congress. 
August 11, 1955 
[S. 2098] 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That the Smith-
Lever Act, as amended (7 U. S. C. 341 and the following, supp. 1), 
is further amended as follows: 
i 
(a) By adding a new section, following section 7, to read as follows: 
"SEC. 8. (a) The Congress finds that there exists special circum-
stances in certain agricultural areas which cause such areas to be at 
a disadvantage insofar as agricultural development is concerned, which 
circumstances include the following: (1) There is concentration of 
farm families on farms either too small or too unproductive or both; 
(2) such farm operators because of limited productivity are unable 
to make adjustments and investments required to establish profitable 
operations; (3) the productive capacity of the existing farm unit 
does not permit profitable employment of available labor; (4) because 
of limited resources, many of these farm families are not able to 
make full use of current extension programs designed for families 
operating economic units nor are extension facilities adequate to pro-
vide the assistance needed to produce desirable results. 
"(b) In order to further the purposes of section 2 in such areas 
and to encourage complementary development essential to the welfare 
of such areas, there are hereby authorized to be appropriated such 
sums as the Congress from time to time shall determine to be neces-
sary for payments to the States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico 
on the basis of special needs in such areas as determined by the Sec-
retary of Agriculture. 
"(c) In determining that the area has such special need, the Secre-
tary shall find that it has a substantial number of disadvantaged farms 
Smith-Lever Act 
amendment s. 
38 Stat. 372. 
7 u s e 
341-343, 
344*348. 
D i s a d vantage d 
farms. 
Appropriation. 
Assistance.