An Act to provide for the satisfaction of claims arising out of scrip, lieu selection, and similar rights
PL 88-545 (H.R.4149), enacted 08/31/1964

78 STAT.] 
PUBLIC LAW 88-545-AUG. 31, 1964 
751 
Public Law 88-545 
AN ACT 
To provide for the satisfaction of claims arising out of scrip, lieu selection, 
and similar rights. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress a^sembled^ That, except for 
military bounty land warrants, all claims and holdings recorded under 
the Act of August 5, 1955 (69 Stat. 534, 535), which are not satisfied 
in one of the ways hereafter set forth, shall become null and void 
on the later of the tw^o following dates: (a) January 1, 1970, or, in 
the case of soldiers' additional homestead claims, January 1, 1975; 
(b) at the termination of any transaction initiated pursuant to this 
Act. 
SEC. 2. Prior to July 1, 1966, holders of claims recorded under the 
Act of August 5, 1955, may apply to the Secretary of the Interior 
to have conveyed to them, in satisfaction of their claims, such lands as 
they may, in their applications, designate. The Secretary shall there-
after convey the selected lands if he finds them to be proper, under 
existing law, for such disposition, and if the claim upon which an 
application is based is determined to be valid. As used in this Act, 
the terms "lands" and "land" include any rights or interests therein. 
SEC. 3. (a) Prior to January 1,1967, the Secretary shall classify, for 
conveyance and exchange for each type of claim recorded under the 
Act of August 5, 1955, public lands in sufficient quantity so as to 
provide each holder of such a claim with a reasonable choice of public 
lands against which to satisfy his claim. The public lands so classified 
shall be of a value of not less than the average fair market value, 
determined by the Secretary as of the date patent issued, of those 
public lands actually conveyed in exchange for each type of claim 
since August 5, 1955. 
(b) Holders of recorded claims may apply for reasonably compact 
areas of land so classified, and, upon his determination that the claim 
upon which an application is based is valid, the Secretary shall convey 
such lands to the applicant. 
SEC. 4. Prior to January 1, 1968, the Secretary shall, by registered 
mail or certified mail sent to the address of record of each person 
having an unsatisfied claim, offer in satisfaction of such claim lands of 
a value of not less than the average fair market value of those public 
lands actually conveyed in exchange for each type of claim since 
August 5,1955. Fair market value shall be determined in the manner 
prescribed in section 3 of this Act. Upon acceptance of the offer, the 
Secretary shall convey the lands to the claimant, if he determines 
that the claim is valid. 
SEC. 5. In respect of any type of claim recorded under the Act of 
August 5, 1955, not more than three conveyances of public lands in 
exchange for which have taken place since that date, the Secretary 
shall determine the type of claim which it most nearly resembles, and 
at least four conveyances in exchange for which has taken place since 
August 5, 1955, and shall, for the purposes of this Act, treat it in all 
respects as if it were such type of claim. 
SEC. 6. Prior to January 1, 1970, or, in the case of soldiers' addi-
tional homestead claims, January 1, 1975, any person who has a claim 
recorded pursuant to the Act of August 5, 1955, by written notice 
to the Secretary of the Interior, or any /officer of the Department of 
the Interior to whom authority to receive such notice may be delegated, 
may elect to receive cash instead of public land in satisfaction of his 
claim, at a rate per acre equal to the average value of the lands 
offered by the Secretary under section 4 pf this Act. Upon a deter-
August 31, 1964 
[H. R. 4149] 
Land scrip 
rights. 
Claims. 
43 u s e 274 
note. 
752 
PUBLIC LAW 88-546-AUG. 31, 1964 
[78 
STAT. 
mination that the claim is valid, the Secretary or his delegate shall 
certif;^ the claim to the Secretary of the Treasury who is authorized 
and directed to pay the claim out of any money in the Treasury not 
otherwise appropriated. Acceptance of the money shall constitute a 
full and complete satisfaction of the claim or holding for which the 
money is paiu: Provided^ That 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. 
Approved August 31, 1964. 
August 31, 1964 
[H. R. 931] 
Public Law 88-546 
AN ACT 
To provide for the establishment of the Allegheny Portage Railroad National 
Historic Site and the Johnstown Flood National Memorial in the State of 
Pennsylvania, and for other purposes. 
Allegheny Poi^ 
tage Railroad 
National Historic 
Site; Johnstown 
Flood National 
Memorial. 
Establishment. 
Publication in 
Federal Register. 
16 u s e 1 et 
seq. 
16 u s e 461-467. 
Appropriation. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Re'presentatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That the Secretary 
of the Interior is authorized to establish, as herein provided, the 
Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site and the Johns-
town Flood National Memorial in the State of Pennsylvania. 
For 
this purpose the Secretary may designate up to nine hundred and 
fifty acres of land that may, in his discretion, include portions of the 
Pennsylvania Canal, the Lemon House, the summit of the Allegheny 
Portage Railroad, the Skew Arch Bridge, incline planes numbered 
6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 and the levels between them, the Portage Railroad 
tunnel, and such other land and historic features as may be necessary 
to illustrate the significant role of the Allegheny Portage Railroad 
and the Pennsylvania Canal in the Nation's history; and he may 
designate up to fifty-five acres in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, for 
use in commemorating the tragic Johnstown flood of May 31, 1889. 
SEC, 2. Within the areas designated pursuant to section 1, the Sec-
retary is authorized to acquire lands and interests in lands by 
purchase, donation, purchase with donated funds, or otherwise. 
SEC. 3. When the Secretary of the Interior has acquired sufficient 
lands to form administrable park units, he shall publish notice of 
that fact in the Federal Register and the areas designated pursuant 
to section 1 shall thereafter be known as the Allegheny Portage 
Railroad National Historic Site and the Johnstown Flood National 
Memorial and shall be administered by the Secretary of the Interior 
pursuant to the provisions of the Act entitled "An Act to establish 
the National Park Service, and for other purposes," approved August 
25,1916 (39 Stat. 535), as amended and supplemented. 
SEC. 4. To provide for the preservation and interpretation of the 
remaining portions of the Allegheny Portage Railroad route not 
included within the national historic site, and to further commem-
orate the Johnstown flood, the Secretary is authorized to enter into 
cooperative agreements with the State of Pennsylvania, political 
subdivisions thereof, corporations, associations, or individuals, and 
to erect and maintain tablets or markers in accordance with^ the 
provisions contained in the Act approved August 21, 1935, entitled 
"An Act to provide for the preservation of historic American sites, 
buildings, objects, and antiquities of national significance, and for 
other purposes" (49 Stat. 666). 
SEC. 5. There are authorized to be appropriated such sums, but not 
more than $2,000,000, for land acquisition and development, as may 
be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act. 
Approved August 31, 1964.