An Act to provide for the establishment of the Padre Island National Seashore
PL 87-712 (S.4), enacted 09/28/1962

650 
PUBLIC LAW 87-711-SEPT. 27, 1962 
[76 STAT. 
September 27, 1962 
[S. 3 154] 
Public Law 87-711 
:' 
AN ACT 
To amend Public Law 86-184, an Act to provide for the striking of medals in 
commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of the admission of West 
Virginia into the Union as a State. 
West Virginia. 
Centennial 
medals. 
73 Stat. 417. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and Ho\ise *of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That Public Law 
86-184 is hereby amended by striking out, in section 1, line 7, the words 
"not more than two hundred thousand silver medals" and inserting 
in lieu thereof "not more than twenty platinum medals, twenty 
thousand silver medals, and seven hundred and fifty thousand bronze 
medals." 
SEC. 2. Public Law 86-184 is further amended by striking out, in 
section 2(b), line 2, the words "in silver". 
Approved September 27, 1962. 
'ilSM-
September 28, 1962 
[S. 4] 
Public Law 87-712 
AN ACT 
To provide for the establishment of the Padre Island National Seashore. 
Padre Island 
National Sea -
shore, Tex. 
Establishment. 
Acquisition of 
land, etc. 
Be it enxicted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That in order to 
save and preserve, for purposes of public recreation, benefit, and in-
spiration, a portion of the diminishing seashore of the United States 
that remains undeveloped, the Secretary of the Interior shall take 
appropriate action in the public interest toward the establishment of 
the following described lands and waters as the Padre Island National 
Seashore: Beginning at a point one statute mile northerly of North 
Bird Island on the easterly line of the Intra coastal Waterway; thence 
due east to a point on Padre Island one statute mile west of the mean 
high water line of the Gulf of Mexico; thence southwesterly paralleling 
the said mean high water line of the Gulf of Mexico a distance of 
about three and five-tenths statute miles; thence due east to the two-
fathom line on the east side of Padre Island as depicted on United 
States Coast and Geodetic Survey chart numbered 1286; thence along 
the said two-fathom line on the east side of Padre Island as depicted 
on United States Coast and Geodetic Survey charts numbered 1286, 
1287, and 1288 to the Willacy-Cameron County line extended; thence 
westerly along said county line to a point 1,500 feet west of the mean 
high water line of the Gulf of Mexico as that line was determined by 
the survey of J. S. Boyles and is depicted on sections 9 and 10 of the 
map entitled "Survey of Padre Island made for the office of the At-
torney General of the State of Texas", dated August 7 to 11,1941, and 
August 11,13, and 14, 1941, respectively; thence northerly along a line 
parallel to said survey line of J. S. Boyles and distant therefrom 1,500 
feet west to a point on the centerline of the Port Mansfield Channel; 
thence westerly along said centerline to a point three statute miles 
west of the said two-fathom line; thence northerly parallel with said 
two-fathom line to 27 degrees 20 minutes north latitude; thence west-
erly along said latitude to the easterly line of the Intracoastal Water-
way ; thence northerly following the easterly line of the Intracoastal 
Waterway as indicated by channel markers in the Laguna Madre to 
the point of beginning. 
SEC. 2. (a) The Secretary of the Interior (hereinafter referred to as 
the "Secretary") is authorized to acquire by donation, purchase with 
76 STAT. ] 
PUBLIC LAW 87-712-SEPT. 28, 1%2 
651 
donated or appropriated funds, condemnation, transfer from any 
Federal agency, exchange, or otherwise, the land, waters, and other 
property, and improvements thereon and any interest therein, within 
the areas described in the first section of this Act or which lie within 
the boundaries of the seashore as established under section 3 of this 
Act (hereinafter referred to as "such area"). 
Any property, or 
interest therein, owned by the State of Texas or political subdivision 
thereof may be acquired only with the concurrence of such owner. 
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any Federal property 
located within such area may, with the concurrence of the agency 
having custody thereof, be transferred without consideration to the 
administrative jurisdiction of the Secretary for use by him in carry-
ing out the provisions of this Act. 
(b) The Secretary is authorized to pay for any acquisitions which he 
makes by purchase under this Act their fair market value, as deter-
mined by the Secretary, who may in his discretion base his determi-
nation on an independent appraisal obtained by him. 
(c) In exercising his authority to acquire property by exchange, 
the Secretary may accept title to any non-Federal property located 
within such area and convey to the grantor of such property any 
federally owned property under the jurisdiction of the Secretary 
within such area. The properties so exchanged shall be approximately 
equal in fair market value: Provided^ That the Secretary may accept 
cash from or pay cash to the grantor in such an exchange in order to 
equalize the values of the properties exchanged. 
SEC. 3. (a) As soon as practicable after the date of enactment of 
this Act and following the acquisition by the Secretary of an acreage 
in the area described in section 1 of this Act, that is in the opinion of 
the Secretary efficiently administrable to carry out the purposes of 
this Act, the Secretary shall establish the area as a national seashore 
by the publication of notice thereof in the Federal Register. 
(b) Such notice referred to in subsection (a) of this section shall ^* ^' 
contain a detailed description of the boundaries of the seashore which 
shall encompass an area as nearly as practicable identical to the area 
described in section 1 of this Act. The Secretary shall forthwith after 
the date of publication of such notice in the Federal Register (1) send 
a copy of such notice, together with a map showing such boundaries, 
by registered or certified mail to the Governor of the State and to 
the governing body of each of the political subdivisions involved; (2) 
cause a copy of such notice and map to be published in one or more 
newspapers which circulate in each of the localities; and (3) cause 
a certified copy of such notice, a copy of such map, and a copy of this 
Act to be recorded at the registry of deeds for the county involved. 
SEC. 4. (a) When acquiring land, waters, or interests therein, the 
Secretary shall permit a reservation by the grantor of all or any part 
of the oil and gas minerals in such land or waters and of other minerals 
therein which can be removed by similar means, with the right of oc-
cupation and use of so much of the surface of the land or waters as 
may be required for all purposes reasonably incident to the mining 
or removal of such from beneath the surface of these lands and waters 
and the lands and waters adjacent thereto, under such regulations 
as may be prescribed by the Secretary with respect to such mining 
or removal. 
(b) Any acquisition hereunder shall exclude and shall not diminish 
any right of occupation or use of the surface under grants, leases, or 
easements existing on April 11, 1961, w^hich are reasonably necessary 
for the exploration, development, production, storing, processing, or 
transporting of oil and gas minerals that are removed from outside the 
boundaries of the national seashore and the Secretary may grant 
Notice. 
Publication in 
Circul ation. 
Mineral reser-
vation. 
652 
PUBLIC LAW 8T.713-SEPT. 28, 1%2 
[76 STAT. 
Admini stration. 
16 use 1. 
Roadways. 
Gunnery or 
bombing ranges. 
Appropriation. 
additional rights of occupation or use of the surface for the purposes 
aforesaid upon the terms and under such regulations as may be 
prescribed by him. 
SEC. 5. Except as otherwise provided in this Act, the property ac-
quired by the Secretary under this Act shall be administered by the 
Secretary, sub,ject to the provisions of the Act entitled "An Act to 
establish a National Park Sei'vice and for other purposes", approved 
August 25,1916 (39 Stat. 535), as amended and supplemented, and in 
accordance with other laws of general application relating to the areas 
administered and supervised by the Secretary through the National 
Park Service; except that authority otherwise available to the Secre-
tary for the conservation and management of natural resources may 
be utilized to the extent he finds such authority will further the pur-
poses of this Act. 
SEC. 6. The Secretary may provide for roadways from the north 
and south boundaries or such public recreation area to the access high-
ways from the mainland to Padre Island. 
SEC. 7. The Secretary of the Interior shall enter into such adminis-
trative agreements with the Secretary of the Navy as the Secretary of 
the Navy may deem necessary to assure that the Secretary of the In-
terior will not exercise any authority granted by this Act so as to in-
terfere with the use by the Department of the Navy of any aerial 
gunnery or bombing range located in the vicinity of Padre Island. 
SEC. 8. There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may 
be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act; except that no 
more than $5,000,000 shall be appropriated for the acquisition of land 
and waters and improvements thereon, and interests therein, and 
incidental costs relating thereto, in accordance with the provisions of 
this Act. 
Approved September 28, 1962, 12:40 p.m. 
Public Law 87-713 
September 28, 1962 
A N A C T 
[H.R. 10540] 
rj<Q exclude deposits of petrified wood from appropriation under the United States 
mining laws. 
Petrified wood. 
Sale. 
Definition. 
Be ft enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That section 3 of the 
Act of July 23,1955 (69 Stat. 368; 30 U.S.C. 611), is amended to read: 
"No deposit of common varieties of sand, stone, gravel, pumice, 
pumicite, or cinders and no deposit of petrified wood shall be deemed 
a valuable mineral deposit within the meaning of the mining laws of 
the United States so as to give effective validity to any mining claim 
hereafter located under such mining laws: Provided, however, That 
nothing herein shall affect the validity of any mining location based 
upon discovery of some other mineral occurring in or in association 
Avith such a deposit. 
'Common varieties' as used in this Act does not 
include deposits of such materials which are valuable because the 
deposit lias some property giving it distinct and special value and 
does not include so-called 'block pumice' which occurs in nature in 
])ieces having one dimension of two inches or more. 'Petrified wood* 
as used in this Act means agatized, opalized, petrified, or silicified 
wood, or any material formed by the replacement of wood by silica or 
other matter." 
SEC. 2. The Secretary of the Interior shall provide by regulation 
that limited quantities of petrified wood may be removed without 
charge from those public lands which he shall specify. 
Approved September 28, 1962.