An Act to amend the act of July 31, 1947 (61 Stat. 681), and the mining laws to provide for multiple use of the surface of the same tracts of the public lands, and for other purposes
PL 84-167 (H.R.5891), enacted 07/23/1955

69 S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 167-JULY 23, 1955 
367 
of the Act of April 6,1949, as amended, is further amended by striking 
the word "two" from the first sentence of said subsection and inserting 
the word "four" and by adding after the first sentence of the said sub-
section the following new sentence: "After the expiration of the 
period specified herein, such loans may be made only for supple-
mentary advances to producers indebted for loans made under this 
subsection, but no such loan shall be made in any event after July 14, 
1959.". 
Approved July 15, 1955. 
Loans. 
67 Stat. 149. 
12 use 11488-2. 
Public Law 167 
CHAPTER 375 
AN ACT 
To amend the Act of July HI, 1947 (61 Stat. 6S1) and the mining laws to provide 
for multiple use of the surface of the same tracts of the public lands, and for 
other purposes. 
July 23, 1955 
{H. R. 5891] 
Be it enacted hy the Se')iate and House of Representative!^ of the 
United States of America in Congress assejnbled, That section 1 of the 
Act of July ol, 1947 (61 Stat. 681), is amended to read as follows: 
"SECTIOX 1. The Secretary, under such rules and regulations as he 
may prescribe, may dispose of mineral materials (including but not 
limited to common varieties of the following: sand, stone, gravel, 
pumice, pumicite, cinders, and clay) and vegetative materials (includ-
ing but not limited to yucca, manzanita, mesquite, cactus, and timber 
or other forest products) on public lands of the United States, includ-
ing, for the purposes of this Act, land described in the Acts of August 
•28, 19:57 (50 Stat. 874), and of June 24,1954 (68 Stat. 270), if the dis-
posal of such mineral or vegetative materials (1) is not otherwise 
expressly authorized bv law, including, but not limited to, the Act of 
June 28, 19H4 (48 Stat. 1269), as amended, and the United States 
mining laws, and (2) is not expressly prohibited by laws of the United 
States, and (o) would not be detrimental to the public interest. Such 
materials may be disposed of only in accordance with the provisions 
of this Act and upon the payment of adequate compensation therefor, 
to be determined by the Secretary: Provided, however. That, to the 
extent not otherAvise authorized by law, the Secretary is authorized in 
iiis discretion to permit any Federal, State, or Territorial agency, unit 
or subdivision, including municipalities, or any association or corpora-
tion not organized for i)rofit, to take and remove, without charge, mate-
rials and resources suDJect to this Act, for use other than for com-
mercial or industrial purposes or resale. AYhere the lands have been 
withdrawn in aid of a function of a Federal department or agency 
other than the department headed by the Secretary or of a State, 
Territory, county, municipality, water district or other local govern-
mental subdivision or agency, the Secretary may make disposals under 
this Act only with the consent of such other Federal department or 
agency or of such State, Territory, or local governmental unit. Noth-
ing in this Act shall be construed to apply to lands in any national 
park, or national monument or to any Indian lands, or lancls set aside 
or held for the use or benefit of Indians, including lands over which 
jurisdiction has been transferred to the Department of the Interior by 
Executive order for the use of Indians. As used in this Act, the word 
"Secretary" means the Secretary of the Interior except that it means 
the Secretary of Agriculture where the lands involved are admin-
istered by him for national forest purposes or for the purposes of title 
III of the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act or where withdrawn for 
the purpose of any other function of the Department of Agriculture." 
Public lands. 
43 use 1185. 
Materia Is dis-
posal. 
43 u s e 
USlj. 
llSle^ 
43 
seq.. u s e 315 et 
1171. 
50 Stat. 525. 
7 u s e 
1010 et 
aeq. 
368 
PUBLIC LAW 167-JULY 23, 1955 
[69 ST A T . 
43 u s e 1187. 
Moneys received. 
43 u s e 
1181J. 
1181a-
48 u s e 353. 
C o m m o n 
eties. 
varl-
Unpatented min-
ing claims. ; 
Restrictions. 
Timber. 
SEC. 2. That section ?
J of the Act of July 81, 1947 (61 Stat. 681), 
as amended by the Act of August 31, 1950 (64 Stat. 571), is amended 
to read as follows: 
''All moneys received from the disposal of materials under this Act 
shall be disi)Osed of in the same manner as moneys received from the 
sale of public lands, except that moneys received from the disposal of 
materials by the Secretary of Agi-iculture shall be disposed of in the 
same manner as other moneys received by the Department of Agricul-
ture from the administration of the lands from which the disposal of 
materials is made, and except that revenues from the lands described 
in the Act of August 28, 1937 (50 Stat. 874), and the Act of June 24, 
1954 (68 Stat. 270), shall be disposed of in accordance with said Acts 
and except that moneys received from the disposal of materials from 
school section lands in Alaska, reserved under section 1 of the Act of 
March 4, 1915 (38 Stat. 1214), shall be set apart as separate and 
permanent funds in the Territorial Treasury, as provided for income 
derived from said school section lands pursuant to said Act." 
SEC. 3. A deposit of common varieties of sand, stone, gravel, pumice, 
pumicite, or cinders shall not 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 with such a deposit. 
"Common varieties" as used in this Act does not include deposits of 
such materials which are valuable because the deposit has some prop-
erty giving it distinct and special value and does not include so-called 
"block pumice" which occurs in nature in pieces having one dimension 
of two inches or more. 
SEC. 4 (a) Any mining claim hereafter located under the mining 
laws of the United States shall not be used, prior to issuance of patent 
therefor, for any purposes other than prospecting, mining or process-
ing operations and uses reasonably incident thereto. 
(b) Rights under any mining claim hereafter located under the 
mining laws of the United States shall be subject, prior to issuance 
of patent therefor, to the right of the United States to manage and 
dispose of the vegetative surface resources thereof and to manage 
other surface resources thereof (except mineral deposits subject to 
location under the mining laws of the United States). 
Any such 
mining claim shall also be subject, prior to issuance of patent there-
for, to the right of the United States, its permittees, and licensees, 
to use so much of the surface thereof as may be necessary for such pur-
poses or for access to adjacent land: Provided, however, That any 
use of the surface of any such mining claim by the United States, its 
permittees or licensees, shall be such as not to endanger or materially 
interfere with prospecting, mining or processing operations or uses 
reasonably incident thereto: Provided 
further, That if at any time 
the locator requires more timber for his mining operations than is 
available to him from the claim after disposition of timber there-
from by the United States, subsequent to the location of the claim, 
he shall be entitled, free of charge, to be supplied with timber for such 
requirements from the nearest timber administered by the disposing 
agency which is ready for harvesting under the rules and regulations 
of that agency and which is substantially equivalent in kind and quan-
tity to the timber estimated by the disposing agency to have been dis-
posed of from the claim: Provided further. That nothing in this xVct 
shall be construed as affecting or intended to affect or in any way 
interfere wdth or modify the law^s of the States which lie wholly or 
69 S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 1 6 7 - J U L Y 23, 1955 
369 
in part westward of the ninety-eighth meridian relating to the owner-
ship, control, appropriation, use, and distribution of ground or sur-
face waters within any unpatented mining claim. 
(c) Except to the extent required for the mining claimant's pros-
pecting, mining or processing operations and uses reasonably inci-
dent thereto, or for the construction of buildings or structures in con-
nection therewith, or to provide clearance for such operations or uses, 
or to the extent authorized by the United States, no claimant of any 
mining claim hereafter located under the mining laws of the United 
States shall, prior to issuance of patent therefor, sever, remove, or 
use any vegetative or other surface resources thereof which are sub-
ject to management or disposition by the United States under the pre-
ceding subsection (b). Any severance or removal of timber which 
is permitted under the exceptions of the preceding sentence, other 
than severance or removal to provide clearance, shall be in accordance 
with sound principles of forest management. 
SEC. 5. (a) The head of a Federal department or agency which ing°cUk^ant°8."^"" 
has the responsibility for administering surface resources of any 
Pubncation. 
lands belonging to the United States may file as to such lands in 
the office of the Secretary of the Interior, or in such office as the 
Secretary of the Interior may designate, a request for publication 
of notice to mining claimants, for determination of surface rights, 
which request shall contain a description of the lands covered thereby, 
showing the section or sections of the public land surveys which 
embrace the lands covered by sucJi request, or if such lands are 
unsurveyed, either the section or sections which would probably 
embrace such lands Avhen tlie public land surveys are extended to 
such lands or a tie by courses and distances to an approved United 
States mineral monument. 
The filing of such request for publication shall be accompanied 
by an affidavit or affidavits of a person or persons over twenty-oiv.i 
years of age setting forth that the affiant or affiants have examined 
the lands involved in a reasonable effort to ascertain whether any 
person or persons were in actual possession of or engaged in the 
working of such lands or any part thereof, and, if no jjerson or per-
sons were found to be in actual possession of or engaged in the work-
ing of said lands or any part thereof on the date of such examination, 
setting forth such fact, or, if any person or persons were so found 
to be m actual possession or engaged in such working on the date of 
such examination, setting forth the name and address of each sucli 
person, unless affiant shall have been unable through reasonable 
inquiry to obtain information as to the name and address of any 
such person, in which event the affidavit shall set forth fully the 
nature and results of such inquiry. 
The filing of such request for publication shall also be accompanied 
by the certificate of a title or abstract company, or of a title abstractor, 
or of an attorney, based upon such company's abstractor's, or attorney's 
examination of those instruments which are shown by the tract indexes 
in the county office of record as affecting the lands described in said 
request, setting forth the name of any person disclosed by said instru-
ments to have an interest in said lands under any unpatented mining 
claim heretofore located, together with the address of such person if 
such address is disclosed by such instruments of record. 
"Tract 
indexes" as used herein shall mean those indexes, if any, as to surveyed 
lands identifying instruments as affecting a particular legal subdivi-
sion of the public land surveys, and as to unsurveyed lands identifying 
instruments as affecting a particular probable legal subdivision accord-
ing to a projected extension of the public land surveys. 
54402 O - 55 - 24 
370 
PUBLIC LAW 167-JULY 23, 1955 
[69 STAT. 
Thereupon the Secretary of the Interior, at the expense of the 
requesting department or agency, shall cause notice to mining claim-
ants to be published in a newspaper having general circulation in 
the county in which the lands involved are situate. 
Such notice shall describe the lands covered by such request, as 
provided heretofore, and shall notify whomever it may concern that 
if any person claiming or asserting under, or by virtue of, any unpat-
ented mining claim heretofore located, rights as to such lands or any 
part thereof, shall fail to file in the office where such request for pub-
lication was filed (which office shall be specified in such notice) and 
Avithin one hundred and fifty days from the date of the first publica-
tion of such notice (which date shall be specified in such notice), a 
verified statement which shall set forth, as to such unpatented mining 
claim— 
(1) the date of location; 
(2) the book and page of recordation of the notice or certificate 
of location; 
(3) the section or sections of the public land surveys which 
embrace such mining claims; or if such lands are unsurveyed, 
either the section or sections which would probably embrace such 
mining claim when the T)ublic land surveys are extended to such 
lands or a tie by courses and distances to an approved United 
States mineral monument; 
(4) whether such claimant is a locator or purchaser under 
such location; and 
(5) the name and address of such claimant and names and 
addresses so far as known to the claimant of any other person 
or persons claiming any interest or interests in or under such 
unpatented mining claim; 
such failure shall be conclusively deemed (i) to constitute a waiver 
and relinquishment by such mining claimant of any right, title, or 
interest under such mining claim contrary to or in conflict with the 
limitations or restrictions specified in section 4 of this Act as to here-
after located unpatented mming claims, and (ii) to constitute a con-
sent by such mining claimant that such mining claim, prior to issuance 
of patent therefor, shall be subject to the limitations and restrictions 
specified in section 4 of this Act as to hereafter located unpatented 
mining claims, and (iii) to preclude thereafter, prior to issuance of 
patent, any assertion by such mining claimant of any right or title to 
or interest in or under such mining claim contrary to or in conflict 
with the limitations or restrictions specified in section 4 of this Act as 
to hereafter located unpatented mining claims. 
If such notice is published in a daily paper, it shall be published in 
the Wednesday issue for nine consecutive weeks, or, if in a weekly 
paper, in nine consecutive issues, or if in a semiweekly or triweekly 
paper, in the issue of the same day of each week for nine consecutive 
weeks. 
Within fifteen days after the date of first publication of such notice, 
the department or agency requesting such publication (1) shall cause 
a copy of such notice to be personally delivered to or to be mailed by 
registered mail addressed to each person in possession or engaged in 
the working of the land whose name and address is shown by an affi-
davit filed as aforesaid, and to each person who may have filed, as to 
any lands described in said notice, a request for notices, as provided 
in subsection (d) of this section 5, and shall cause a copy of such notice 
to be mailed by registered mail to each person whose name and address 
is set forth in the title or abstract company's or title abstractor's or 
attorney's certificate filed as aforesaid, as having an interest in the 
69 
S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 167-JULY 23, 1955 
371 
lands described in said notice under any unpatented mining claim 
heretofore located, such notice to be directed to such person's address 
as set forth in such certificate; and (2) shall file in the office where said 
request for publication was filed an affidavit showing that copies have 
been so delivered or mailed. 
(b) If any claimant under any unpatented mining claim heretofore 
located which embraces any of the lands described in any notice pub-
lished in accordance with the provisions of subsection (a) of this sec-
tion 5, shall fail to file a verified statement, as above provided, within 
one hundred and fifty days from the date of the first publication of 
such notice, such failure shall be conclusively deemed, except as other-
wise provided in subsection (e) of this section 5, (i) to constitute a 
waiver and relinquishment by such mining claimant of any right, title, 
or interest under such mining claim contrary to or in conflict with the 
limitations or restrictions specified in section 4 of this Act as to here-
after located unpatented mining claims, and (ii) to constitute a con-
sent by such mining claimant that such mining claim, prior to issuance 
of patent therefor, shall be subject to the limitations and restrictions 
specified in section 4 of this Act as to hereafter located unpatented 
mining claims, and (iii) to preclude thereafter, prior to issuance of 
patent, any assertion by such mining claimant of any right or title 
to or interest in or under such mining claim contrary to or in conflict 
with the limitations or restrictions specified in section 4 of this Act as 
to hereafter located unpatented mining claims. 
(c) If any verified statement shall be filed by a mining claimant as 
provided in subsection (a) of this section 5, then the Secretary of 
Interior shall fix a time and place for a hearing to determine the valid-
ity and effectiveness of any right or title to, or interest in or under 
such mining claim, which the mining claimant may assert contrary to 
or in conflict with the limitations and restrictions specified in sec-
tion 4 of this Act as to hereafter located unpatented mining claims, 
which place of hearing shall be in the county where the lands in ques-
tion or parts thereof are located, unless the mining claimant agrees 
otherwise. Where verified statements are filed asserting rights to an 
aggregate of more than twenty mining claims, any single hearing 
shall be limited to a maximum of twenty mining claims unless the 
parties affected shall otherwise stipulate and as many separate hear-
ing shall be set as shall be necessary to comply with this provision, 
I h e procedures with respect to notice of such a hearing and the con-
duct thereof, and in respect to appeals shall follow the then estab-
lished general procedures and rules of practice of the Department of 
the Interior in respect to contests or protests affecting public lands 
of the United States. 
If, pursuant to such a hearing the final deci-
sion rendered in the matter shall affirm the validity and effective-
ness of any mining claimant's so asserted right or interest under the 
mining claim, then no subsequent proceedings under this section 5 
of this Act shall have any force or effect lipon the so-affirmed right 
or interest, of such mining claimant under such mining claim. If at 
any time prior to a hearing the department or agency requesting pub-
lication of notice and any person filing a verified statement pursuant 
to such notice shall so stipulate, then to the extent so stipulated, 
but only to such extent, no hearing shall be held with respect to rights 
asserted under that verified statement, and to the extent defined by 
the stipulation the rights asserted under that verified statement shall 
be deemed to be unaffected by that particular published notice. 
(d) Any person claiming any right under or by virtue of any 
unpatented mining claim heretofore located and desiring to receive 
a copy of any notice to mining claimants which may be published 
Failure 
verified st 
to f i l e 
atement. 
Hearings, 
R e q u e 
copies of 
s t s f o r 
notices. 
372 
PUBLIC LAW 167-JULY 23, 1955 
[69 STAT. 
as above provided in subsection (a) of this section 5, and which may 
affect lands embraced in such mining claim, may cause to be filed 
for record in the county office of record where the notice or certificate 
of location of such mining claim shall have been recorded, a duly 
acknowledged request for a copy of any such notice. 
Such request 
for copies shall set forth the name and address of the person request-
ing copies and shall also set forth, as to each heretofore located 
unpatented mining claim under which such person asserts rights— 
(1) the date of location; 
(2) the book and page of the recordation of the notice or 
certificate of location; and 
(3) the section or sections of the public land surveys whicli 
embrace such mining claim; or if such lands are unsurveyed, 
either the section or sections w^hich would probably embrace such 
mining claim when the public land surveys are extended to sucli 
lands or a tie by courses and distances to an approved United 
States mineral monument. 
Other than in respect to the requirements of subsection (a) of this 
section 5 as to personal delivery or mailing of copies of notices and 
in respect to the provisions of subsection (e) of this section 5, no 
such request for copies of published notices and no statement or 
allegation in such request and no recordation thereof shall affect title 
to any mining claim or to any land or be deemed to constitute con-
structive notice to any person that the person requesting copies has, 
or claims, any right, title, or interest in or under any mining claim 
referred to in such request. 
no^ucTrlq^rl- 
(®) ^^ ^^J department or agency requesting publication shall fail 
ments. 
to comply witli the requirements of subsection (a) of this section 5 
as to the personal delivery or mailing of a copy of notice to any person, 
the publication of such notice shall be deemed wholly ineffectual as to 
that person or as to the rights asserted by that person and the failure 
of that person to file a verified statement, as provided in such notice, 
shall in no manner affect, diminish, prejudice or bar any rights of 
that person. 
Waiver o
f rights. 
g^^ g rpj^^ owucr or owuers of any unpatented mining claim here-
tofore located may waive and relinquish all rights thereunder which 
are contrary to or in conflict with the limitations or restrictions 
specified in section 4 of this Act as to hereafter located unpatented 
mining claims. The execution and acknowledgment of such a waiver 
and relinquishment by such owner or owners and the recordation 
thereof in the office where the notice or certificate of location of such 
mining claim is of record shall render such mining claim thereafter 
and prior to issuance of patent subject to the limitations and restric-
tions in section 4 of this Act in all respects as if said mining claim had 
been located after enactment of this Act, but no such waiver or 
relinquishment shall be deemed in any manner to constitute any con-
cession as to the date of priority of rights under said mining claim 
or as to the validity thereof. 
e^iVtinV lights! 
SEC. 7. Notliiug iu this Act shall be construed in any manner to 
"
*
*
=
• 
limit or restrict or to authorize the limitation or restriction of any 
existing rights of any claimant under any valid mining claim here-
tofore located, excej)t as such rights may be limited or restricted as 
a result of a jjroceeding pursuant to section 5 of this Act, or as a 
result of a waiver and relinquishment pursuant to section 6 of this 
Act; and nothing in this Act shall be construed in any manner to 
authorize inclusion in any patent hereafter issued under the mining 
laws of the United States for any mining claim heretofore or here-
after located, of any reservation, limitation, or restriction not other-
69 
S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 170-JULY 26, 1955 
373 
wise authorized by law, or to limit or repeal any existing authority 
to include any reservation, limitation, or restriction in any such pat-
ent, or to limit or restrict any use of the lands covered by any patented 
or unpatented mining claim by the United States, its lessees, per-
mittees, and licensees which is otherwise authorized by law. 
Approved July 23, 1956. 
Public Law 168 
CHAPTER 376 
AN ACT 
To extend the existing authority for the loan of a small aircraft carrier to 
the Government of France. 
July 26, 1955 
[S.1139] 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 2 of 
the Act of August 5,1953 (67 Stat. 363) is hereby amended by strik-
ing out the remainder of the sentence after the word "until" and 
inserting in lieu thereof "June 30,1958". 
Approved July 26, 1955. 
Public Law 169 
CHAPTER 377 
AN ACT 
To declare Pike Creelv above the easterly side of the highway bridge at Sixth 
Avenue in the city of Kenoslia, Wisconsin, a nonnavigable stream. 
July 26,1955 
[S. 1250] 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That Pike Creek, in 
the State of Wisconsin, above the easterly side of the highway bridge 
at Sixth Avenue in the city of Kenosha is hereby declared to be a 
]K)nnavigable stream within the meaning of the Constitution and laws 
of the United States. 
SEC. -2. The right to alter, amend, or repeal this Act is hereby 
expressly reserved. 
Approved July 26, 1955. 
Pike Creek, Wis. 
Public Law 170 
CHAPTER 378 
AN ACT 
To amend the Act of August 24, 1912, to simplify the procedures governing the 
mailings of certain publications of churches and church organizations 
July 26, 1955 
[H. R. 4585] 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Co7igress assemhled. That the ninth 
paragraph under the heading "OFFICE OF THE THIRD ASSISTANT POST-
MAsiT^R GENERAL" contained in the first section of the Act entitled 
"An Act making appropriations for the service of the Post Office 
Department for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred 
and thirteen, and for other purposes", approved August 24, 1912 
(39 U. S. C, sec. 229), is amended— 
(1) by inserting "or by a church or church organization," 
immediately after "or by a regularly established State institu-
tion of learning supported in whole or in part by public taxation,"; 
(2) by inserting "or by churches and church organizations," 
immediately after "and such periodical publications, issued by 
Mailing of church 
publications. 
37 Stat. 550.