All selections of any portion of the public domain, to which, prior to July 23, 1866, no homestead, preemption, or other right had been acquired by any settler under the laws of the United States, and not being mineral land, nor reserved for naval, military, or Indian purposes nor held or claimed under any valid Mexican or Spanish grant, and not included within the limits of any city, town, or village or of the county of San Francisco, made prior to the 23d day of July 1866, and theretofore sold to bona fide purchasers by the State of California are confirmed to the State of California: Provided, however, That said State shall not receive any greater quantity of land for school or improvement purposes than she is entitled to by law.
When selections named in the above paragraph have been made upon lands already surveyed by authority of the United States, the authorities of said States, where the same has not been already done, shall notify the officer, as the Secretary of the Interior may designate, of the land office, for the district in which the land is situated, which notice shall be regarded as the date of the State selection; and the said officers, as the Secretary may designate, of the several land offices, after investigation and decision, shall, under the instruction of the Secretary of the Interior, or such officer as he may designate, forward all such selections to the Bureau of Land Management, and the Secretary or such officer shall certify the same over to the State in the usual manner.
When the State of California has made such selections from the lands not surveyed by the authority of the United States, but which selections have been surveyed by the authority of said State, and the land sold to purchasers in good faith, under the laws of the State, such selections, from said 23d of July, 1866, when marked off and designated in the field, shall have the same force and effect as the preemption rights of a settler upon unsurveyed public lands; and if upon a survey of such lands by the United States, the lines of the two surveys shall be found not to agree, the selection shall be so changed as to include those legal subdivisions which nearest conform to the identical land included in the State survey and selection. Upon filing with the officer as the Secretary of the Interior may designate of the proper United States land office of the township plat, in which any such selection of unsurveyed land is located, the holder of the State title shall be allowed the same time to present and prove up his purchase and claim as was allowed preemptors under existing laws, and if found in accordance with the law the land embraced therein shall be certified over to the State by the Secretary of the Interior or such officer as he may designate.
(R.S. §§2485–2487; 1946 Reorg. Plan No. 3, §403, eff. July 16, 1946, 11 F.R. 7876,
R.S. §2485 derived from acts July 23, 1866, ch. 219, §1,
For transfer of functions of other officers, employees, and agencies of Department of the Interior, with certain exceptions, to Secretary of the Interior, with power to delegate, see Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1950, §§1, 2, eff. May 24, 1950, 15 F.R. 3174,
In second par., "register of the land office," changed to "officer, as the Secretary of the Interior may designate, of the land office,"; "registers of the several land offices," changed to "officers, as the Secretary may designate, of the several land offices,"; first reference to "Commissioner of the General Land Office" changed to "Secretary of the Interior, or such officer as he may designate,"; "Bureau of Land Management" substituted for "General Land Office"; and second reference to "Commissioner of the General Land Office" changed to "Secretary or such officer", on authority of section 403 of Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1946. In third par., "register" changed to "officer as the Secretary of the Interior may designate", and "Commissioner of the General Land Office" changed to "Secretary of the Interior or such officer as he may designate", on authority of that plan. See note set out under section 1 of this title.