30 USC § 38 - Evidence of possession and work to establish right to patent

---
identifier: "/us/usc/t30/s38"
source: "usc"
legal_status: "official_prima_facie"
title: "30 USC § 38 - Evidence of possession and work to establish right to patent"
title_number: 30
title_name: "MINERAL LANDS AND MINING"
section_number: "38"
section_name: "Evidence of possession and work to establish right to patent"
chapter_number: 2
chapter_name: "MINERAL LANDS AND REGULATIONS IN GENERAL"
positive_law: false
currency: "119-84"
last_updated: "2026-04-17"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
source_credit: "(R.S. § 2332.)"
---


# § 38. Evidence of possession and work to establish right to patent

section 661 of title 43

Where such person or association, they and their grantors, have held and worked their claims for a period equal to the time prescribed by the statute of limitations for mining claims of the State or Territory where the same may be situated, evidence of such possession and working of the claims for such period shall be sufficient to establish a right to a patent thereto under sections 21, 22 to 24, 26 to 28, 29, 30, 33 to 48, 50 to 52, 71 to 76 of this title and , in the absence of any adverse claim; but nothing in such sections shall be deemed to impair any lien which may have attached in any way whatever to any mining claim or property thereto attached prior to the issuance of a patent.

---

**Source Credit**: (R.S. § 2332.)

## Editorial Notes

### References in Text

Sections 21, 22 to 24, 26 to 28, 29, 30, 33 to 48, 50 to 52, 71 to 76 of this title and , referred to in text, were in the original “this chapter”, meaning chapter 6 of title 32 of the Revised Statutes, consisting of R.S. §§ 2318 to 2352.

### Codification

R.S. § 2332 derived from , .

## Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Submerged Lands Act

Provisions of this section as not amended, modified or repealed by the Submerged Lands Act, see , Public Lands.