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43 USC § 322 - Desert lands defined; question how determined 

---
identifier: "/us/usc/t43/s322"
source: "usc"
legal_status: "official_prima_facie"
title: "43 USC § 322 - Desert lands defined; question how determined"
title_number: 43
title_name: "PUBLIC LANDS"
section_number: "322"
section_name: "Desert lands defined; question how determined"
chapter_number: 9
chapter_name: "DESERT-LAND ENTRIES"
positive_law: false
currency: "119-84"
last_updated: "2026-04-17"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
source_credit: "(Mar. 3, 1877, ch. 107, §§ 2, 3, 19 Stat. 377; 1946 Reorg. Plan No. 3, § 403, eff. July 16, 1946, 11 F.R. 7876, 60 Stat. 1100.)"
---

# § 322. Desert lands defined; question how determined

All lands exclusive of timber lands and mineral lands which will not, without irrigation, produce some agricultural crop, shall be deemed desert lands, within the meaning of sections 321 to 323, 325, and 327 to 329 of this title, which fact shall be ascertained by proof of two or more credible witnesses under oath, whose affidavits shall be filed in the land office in which said tract of land may be situated.

The determination of what may be considered desert land shall be subject to the decision and regulation of the Secretary of the Interior or such officer as he may designate.

---

**Source Credit**: (Mar. 3, 1877, ch. 107, §§ 2, 3, 19 Stat. 377; 1946 Reorg. Plan No. 3, § 403, eff. July 16, 1946, 11 F.R. 7876, 60 Stat. 1100.)

## Editorial Notes

### Codification

The first paragraph of this section is from section 2 of act .

The second paragraph of this section is from the last clause of section 3 of act . The first clause of section 3 is incorporated in .

## Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Section as Unaffected by Submerged Lands Act

Provisions of this section as not amended, modified or repealed by the Submerged Lands Act, see .

## Executive Documents

### Transfer of Functions

“Secretary of the Interior or such officer as he may designate” substituted for “Commissioner of the General Land Office” on authority of section 403 of Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1946, which abolished General Land Office and Commissioner thereof and transferred functions of General Land Office to a new agency in Department of the Interior to be known as Bureau of Land Management. See section 403 of Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1946, set out as a note under .