 See References in Text note below.

of title 43, shall not apply to mineral lands or town sites. No person shall acquire by virtue of this section any title to any land below the line of ordinary high tide or the line of ordinary high-water mark, as the case may be, of the waters described in this section. Any rights or privileges acquired hereunder with respect to mining operations in land, title to which is transferred to a future State upon its admission to the Union and which is situated within its boundaries, shall be terminable by such State, and the said mining operations shall be subject to the laws of such State.

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Section 687a–2 of title 43, referred to in text, was repealed by Pub. L. 94–579, title VII, §§ 703(a), 704(a), Oct. 21, 1976, 90 Stat. 2789, 2792.

Codification

Section was formerly classified to section 381 of Title 48, Territories and Insular Possessions.

Amendments

1958—Pub. L. 85–662 substituted “fish and game” for “fisheries” in three places, and inserted provisions permitting mining for all metals in Chilkat River, and its tributaries, within two and three-tenths miles of United States survey numbered 991.

1947—Act Aug. 8, 1947, permitted exploration for and mining of gold and other precious metals in beds of navigable streams.

1938—Act May 31, 1938, extended waters subject to exploration and mining for gold to include all water on shores, bays, and inlets of Alaska, and substituted Secretary of the Interior for Secretary of War, among other changes.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Non-Impairment of Valid Claims and Rights

Act Aug. 8, 1947, ch. 514, § 2, 61 Stat. 916, provided: “Nothing in this Act [amending this section] shall be deemed to affect or impair any valid claims, rights or privileges, including possessory claims under the first proviso of section 8 of the Act of May 17, 1884 (23 Stat. 26) [25 U.S.C. 280a], arising under any other provision of law.”

Executive Documents

Admission of Alaska as State

Admission of Alaska into the Union was accomplished Jan. 3, 1959, on issuance of Proc. No. 3269, Jan. 3, 1959, 24 F.R. 81, 73 Stat. c16, as required by sections 1 and 8(c) of Pub. L. 85–508, July 7, 1958, 72 Stat. 339, set out as notes preceding section 21 of Title 48, Territories and Insular Possessions.