[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 43, Volume 2]
[Revised as of October 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 43CFR2625.2]

[Page 176]
 
                    TITLE 43--PUBLIC LANDS: INTERIOR
 
    CHAPTER II--BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
 
PART 2620_STATE GRANTS--Table of Contents
 
                     Subpart 2625_Swamp-land Grants
 
Sec. 2625.2  Applications in conflict with swamp-land claims.

    Applications adverse to the State, in conflict with swamp-land 
claims, will be governed by the following rules:
    (a) In those States where the adjudication of swamp-land claims is 
based on the evidence contained in the survey returns, applications 
adverse to the State for lands returned as swamp will be rejected unless 
accompanied by a showing that the land is non-swamp in character.
    (b) In such case, the claim adverse to the State must be supported 
by a statement of the applicant under oath, corroborated by two 
witnesses, setting forth the basis of the claim and that at the date of 
the swamp-land grant the land was not swamp and overflowed and not 
rendered thereby unfit for cultivation. In the absence of such affidavit 
the application will be rejected. If properly supported, the application 
will be received and suspended subject to a hearing to determine the 
swamp or nonswamp character of the land, the burden of proof being upon 
the non-swamp claimant.
    (c) In those States where the survey returns are not made the basis 
for adjudication of the swamp-land selections, junior applications for 
lands covered by swamp-land selections may be received and suspended, if 
supported by non-swamp affidavits corroborated by two witnesses, subject 
to hearing to determine the character of the land, whether swamp or non-
swamp, and the burden of proof will be upon the junior applicant. 
Likewise, the State, if a junior applicant, may be heard upon furnishing 
an affidavit corroborated by two witnesses alleging that the land is 
swamp in character within the meaning of the swamp-land grant, in which 
case the burden of proof at the hearing will be upon the State.
    (d) Where hearings are ordered in any such cases, the Rules of 
Practice governing contests will be applied, except as herein otherwise 
provided.