---
kind: "section"
citation: "43 U.S.C. § 766"
title: "43"
title_heading: "Public Lands"
number: "766"
heading: "Geological surveys, extension of public surveys, expenses of subdividing"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/43/766"
units:
  - "Chapter 18 — Survey of Public Lands"
---

# §766. Geological surveys, extension of public surveys, expenses of subdividing


There shall be no further geological [survey](/usc/43/31b.md?p=10) by the Government, unless authorized by law. The public [surveys](/usc/43/31b.md?p=10) shall extend over all mineral lands; and all subdividing of surveyed lands into lots less than one hundred and sixty acres may be done by county and local surveyors at the expense of claimants; but nothing in this section contained shall require the [survey](/usc/43/31b.md?p=10) of waste or useless lands.


## Source credit

(R.S. § 2406.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Codification

R.S. § 2406 derived from acts July 21, 1852, ch. 66, § 1, 10 Stat. 15, 21; July 9, 1870, ch. 235, § 16, 16 Stat. 218.

### 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Provisions of this section as not amended, modified or repealed by the Submerged Lands Act, see section 1303 of this title.