School lands
Written by AI When the federal survey divided a township into 36 numbered sections, Congress set some of them aside for schools. For Oregon, the territorial act of 1848 reserved Sections 16 and 36 in each township, once surveyed, for schools, and the admission act of 1859 provided that those sections be granted to the new State for the use of schools. In the older public-land states the laws named Section 16 only; in three later states, four sections. This page gives the words of the laws exactly as printed, with where to read them. It cannot tell you which of those sections the State actually received, or who holds them today.
The words of the law
Oregon Territorial Act, section 20 (1848)
“Sec. 20. And be it further enacted, That when the lands in the said Territory shall be surveyed under the direction of the government of the United States, preparatory to bringing the same into market, sections numbered sixteen and thirty-six in each township in said Territory shall be, and the same is hereby, reserved for the purpose of being applied to schools in said Territory, and in the States and Territories hereafter to be erected out of the same.”
Printed margin note: “Reservation of lands for use of schools.”
Oregon Admission Act, section 4 (1859)
“Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the following propositions be, and the same are hereby, offered to the said people of Oregon for their free acceptance or rejection, which, if accepted, shall be obligatory on the United States and upon the said State of Oregon, to wit: First, That sections numbered sixteen and thirty-six in every township of public lands in said State, and where either of said sections, or any part thereof, has been sold or otherwise been disposed of, other lands equivalent thereto, and as contiguous as may be, shall be granted to said State for the use of schools.”
Printed margin notes: “Proposition to be submitted to popular vote.” and “School lands.”
The print sets a space before the colon (“to wit :”). That is 19th-century typesetting, not a difference in the text.
The Oregon Legislature’s web text of the Admission Act matches this wording, except that it drops “And be it further enacted,” and adds an editor’s heading and the citation “[11 Stat. 383 (1859)]”.
Oregon accepts the propositions (June 3, 1859)
“the six propositions offered to the people of Oregon in the above-recited portion of the act of Congress aforesaid, be, and each and all of them are hereby accepted”
When a settler got there first
Written by AI Some settlers reached the land before the surveyors did. The Donation Land Act of 1850 let a donation claim on Section 16 or 36 stand only if the settler’s residence and cultivation began before the survey. Oregon’s grant of 1859 provides that where a school section, or any part of one, had already been sold or otherwise disposed of, the State was entitled to “other lands equivalent thereto, and as contiguous as may be.” Later federal laws spell out how a state chooses that other land, called lieu or indemnity land. Oregon’s lists of the lands it chose are kept at the State Archives; whether the State chose land in place of any particular section is a question for those lists.
Other land when a school section was already taken (the Oregon grant’s own words, 1859)
“and where either of said sections, or any part thereof, has been sold or otherwise been disposed of, other lands equivalent thereto, and as contiguous as may be, shall be granted to said State for the use of schools.”
Donation Land Act, section 9 (1850): claims on sections 16 and 36
“Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That no claim to a donation right under the provisions of this act, upon sections sixteen or thirty-six, shall be valid or allowed, if the residence and cultivation upon which the same is founded shall have commenced after the survey of the same; nor shall such claim attach to any tract or parcel of land selected for a military post, or within one mile thereof, or to any other land reserved for governmental purposes, unless the residence and cultivation thereof shall have commenced previous to the selection or reservation of the same for such purposes.”
The general indemnity act of February 26, 1859 (twelve days after Oregon’s admission)
“Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That where settlements, with a view to preëmption, have been been made before the survey of the lands in the field which shall be found to have been made on sections sixteen or thirty-six, said sections shall be subject to the preëmption claim of such settler; and if they, or either of them, shall have been or shall be reserved or pledged for the use of schools or colleges in the State or Territory in which the lands lie, other lands of like quantity are hereby appropriated in lieu of such as may be patented by preëmptors; and other lands are also hereby appropriated to compensate deficiencies for school purposes, where said sections sixteen or thirty-six are fractional in quantity, or where one or both are wanting by reason of the township being fractional, or from any natural cause whatever: Provided, That the lands by this section appropriated, shall be selected and appropriated in accordance with the principles of adjustment and the provisions of the act of Congress of May twentieth, eighteen hundred and twenty-six, entitled "An act to appropriate lands for the support of schools in certain townships and fractional townships not before provided for."”
Revised Statutes § 2275 as enacted in 1891
“Sec. 2275. Where settlements with a view to pre-emption or homestead have been, or shall hereafter be made, before the survey of the lands in the field, which are found to have been made on sections sixteen or thirty-six, those sections shall be subject to the claims of such settlers; and if such sections, or either of them, have been or shall be granted, reserved, or pledged for the use of schools or colleges in the State or Territory in which they lie, other lands of equal acreage are hereby appropriated and granted, and may be selected by said State or Territory, in lieu of such as may be thus taken by pre-emption or homestead settlers.”
Current law: 43 U.S.C. § 851
“Where settlements with a view to preemption or homestead have been, or shall hereafter be made, before the survey of the lands in the field, which are found to have been made on sections sixteen or thirty-six, those sections shall be subject to the claims of such settlers; and if such sections or either of them have been or shall be granted, reserved, or pledged for the use of schools or colleges in the State in which they lie, other lands of equal acreage are hereby appropriated and granted, and may be selected, in accordance with the provisions of section 852 of this title, by said State, in lieu of such as may be thus taken by preemption or homestead settlers.”
Where Oregon’s school-land records are kept
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Oregon Department of State Lands: Common School Fund
“When Oregon was admitted to the Union in 1859, Congress granted our new state nearly 3.4 million acres of land to help fund schools. Approximately 681,000 acres of school lands remain in state ownership today. The State Land Board oversees these school lands and the Common School Fund.”
These are DSL’s own figures; they were not checked independently.
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Oregon Department of State Lands: State-Owned Lands
“The Department of State Lands works on behalf of the State Land Board to manage approximately 680,200 acres of land and 771,500 acres of mineral and energy rights statewide for the benefit of Oregon's K-12 schools.”
DSL’s two pages give slightly different acreage figures, about 681,000 and 680,200.
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Oregon Department of State Lands: Maps and Inventories (where state-owned land is)
“DSL maintains a map and inventories of the ownership of these lands.”
The page also says: “To request the map data, contact DSL’s ownership specialist.”
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Oregon State Land Board
“Established by the Oregon Constitution in 1859, the State Land Board oversees the Common School Fund, which sends millions of dollars every year to Oregon's K-12 public schools.”
- Oregon Department of State Lands: public records requests
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Oregon State Archives: Department of State Lands records guide, including “In Lieu of Lands Clear Lists, 1859-1967” (210 volumes)
“Series documents state land ownership. Records consists of 210 volumes (in bundles) with lists of lands chosen by the state in lieu of sections 16 or 36 (School Land Grant). Clear lists include a description of the land chosen and its location. Lists include the following areas: La Grande, Lakeview, Burns, The Dalles, Harney, Roseburg, Capitol Building, Bale, Linkville, Oregon City, and Portland.”
“Records consists” is as written in the source.
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Oregon State Archives: Department of State Lands “Deed and Easement Jackets, 1896-1969”
“Access to these records is by volume number. To find the volume number it is necessary to refer to the 'Deed Book' held by the Department of State Lands.”
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U.S. Bureau of Land Management: General Land Office Records (the original federal patents)
“Please keep in mind that this site only contains information for patented land files.”
That caution is the National Archives’ (https://www.archives.gov/research/land/land-records), which sends researchers to BLM’s site.
- BLM Oregon/Washington: Land Legal Descriptions (how township, range and section work)
See also our directory, Where records live, and the worked example Section 16 near Pedee, a school section with two pioneer claims inside it.
State by state
Section 16 only: 12 states. Sections 16 and 36: 15 states. Sections 2, 16, 32 and 36: 3 states. That accounts for all 30 public-land states.
| State | School sections | Granted or reserved by | Statehood | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ohio | 16 | Act of Apr. 30, 1802, ch. 40, § 7 (“First”), 2 Stat. 173 | Mar. 1, 1803 | Unverified in part Granted to the inhabitants of each township, not to the state. The first Ohio surveys used a different section numbering. Special school-land arrangements in the Virginia Military District, the U.S. Military District and the Connecticut Western Reserve were not researched and are unverified. Words of the act: “to the inhabitants of such township, for the use of schools” |
| Louisiana | 16 | Act of Apr. 21, 1806, ch. 39, § 11, 2 Stat. 391, 394 (western district of the Territory of Orleans); extended to the eastern district by Act of Mar. 3, 1811, ch. 46, § 4, 2 Stat. 662 | Apr. 30, 1812 | Unverified in part A territorial reservation. Caution: the 1811 Act’s § 10 reservation is for the “territory of Louisiana” (the upper territory, later Missouri), not the future State of Louisiana. No later act transferring title to the State was located: unverified. Words of the act: “with the exception of the section 'number sixteen,' which shall be reserved in each township for the support of schools within the same” |
| Indiana | 16 | Act of Apr. 19, 1816, ch. 57, § 6 (“First”), 3 Stat. 289 | Dec. 11, 1816 | Granted to township inhabitants. |
| Mississippi | 16 | Act of Mar. 3, 1803, ch. 27, § 12, 2 Stat. 229, 233–234 (lands south of Tennessee, territorial reservation) | Dec. 10, 1817 | Unverified in part Reserved before statehood. A text search of the 1817 enabling act (3 Stat. 348) found no school-section clause. Later special cases (for example the Chickasaw cession) were not researched: unverified. |
| Illinois | 16 | Act of Apr. 18, 1818, ch. 67, § 6 (“First”), 3 Stat. 428 | Dec. 3, 1818 | Granted to the state, for the use of the inhabitants of each township. Words of the act: “to the state, for the use of the inhabitants of such township” |
| Alabama | 16 | Act of Mar. 2, 1819, ch. 47, § 6 (“First”), 3 Stat. 489 | Dec. 14, 1819 | Granted to township inhabitants. |
| Missouri | 16 | Act of Mar. 6, 1820, ch. 22, § 6 (“First”), 3 Stat. 545 | Aug. 10, 1821 | |
| Arkansas | 16 | Act of June 23, 1836, ch. 120 (“First”), 5 Stat. 58 (supplementary to the admission act) | June 15, 1836 | |
| Michigan | 16 | Act of June 23, 1836, ch. 121 (“First”), 5 Stat. 59 | Jan. 26, 1837 | Granted to the State for the use of schools. Words of the act: “to the State for the use of schools” |
| Florida | 16 | Act of Mar. 3, 1845, ch. 75, § 1, 5 Stat. 788 | Mar. 3, 1845 | Section 16 or equivalent lands, for the inhabitants of each township. Words of the act: “section number sixteen in every township, or other lands equivalent thereto, for the use of the inhabitants of such township, for the support of public schools” |
| Iowa | 16 | Act of Mar. 3, 1845, ch. 76, § 6 (“First”), 5 Stat. 789 | Dec. 28, 1846 | Unverified in part The propositions were offered to the Iowa legislature in 1845. Whether any 1846 act re-offered them after the boundary change was not checked: unverified. |
| Wisconsin | 16 | Act of Aug. 6, 1846, ch. 89, § 7 (“First”), 9 Stat. 56 | May 29, 1848 | |
| California | 16, 36 | Act of Mar. 3, 1853, ch. 145, § 6, 10 Stat. 244 | Sept. 9, 1850 | Granted three years after statehood. |
| Minnesota | 16, 36 | Act of Feb. 26, 1857, ch. 60, § 5 (“First”), 11 Stat. 166 | May 11, 1858 | |
| Oregon | 16, 36 | Act of Feb. 14, 1859, ch. 33, § 4 (“First”), 11 Stat. 383 | Feb. 14, 1859 | Reserved earlier by the 1848 Territorial Act, § 20. Checked against the page image of the official scan. |
| Kansas | 16, 36 | Act of Jan. 29, 1861, ch. 20, § 3 (“First”), 12 Stat. 126 | Jan. 29, 1861 | |
| Nevada | 16, 36 | Act of Mar. 21, 1864, ch. 36, § 7, 13 Stat. 30; exchange by Act of June 16, 1880, ch. 245, 21 Stat. 287 | Oct. 31, 1864 | Later exchanged. The 1880 Act granted Nevada “two million acres of land” in lieu of its 16th and 36th sections. Nevada’s 1879 act, recited in the 1880 Act, relinquished unsold 16/36 sections, and titles already sold were protected. Words of the act: “two million acres of land” |
| Nebraska | 16, 36 | Act of Apr. 19, 1864, ch. 59, § 7, 13 Stat. 47 | Mar. 1, 1867 | |
| Colorado | 16, 36 | Act of Mar. 3, 1875, ch. 139, § 7, 18 Stat. 474 (citation from CRS) | Aug. 1, 1876 | Unverified in part The Statutes at Large scan was not retrieved; the text is from the Colorado Secretary of State’s 2004 reprint of the Enabling Act. The chapter number 139 is unverified. An earlier 1864 Colorado enabling act (13 Stat. 32) also had a 16/36 clause; Colorado was admitted under the 1875 act. Words of the act: “§7. School lands. The sections numbered sixteen and thirty-six in every township … are hereby granted to said state for the support of common schools.” |
| North Dakota | 16, 36 | Act of Feb. 22, 1889, ch. 180, § 10, 25 Stat. 676 | Nov. 2, 1889 | One act for four states (the “Omnibus” enabling act). |
| South Dakota | 16, 36 | Act of Feb. 22, 1889, ch. 180, § 10, 25 Stat. 676 (the Omnibus act) | Nov. 2, 1889 | |
| Montana | 16, 36 | Act of Feb. 22, 1889, ch. 180, § 10, 25 Stat. 676 (the Omnibus act) | Nov. 8, 1889 | |
| Washington | 16, 36 | Act of Feb. 22, 1889, ch. 180, § 10, 25 Stat. 676 (the Omnibus act) | Nov. 11, 1889 | |
| Idaho | 16, 36 | Act of July 3, 1890, ch. 656, § 4, 26 Stat. 215 | July 3, 1890 | |
| Wyoming | 16, 36 | Act of July 10, 1890, ch. 664, § 4, 26 Stat. 222 | July 10, 1890 | |
| Utah | 2, 16, 32, 36 | Act of July 16, 1894, ch. 138, § 6, 28 Stat. 107 | Jan. 4, 1896 | Four sections in every township. Words of the act: “sections numbered two, sixteen, thirty-two, and thirty-six in every township” |
| Oklahoma | 16, 36 | Act of June 16, 1906, ch. 3335, § 7, 34 Stat. 267 | Nov. 16, 1907 | Unverified in part Sections 16 and 36 “in every township in Oklahoma Territory” only; for the Indian Territory half the act appropriated money in lieu. Sections 8–10 of the act deal separately with sections 13 and 33 for other institutions (not read in detail). Section 28 of the same act would have granted sections 13, 16, 33 and 36 to a combined “State of Arizona” if voters approved; the outcome of that vote was not verified. Words of the act: “the sum of five million dollars for the use and benefit of the common schools of said State in lieu of sections sixteen and thirty-six, and other lands of the Indian Territory” |
| New Mexico | 2, 16, 32, 36 | Act of June 20, 1910, ch. 310, § 6, 36 Stat. 557 | Jan. 6, 1912 | Sections 2 and 32 added to the territory’s 16 and 36. Words of the act: “in addition to sections sixteen and thirty-six, heretofore granted to the Territory of New Mexico, sections two and thirty-two in every township” |
| Arizona | 2, 16, 32, 36 | Act of June 20, 1910, ch. 310, § 24, 36 Stat. 557 | Feb. 14, 1912 | Sections 2 and 32 added to the territory’s 16 and 36. Words of the act: “in addition to sections sixteen and thirty-six, heretofore reserved for the Territory of Arizona, sections two and thirty-two” |
| Alaska | 16, 36 | Act of Mar. 4, 1915, ch. 181, § 1, 38 Stat. 1214; Alaska Statehood Act, Pub. L. 85-508, § 6(k), 72 Stat. 339 (July 7, 1958) | Jan. 3, 1959 | Reserved in the territory in 1915; at statehood granted only as then reserved. Section 6(k) of the Statehood Act repealed § 1 of the 1915 act. Words of the act: “all lands therein reserved under the provisions of section 1 as of the date of this Act shall, upon the admission of said State into the Union, be granted to said State for the purposes for which they were reserved” |
Oregon’s row was checked word for word against the page image of the official scan; the other rows were checked against the scans’ machine-read text, except Colorado’s, which rests on the Colorado Secretary of State’s 2004 reprint of the Enabling Act. Rows marked Unverified in part carry a point the research could not confirm, explained in the note. Which states were public-land states follows the National Archives: “There were 30 public land states. They are the eastern states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin; and the western states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.” (U.S. National Archives, “Land Records”)
States that were never public-land states
| State | School land | Source |
|---|---|---|
| The 13 original states, plus Vermont, Kentucky, Maine and West Virginia | None. These were never federal public domain, so the numbered-section grants do not apply. | U.S. National Archives, “Land Records” |
| Texas | None from Congress. Texas kept its public lands. Texas school lands come from Texas’s own laws, which were not researched. “shall also retain all the vacant and unappropriated lands lying within its limits, to be applied to the payment of the debts and liabilities of said Republic of Texas, and the residue of said lands, after discharging said debts and liabilities, to be disposed of as said State may direct” | Joint Resolution for annexing Texas to the United States, No. 8, Mar. 1, 1845, 5 Stat. 797 |
| Tennessee | No numbered-section grant. An 1806 federal act required the State itself to locate 640 acres for schools in every six miles square of the ceded territory, not tied to a section number. “And the state of Tennessee shall moreover, in issuing grants and perfecting titles, locate six hundred and forty acres to every six miles square in the territory hereby ceded, where existing claims will allow the same, which shall be appropriated for the use of schools for the instruction of children for ever” | Act of Apr. 18, 1806, ch. 31, 2 Stat. 381, 383 |
| Hawaii | No numbered sections. Ceded public lands are held in a public trust with five purposes, of which schools are one. “shall be held by said State as a public trust for the support of the public schools and other public educational institutions, for the betterment of the conditions of native Hawaiians, as defined in the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, as amended, for the development of farm and home ownership on as widespread a basis as possible for the making of public improvements, and for the provision of lands for public use.” | Hawaii Admission Act, Pub. L. 86-3, § 5(f), 73 Stat. 4 (Mar. 18, 1959) |
Keep reading
- America’s School Trust Library: an evidentiary archive of America’s school trust lands and funds.
- Oregon Department of State Lands: the Common School Fund, the agency that manages Oregon’s school lands today.
The statute quotations are copied word for word from the sources cited, as printed. The connecting text marked Written by AI was written by AI.
Historical research, not title research. For ownership questions, talk to a title company or an attorney.