CHAPTER 4 TITLE EXAMINATION OF FEDERAL AND STATE LANDS
| Jurisdiction | United States |
(Nov 1977)
TITLE EXAMINATION OF FEDERAL AND STATE LANDS
Schultz, Bate & Astrella
Denver, Colorado
Title Sources, County Records, Bureau of Land
Management Records in Local Offices and Washington, D.C.
Common Federal and State Title Problems
The Uniqueness of Federal and State Title Opinions
INTRODUCTION
Research material on the substantive aspects of the law of oil and gas leasing of Federal and State lands exists in abundance in several excellent publications of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation.1 As a consequence, this article will deal primarily with a discussion of the materials available to the title examiner in the Federal Land Office, the State Land Office, the records of the respective County Clerks and Recorders and the Bureau of Land Management records in Washington, D.C. and hopefully practical suggestions as to their use. Though many of the records described herein will apply to hard mineral title examination as well as that of oil and gas, the emphasis will be placed upon oil and gas examinations.
FEDERAL RECORDS
Master Title Plat
The basic title document in each local Federal Land Office of the Bureau of Land Management is the Ownership or Master Title Plat, which is a basic township plat established on a scale of 30 chains to the inch and represents a copy of the official township survey plat. If more than one survey has been made for a township, the basic plat is a composite of all the surveys with the composite survey picture appearing on one plat.
The Master Title Plat conveys title information by various weights and different shapes of lines. Each different
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weight and/or style of line indicates a separate and distinct type of action. Each such action is annotated on the plat with an abbreviation which identifies the action or authority for the action. Each of the local level offices maintains a legend of abbreviation and symbols sheet which shows the various lines used, their meanings and tabulates alphabetically the different abbreviations in use. There also is generally available an Explanation Township Plat that sets forth various examples of the types of lines used and the information conveyed by each. For persons first becoming familiar with the Land Office records, the Explanation Township Plat is an extremely useful tool.
Among information of interest that is shown on the Master Title Plat are those lands that have been patented, the official number assigned to the patent, the nature of the reservations to the United States, if any, as set forth in the patent and the land which is still vacant public domain. Detailed information such as Indian reservations, national forests, rights of way, withdrawals, power sites, national monuments, wildlife refuges and similar reservations and actions is shown. With some exceptions, lands which have been patented and which have been reacquired by the United States are shown, although total reliance upon the plats for this particular information is not recommended. Agencies such as the Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Fish and Wildlife and the Bureau of Reclamation, which have authority to acquire lands, may not report their acquisitions to the Bureau of Land Management and consequently title search may have to be supplemented elsewhere.
Use Plat
If there are any mineral applications, leases, licenses or permits covering lands in a township, the township will, in addition to the Master Title Plat, have one or more Use Plats which will indicate such uses as oil and gas leases, coal leases or licenses, sodium property permits and similar items. If there is an oil and gas application or a lease covering lands in a township, there will be a Use Plat identified as "OG Plat". Other leaseable minerals may be combined on an "Other Leaseable Mineral Plat" or when numbers of leases or licenses warrant, separate plats such as a "Coal Plat" and "Sodium Plat" are set up. The Use Plats, along with the Master Title Plat, contained in large binders, indexed by Township and Range numbers, are available for examination by the public during specified hours in the public room of each land office.
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Historical Index
The Historical Index, which is located in each local land office in the same loose leaf binder as the Master Title and Use Plats, consists of a tract index, one for each separately numbered township and range, which sets forth a chronological history of all past and present actions which affect the use of or title to public lands. The Explanation Township notes state that the primary value of the Historical Index is in abstracting work, however it is very useful in obtaining information as to past actions with reference to the land under examination, which may or may not affect the current leasehold title under examination. The Historical Index, for example, sets forth prior mineral entries with an accompanying serial register number and a short, concise synopsis of the disposition of such entry. The information thus deduced may then be used to obtain further information in other materials such as the Serial Register or Homestead Tract books that may have a bearing on the current title in question.
Serial Register Sheets
The Serial Register sheets constitute a numerical index and are meant to provide a succinct summary or digest of every public land transaction. The Serial Register sheets are filed in loose leaf volumes that are supplemented or altered by the removal of the page in which the transaction is chronicled and the new information or entry is then noted thereon. The Serial Register sheet generally provides a complete, though brief, chronological history of the transaction under consideration and will often serve as a guide to the examiner into other records or source materials. The Serial Register sheets have not been changed either as to form or content since the old Federal Land Office records have been revamped and consequently one often finds the information desired in old deteriorated volumes that are difficult to read and use.
Case File
The case file dealing with a particular public land transaction bears the same serial number as appears in the Serial Register volumes and on the Use Plats. In the Land Offices in the Rocky Mountain Area they are generally made available to the public on a "check-out" basis after a short request form is completed by the examiner. The case file contains the full and complete copies of the documents affecting the public land transaction, usually filed in chronological order with the oldest documents on the bottom
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of the file and the most recent on the top. A typical case file for an oil and gas transaction would usually contain the original offer on the lease, drawing card when applicable, the Land Office examiner's status sheet and work plat often in the Denver, Colorado office, the OG Plat is included — United States Geological Survey clear listing, recommendations as to special stipulations from other agencies having jurisdiction over the lands, receipts for filing fees, rental receipts, correspondence, assignments of record title, of operating rights, of overriding royalty interests, copies of operating agreements, lease bonds, copies of pertinent decisions, accounting advices and various other documents affecting the oil and gas lease. Unit agreements and unit operating agreements are generally found in special unit files, however there is customarily a reference in the basic case file (as well as the Serial Register) as to the commitment of the lease to the unit.
Patents
The local Land Offices maintain a file of microfilm copies of nearly all the patents that...
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