23 May 1844. ated: Provided, That the entry of the land intended by this act be made prior to the commencement of the public sale of the body of land in which it is included, and that the entry shall include only such land as is actually occupied by the town, and be made in conformity to the legal subdivisions of the public lands authorized by the act of 24th April 1820, and shall not in the whole exceed three hundred and twenty acres: And provided also, That any act of said trustees, not made in conformity to the rules and regu lations herein alluded to, shall be void and of none effect: And provided also, That the Town of Weston corporate authorities of the town of Weston, in the county of Platte, state of Missouri, or the county court of Platte county in said state, shall be allowed twelve months, from and after the passage of this act, to enter at the proper land office, the lands upon which said town is situate. aliowed further time. 3 Aug. 1846 2 1. 9 Stat. 51. entries to be determined. 99. That the commissioner of the general land office be, and he is hereby authorized and empowered to determine, upon principles of equity and justice, as recognised in How suspended courts of equity, and in accordance with general equitable rules and regulations, to be settled by the secretary of the treasury, the attorney-general and commissioner, conjointly, consistently with such principles, all cases of suspended entries now existing in said land office, and to adjudge in what cases patents shall issue upon the same: (a) Provided however, That such adjudications shall be made within two years from the passage of this act, and be first approved by the secretary of the treasury and the attorneygeneral, and shall only operate to divest the United States of the title of the land embraced by such entries, without prejudice to the rights of conflicting claims. Within what time. Ibid. 2. Report to congress. Ibid. 3. Decisions to be classified. Ibid. 4. Proceedings thereon. Ibid. 25. Rejected claims, to be sold by order of commissioner. Notice. 3 March 1853 10 Stat. 244. extended to re on the lines of railroads. 100. The power and jurisdiction given by this act to the commissioner of the general land office shall cease and determine, at the expiration of two yeare from the passage thereof;(b) and such commissioner be, and he is hereby, directed to report to congress, at the first session after the said adjudication shall have been made, a list of the same, and under such classes as he may deem necessary, and of the principles upon which such class was determined. 101. The said commissioner shall arrange his decisions into two classes; the first class to embrace all such cases of equity as may be finally confirmed by the board aforesaid, and the second class to embrace all such cases as the board reject and decide to be invalid. 102. For all lands covered by entries or sales which are placed in the first class, patents shall issue to the claimants; (c) and all lands embraced by entries or sales placed in the second class shall ipso facto revert to, and become part of the public domain. 103. It shall and may be lawful for the commissioner of the general land office to order into market after due notice, without the formality and expense of a proclamation of the president, all lands of the second class, though heretofore unproclaimed and unoffered, and such other isolated or disconnected tracts or parcels of unoffered lands, which, in his judgment, it would be proper to expose to sale in like manner: Prorided, That public notice of at least thirty days shall be given by the land officers of the district in which such lands may be situated, pursuant to the directions of the commissioner aforesaid. 1. 104. That the pre-emption laws of the United States, as they now exist, be and they are hereby ex ended over the alternate reserved sections of public lands along the lines Pre-emption laws of all the railroads in the United States wherever public lands have been or may be served sections granted by acts of congress; (d) and that it shall be the privilege of the persons residing on any of said reserved lands to pay for the same in soldiers' bounty land warrants, estimated at a dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, or in gold and silver, or both together, in preference to any other person, and at any time before the same shall be offered for sale at auction: Provided, That no person shall be entitled to the benefit of this act who has not settled and improved, or shall not settle and improve, such lands prior to the final allotment of the alternate sections to such railroads by the general land office: And provided further, That the price to be paid shall in all cases be two dollars and fifty cents per acre,(e) or such other minimum price as is now fixed by law, or may be fixed upon lands hereafter granted; and no one person shall have the right of pre-emption to more than one hundred and sixty acres: And provided further, That any settler who has Vations to be en- settled or may hereafter settle on lands heretofore reserved on account of claims under French, Spanish or other grants which have been or shall be hereafter declared by the supreme court of the United States to be invalid, shall be entitled to all the rights of preemption granted by this act and the act of 4th of September 1841, (g) entitled “An act to appropriate the proceeds of the public lands and to grant pre-emption rights;” after Price of such lands. Settlers on certain other reser titled to pre emption. (a) See Foley v. Harrison, 15 How. 433. (b) Extended until 3 August 1849, by act 17 July 1848. 9 Stat. And revived and continued for the term of ten years, by act 3 March 1853; infra, 105. 246. (c) And see infra, 106. (d) See act 2 March 1855, extending this right to the settlers and occupants of the Maison Rouge and De Bastrop grants 10 Stat. 625. (e) See infra, 107, as to prior settlers. the lands shall have been released from reservation, in the same manner as if no reser- 3 March 1853. vation existed. 10 Stat. 258. vived, continued 105. That the several provisions of the act approved 3d August 1846, (a) entitled "An 3 March 1853 3 1 act providing for the adjustment of all suspended pre-emption land claims in the several states and territories," be and the same are hereby revived and continued in force for the Act of 1846 reterm of ten years from the date hereof; and those provisions are hereby declared appli- and extended. cable as well to cases which were inadvertently omitted to be acted on under said act, as to those of a like character and description which have arisen between the date of said act and the present time, and shall be regarded as applying to locations by bounty land warrants, as well as to ordinary entries or sales. Ibid. 2. new ones issued. 106. In all cases where patents have been issued on entries which were entitled to be confirmed under said act, such patents may be surrendered, and the officers at the time Patents may be of such surrender, who by said act are constituted the board of adjudication, are hereby surrendered and authorized and empowered to confirm such entries; and upon the cancelling of the outstanding patent, the commissioner of the general land office is hereby authorized to issue a new patent, on such confirmation, to the persons who made such entries, to their heirs or to their assigns. 10 Stat. 269. railroad reserva 107. Every settler on public lands which have been or may be withdrawn from market 27 March 185481 in consequence of proposed railroads, and who had settled thereon prior to such withdrawal, shall be entitled to pre-emption at the ordinary minimum to the lands settled on Price of lands of and cultivated by them: Provided, They shall prove up their rights according to such tions to prior rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the secretary of the interior, and pay for settlers. the same before the day that may be fixed by the president's proclamation for the restoration of said lands to market. 10 Stat. 576. extended to 108. The provisions of the pre-emption act of 4th September 1841, and the acts 4 Aug. 1854 3 1. amendatory thereof, shall be extended to the lands in Minnesota territory, whether sur veyed or not; but in all cases where pre-emption is claimed on unsurveyed lands the Pre-emption law settler shall file his declaratory statement within three months after the survey has been Minnesota. made and returned, and make proof and payment before the day appointed by the president's proclamation for the commencement of the sale of the lands, including the tract claimed: Provided however, That if, when said lands are surveyed, it is found that two or more persons have settled upon the same quarter-section, each shall be permitted to enter his improvement, as near as may be, by legal subdivisions. 11 Stat. 22. 1853 revived, cor tended. 109. That the several provisions of the act approved March 3d 1853,(b) in relation to 28 June 185€ 3 1 "suspended entries of public lands," and the several provisions of the act approved August 3d 1846, (c) in relation to "suspended pre-emption land claims," be and the same Acts of 1846 and are hereby revived and continued in force; and those provisions are hereby declared to tinued and exbe applicable to all cases of suspended entries and locations which have arisen since said acts were passed, or which were omitted to be acted upon under either of said acts, as well as to all cases of a similar kind which may hereafter occur; and shall be regarded as applying to locations under bounty land warrants as well as to ordinary entries or sales, and to all other pre-emption cases or locations, where the law has been substantially complied with, and the error or informality has arisen from ignorance, accident or mistake, and is satisfactorily explained, and where the rights of no other claimant or pre-emptor will be prejudiced, or where there is no adverse claim. V. APPLICATIONS. 2 Stat. 556. purchase at 110. Every person making application at any of the land offices of the United States, 24 Feb. 1810 ? 1 for the purchase at private sale of a tract of land, shall produce to the register a memorandum in writing, describing the tract, which he shall enter by the proper number of Applications for the section, half-section or quarter, (as the case may be), and of the township and range, private sale, how subscribing his name thereto; which memorandum the register shall file and preserve in his office. VI. SALES OF PUBLIC LANDS. inade. 2 Stat. 280. sections to be 111. Fractional sections of the public lands of the United States, either north of the 26 March 180139 river Ohio or south of the state of Tennessee, shall, under the directions of the secretary of the treasury, be either sold singly or by uniting two or more together; any act to the How fractional contrary notwithstanding: Provided, That no fractional sections shall be sold in that sold. manner until after they shall have been offered r sale to the highest bidder in the manner hereinafter directed. Ibid. 10. 112. All the public lands of the United States, the sale of which is authorized by law, may, after they shall have been offered for sale to the highest bidder in quarter-sections, (d) Private sales of as hereinafter directed, be purchased at the option of the purchaser, either in entire lands, how made (a) See supra, 99–103. (6) See supra, 105-6. (c) See supra, 99-103. (d) This act, for the first time. provided for the sale of the public lands in quarter-sections. Brown's Lessee v. Clements, 3 How. 668 Ibi 1.2 11. No interest to be 26 March 1804. sections, in half-sections or in quarter-sections; in which two last cases the sections shall be divided into half-sections by lines running due north and south, and the halfsections shall be divided into quarter-sections by lines running due east and west.(a) Subdivisions to And in every instance in which a subdivision of the lands of the United States, as surbe at the expense of purchasers. veyed in conformity with law, shall be necessary to ascertain the boundaries or true contents of the tract purchased, the same shall be done at the expense of the purchaser. 113. No interest shall be charged on any instalment which may hereafter become due, in payment for any of the public lands of the United States, wherever situated, and charged if princi- which have been sold in pursuance of the act, entitled "An act to amend the act entitled pal be paid when due. An act providing for the sale of the lands of the United States, in the territory northwest of the Ohio, and above the mouth of Kentucky river,'" or which may hereafter be sold by virtue of that or of any other act of congress: Provided, That such instalments Otherwise, to be shall be paid on the day on which the same shall become due; but the interest shall be charged. charged and demanded in conformity with the provisions heretofore in force, from the date of the purchase on each instalment which shall not be paid on the day on which the same shall become due: Provided however, That on the instalments which are or may become due before the first day of October next, interest shall not be charged, except from the time they become due until paid; but in failure to pay the said instalments on the said first day of October, interest shall be charged thereon, in conformity with the provisions heretofore in force, from the date of the purchase. Ibid. 12. Public sales in beld. 114. The sections which have been heretofore reserved, and are by this act directed to be sold, also the fractional sections, classed as is by the ninth section of this act directed, quarter-sections. and all the other lands of the United States, north of the Ohio and above the mouth of the Kentucky river, shall be offered for sale in quarter-sections, to the highest bidder, under the directions of the register of the land office and of the receiver of public moneys, at the places, respectively, where the land offices are kept; that is to say, the lands When and where in the districts of Chilicothe, on the first Monday of May; the lands in the district of Marietta, on the second Monday of May; the lands in the district of Zanesville, on the third Monday of May; the lands in the district of Steubenville, on the second Monday of June; and the lands in the district of Cincinnati, on the first Monday of September. The sales shall remain open at each place no longer than three weeks; the lands which may be thus sold, shall not be sold for less than two dollars per acre, and shall in every other respect be sold on the same terms and conditions as is provided for the sale of lands sold at private sale. And all the other public lands of the United States, either north of the Ohio or south of the state of Tennessee, which are directed to be sold at public sale, shall be offered for sale to the highest bidder, in quarter-sections. Time. Ibid. 13. Deputy surveyors. Oath. To be furnished with plats. Fees. Toid. 14. 115. Whenever any of the public lands shall have been surveyed in the manner directed by law, they shall be divided by the secretary of the treasury into convenient surveying districts, and a deputy surveyor shall, with the approbation of the said secretary, be appointed by the surveyor-general for each district, who shall take an oath or affirmation truly and faithfully to perform the duties of his office; [and whose duty it shall be to run and mark such lines as may be necessary for subdividing the lands surveyed as aforesaid, into sections, half-sections or quarter-sections, as the case may be; to ascertain the true contents of such subdivisions; and to record in a book to be kept for that purpose, the surveys thus made.] The surveyor-general shall furnish each deputy surveyor with a copy of the plat of the townships and fractional parts of townships contained in his district, describing the subdivisions thereof, and the marks of the corners. Each deputy surveyor shall be entitled to receive from the purchaser of any tract of land, of which a line or lines shall have been run and marked by him, at the rate of three dollars for every mile thus surveyed and marked, before he shall deliver to him a copy of the plat of such tract stating its contents. The fees payable by virtue of former laws for surveying expenses shall, after the first day of July next, be no longer demandable from, and paid by the purchasers. [And no final certificate shall thereafter be given by the register of any land office to the purchaser of any tract of land, all the lines of which shall not have been run, and the contents ascertained by the surveyor-general or his assistants, unless such purchaser shall lodge with the said register a plat of such tract, certified by the district surveyor.](b) 116. The fees payable by virtue of former laws, to the registers of the several land No fees for entry offices, for the entry of lands and for certificates of moneys paid, shall no longer be de mandable from nor paid by the purchasers of public lands.(c) and certificate. Ibid. 2 15. 117. The fees heretofore payable for patents for lands, shall no longer be paid by the purchasers. And it shall be the duty of every register of a land office, on application of (a) The settled policy of congress has been to survey the public lands in square figures, running the lines north and south, and east and west, and to extend the subdivisions authorized by law, as far as possible in square figures, to the lowest denomination. Brown's Lessee v. Clements, 3 How. 663. (b) The parts within brackets repealed, infra, 118. (c) The remainder of this section is repealed by acts 20 April 1818, (supra, 51), and 28 May 1830. 4 Stat. 413. the party, to transmit by mail, to the register of the treasury, the final certificate granted 26 March 1804. by such register to the purchaser of any tract of land sold at his office; and it shall be Duties of registhe duty of the register of the treasury, on receiving any such certificate, to obtain and ters. transmit by mail, to the register of the proper land office, the patent to which such purchaser is entitled; but in every such instance, the party shall previously pay to the proper deputy postmaster, the postage accruing on the transmission of such certificate and patent. 2 Stat. 314. act of 1804. 118. That so much of the act entitled "An act making provision for the disposal of 11 Feb. 1805 23. the lands in the Indian territory, and for other purposes," as provides the mode of ascertaining the true contents of sections or subdivisions of sections, and prevents the issue Repeal of part of of final certificates, unless the said contents shall have been ascertained, and a plot certified by the district surveyor, lodged with the register, be and the same is hereby repealed, 2 Stat. 479. 119. Whenever the president of the United States has been or may be authorized to 31 March 1808 31. cause the public lands in any land district, to be offered for sale, it shall be lawful whenever he shall think it convenient, to offer for sale, at first only a part of the lands contained Lands may be in such district, and at any subsequent time or times, to offer for sale in the same manner, parts. any other part or the remainder of the lands contained in the same. offered for sale in 2 Stat. 674. 120. No tract or tracts of the reserved sections or other public lands of the United 14 Jan. 1812 2 1. States, that have been or may hereafter be sold at public sale, and which may have, or shall on account of failure to complete the payment of the purchase-money, revert to Limitation of the United States, shall hereafter be sold at private sale, at a price less than that for lands. which the same tract was sold at public sale. price of reverted 3 Stat. 201. allowed to pur 121. Every person who, after the first day of April 1810, (a) and prior to the first day 4 Feb. 1815 3 1. of April 1811, had purchased any tract or tracts of land of the United States, not exceeding in the whole six hundred and forty acres, at any of the land offices of the United Further time States, and whose lands have not already been actually sold or reverted to the United chasers. States, for non-payment of part of the purchase-money, shall be, and they hereby are allowed the further time of three years, from and after the expiration of the period already given by law, for completing the payment of the purchase-money aforesaid; which further time of three years shall be allowed only on the following conditions: First, all arrears of interest on the purchase-money shall be paid on or before the expira- Conditions. tion of the time for completing the payment of the purchase-money according to former laws: Provided, That in all cases in which the time for completing the payment of the purchase-money may have expired, or shall expire before the first day of June next, the interest may be paid on or before that day. Second, the residue of the sum due on account of the principal of such purchase shall be paid, with interest thereon, in three equal annual payments, as follows, viz.: one-third of the said sum, with the interest due thereon, within one year; one-third of the said sum, with the interest due thereon, within two years, and the residue, with the interest due thereon, within three years after the expiration of the time for completing the payments on such purchases according to law. And in case of failure to pay the arrears of interest, or any of the three instalments of principal, with the accruing interest, at the time above mentioned, the tract of land shall 1 e forthwith advertised and offered for sale in the manner and on the terms directed by law, in case of lands not paid within the time limited by law, and shall revert to the United States in like manner, if the same is not sold at such sale. 3 Stat 346. to be further sub 122. The sections designated by number two, five, twenty, twenty-three, thirty and 22 Feb. 1817 § 1. thirty-three, in each and every township of the public lands, the sale of which is now, or hereafter may be authorized by law, shall be offered for sale either in quarter-sections, Certain sections or half-quarter-sections, at the option of the purchaser; and in every case of the divi- divided. sion of a quarter-section, the partition shall be made by a line running due north and south; and in every other respect the said sections shall be offered, whether at public or private sale, on the same terms and conditions as have been, or may be, by law, provided for the sale of the other public lands of the United States. 3 Stat. 566. offered at pubilo 123. All the public lands of the United States, the sale of which is, or may be autho- 24 April 1820 & 1. rized by law, shall, when offered at public sale to the highest bidder, be offered in halfquarter-sections; (b) and when offered at private sale, may be purchased, at the option Lands to be of the purchaser, either in entire sections, half-sections, quarter-sections, or half-quarter-sale in half quat sections; (c) and in every case of the division of a quarter-section, the line for the divi- ter-sections. sion thereof shall run north and south, and the corners and contents of half-quartersections which may thereafter be sold, shall be ascertained in the manner, and on the principles directed and prescribed by the 2d section of an act entitled "An act concern a) The time had been previously extended by acts 2 March 1800, 2 Stat. 533; 30 April 1810, Ibid. 391; and 3 March 1813, Ibid. 1811. See also act 24 April 1816, allowing further time to purchasers of land in the Mississippi territory. 3 Stat. 300. (b) This does not empower the executive to order a grle of the square in the city of New Orleans: the act plainly refers to lands of a different description. 2 Opin. 586. (c) A receiver can become a purchaser of public lands. United States v. Boyd, 5 How. 23. Private sales. to be made. 24 April 1820. ing the mode of surveying the public lands of the United States," passed on the 11th day of February 1805; (a) and fractional sections, containing one hundred and sixty How subdivisions acres, or upwards, shall, in like manner, as nearly as practicable, be subdivided into half-quarter-sections, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the seeretary of the treasury; but fractional sections, containing less than one hundred and sixty acres, shall not be divided, but shall be sold entire: Provided, That this section shall not be construed to alter any special provision made by law for the sale of land in town lots. Ibid. 22. No credit to be allowed to pur chasers. Penalty for de fault of payment. Ibid. 3 3. Price of lands. be subject to private entry. 124. Credit shall not be allowed for the purchase-money on the sale of any of the public lands which shall be sold after the first day of July next, but every purchaser of land sold at public sale thereafter, shall, on the day of purchase, make complete payment therefor; and the purchaser at private sale shall produce, to the register of the land office, a receipt from the treasurer of the United States, (b) or from the receiver of public moneys of the district, for the amount of the purchase-money on any tract, before he shall enter the same at the land office; (c) and if any person, being the highest bidder, at publie sale, for a tract of land, shall fail to make payment therefor, on the day on which the same was purchased, the tract shall be again offered at public sale, on the next day of sale, and such person shall not be capable of becoming the purchaser of that or any other tract offered at such public sales. 125. The price at which the public lands shall be offered for sale, shall be one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre; and at every public sale, the highest bidder, who shall make payment as aforesaid, shall be the purchaser; but no land shall be sold, either at public or private sale, for a less price than one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre; and all the public lands which shall have been offered at public sale before the first day of Lands unsold to July next, and which shall then remain unsold, as well as the lands that shall thereafter be offered at public sale, according to law, and remain unsold at the close of such public sales, shall be subject to be sold at private sale, by entry at the land office, at one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre, to be paid at the time of making such entry as aforesaid; (d) with the exception, however, of the lands which may have reverted to the United States, for failure in payment, and of the heretofore reserved sections for the future disposal of congress, in the states of Ohio and Indiana, which shall be offered at public sale, as hereinafter directed. Exceptions. Ibid. 24. Lands reverted 126. No lands which have reverted, or which shall hereafter revert, and become forfeited to the United States for failure in any manner to make payment, shall, after the to be offered at first day of July next, be subject to entry at private sale, nor until the same shall have public sale. been first offered to the highest bidder at public sale; and all such lands which shall have reverted before the said first day of July next, and which shall then belong to the United States, together with the sections, and parts of sections, heretofore reserved for the future disposal of congress, which shall, at the time aforesaid, remain unsold, (e) shall be offered at public sale to the highest bidder, who shall make payment therefor, in half-quarter-sections, at the land office for the respective districts, on such day or days as shall, by proclamation of the president of the United States, be designated for that purpose; and all lands which shall revert, and become forfeited for failure of payment after the said first day of July next, shall be offered in like manner at public sale, at such time or times, as the president shall by his proclamation designate for the purpose: Provided, That no such lands shall be sold at any public sales hereby authorized, for a Iess price that one dollar and twenty cents an acre, nor on any other terms than Afterwards to be that of cash payment, a the lands offered at such public sales, and which shall subject to private remain unsold at the close thereof, shall be subject to entry at private sale, in the same manner, and at the same price with the other lands sold at private sale, at the respective land offices. Terms. entry. Ibid. 25. 127. The several public sales authorized by this act shall, respectively, be kept open for two weeks, and no longer; and the registers of the land office and the receivers of Duration of public sales. public money shall each, respectively, be entitled to five dollars for each day's attendance thereon. Ibid. 26. Preference at private sale to highest bidder. 128. In every case hereafter, where two or more persons shall apply for the purchase, at private sale, of the same tract, at the same time, the register shall determine the pre ference, by forthwith offering the tract to the highest bidder. (a) See supra, 41. Under this act, and the instructions issued under it, directing the mode of subdividing fractional sections containing over 100 acres, the surveyor-general was bound to divide fractional sections into as many half-quarter-sections as practicable, by north and south or east and west lines, so as to preserve the most compact fractions, and if this be not done the register cannot lawfully sell the land, and the act of the surveyorgeneral in making a different division is void. Brown's Lessee v. Clements, 3 How, 650. (b) Where the purchase-money is paid directly to the treasurer, the specific tract of land must be stated, the same as if applied for at the office of the land district, and the same form must be pursued. 3 Opin. 150. (C) See Bell v. Hearne, 19 How. 252. (d) Lands struck off on the last day of a public sale and not paid for, are not subject to private entry prior to being again offered at a public sale. Such tracts are not unsold lands at the close of the public sale, but are to be regarded as reverted lands. 2 Opin. 200. (e) Lands which have been temporarily withheld from private sale should not be allowed to be entered until suitable notice has been given of the removal of the cause of suspension, unlesɛ applied for before suspension. 3 Opin. 274. |