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15 Stat. 39.

Great Miami,

31. In the case of such islands in the Great Miami river, in the state of Ohio, as are 2 March 1868 § 1. undisposed of, or any vacant public lands adjacent thereto, which are in the actual and exclusive occupancy of any persons who have made improvements thereon, or of their Islands in the heirs or assigns, such occupants thereof shall have the preference right to enter the to be subject to same at two dollars and fifty cents per acre, on making proof of the facts to the satis- pre-emption. faction of the commissioner of the general land office, and paying for the land within twelve months from the passage of this act; and patents shall issue for the tracts so entered as usual in entries of public lands.

15 Stat. 39.

Pacific railroad.

32. Nothing in the act approved July 1st 1862, entitled "An act to aid in the con- 6 March 1868 % 1. struction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean, and to secure to the government the use of the same for postal, military and other pur- Lands along the poses," and the acts amendatory thereof, (a) shall be held to authorize the withdrawal or exclusion from settlement and entry, under the provisions of the pre-emption or homestead laws, the even-numbered sections along the routes of the several roads therein mentioned, which have been or may be hereafter located: Provided, That such sections shall be rated at two dollars and fifty cents per acre, and subject only to entry under those laws; and the secretary of the interior be and is hereby authorized and directed to restore to homestead settlement, pre-emption or entry, according to existing laws, all the even-numbered sections of land belonging to the government, and now withdrawn from market, on both sides of the Pacific railroad and branches, wherever said road and branches have been definitely located.

15 Stat. 39.

Sioux reserva

33. All actual settlers who have duly filed their declaratory statements under the pre- 6 March 1868 § 1. emption laws with the register of the proper local land office, upon the unsold lands now included within the limits of the late Sioux Indian reservation, in the state of Min- Lands in the nesota, shall be allowed two years, from and after the passage of this act, within which tion. to make proof and payment for their claims, in accordance with the provisions of the second and third sections of the act approved March 3d 1863,(b) providing for the disposal of said reservation.

VII. SALES OF PUBLIC LANDS.

34. Where any tracts embracing coal-beds or coal-fields, constituting portions of the public domain, and which, as "mines," are excluded from the pre-emption act of 1841, and which under past legislation are not liable to ordinary private entry, it shall and may be lawful for the president to cause such tracts, in suitable legal subdivisions, to be offered at public sale to the highest bidder, after public notice of not less than three months, at a minimum price of twenty dollars per acre; and any lands not thus disposed of shall thereafter be liable to private entry at said minimum.(c)

[blocks in formation]

13 Stat. 529.

Entry of coalminers.

lands by bonâ fide

35. In the case of any citizen of the United States who, at the passage of this act, 3 March 1865 1. may be in the business of bonâ fide actual coal-mining on the public lands, except on lands reserved by the president of the United-States for public uses, for purposes of commerce, such citizen, upon making proof satisfactory to the register and receiver to that effect, shall have the right to enter, according to legal subdivisions, a quantity of land not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres, to embrace his improvements and mining premises, at the minimum price of twenty dollars per acre, fixed in the coal and town property act of 1st July 1864: (d) Provided, That where the mining improve- Description to be ments and premises are on land surveyed at the passage of this act, a sworn declaratory statement, descriptive of the tract and premises, showing also the extent and character of the improvements, shall be filed within six months from the date of this act; and Payment. proof and payment shall be made within one year from the date of such filing; but where such mining premises may be on lands hereafter to be surveyed, such declaratory statement shall be filed within three months from the return to the district land office of the official township plat; and proof and payment shall be made within one year from the date of such filing.

VIII. PRICE OF PUBLIC LANDS.

filed.

36. That an act entitled "An act to graduate [and reduce] the price of the public 2 June 1862 3 3. lands to actual settlers and cultivators," be and the same is hereby repealed. (e)

12 Stat. 413.

13 Stat 374.

37. Whenever any reservation of public lands shall be brought into market, under 2 July 1804 21. existing laws, it shall be lawful for the commissioner of the general land office to fix a minimum price, not less than one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, below which such lands shall not be disposed of.

IX. CORRECTION OF ERRORS.

38. That the act of congress, "authorizing repayment for lands erroneously sold by 28 Feb 1959 § 1.

(a) 12 Stat. 489. 13 Stat. 356. 14 Stat. 79, 355, 367.

(b) 12 Stat. 819.

(c) See infra 74.

(d) Supra 34.

(e) 1 vol. 481, pl. 135.

11 Stat. 387.

28 February 1859. the United States," approved January 12th 1825, (a) be and the same is hereby amended, Money paid for so as to authorize the secretary of the interior, upon proof being made to his satisfaction, lands erroneousthat ly sold to be retract of land has been erroneously sold by the United States, so that from any any funded. cause whatever, the sale cannot be confirmed, to repay to the purchaser or purchasers, or to the legal representatives or assignees of the purchaser or purchasers thereof, the sum or sums of money, which may have been paid therefor, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.

Ibid. 2.

If invested, stocks to be sold to reimburse the purchaser.

12 June 1858 26. 11 Stat. 336.

39. Whenever any tract of land has been erroneously sold as aforesaid, and the sum or sums of money which may have been paid for the same shall have been invested in any stocks held in trust, or shall have been paid into the treasury of the United States to the credit of any trust-fund, it shall be lawful, by the sale of such portion of the said stocks as may be necessary for that purpose, or out of said trust-fund, for repayment of the purchase-money to be made to the parties entitled thereto.

X. SALE OF MILITARY SITES.

40. That all the existing laws or parts of laws which authorize the sale of military sites which are or may be become useless for military purposes, be and the same are Laws for sale of hereby repealed; and said lands shall not be subject to sale or pre-emption under any of the laws of the United States: Provided further, That the provisions of the act of August 18th 1856, (b) relative to certain reservations in the state of Florida, shall continue in force.

military sites repealed. Exception.

3 March 1863 1. 12 Stat. 754.

XI. RESERVATION OF TOWN SITES.

41. It shall be the duty of the president of the United States to reserve from the public lands, whether surveyed or unsurveyed, town sites on the shores of harbors, at Town sites to be the junction of rivers, important portages, or any natural or prospective centres of population.

reserved from

Bale.

Ibid. 2.

To be appraised.

And sold in lots.

1 July 1864 2 2. 13 Stat. 343.

lots.

42. When in the opinion of the president, the public interest require it, it shall be the duty of the secretary of the interior, to cause any of said reservations, or part thereof, to be surveyed into urban or suburban lots of suitable size, and to fix, by appraisement of disinterested persons, their cash value, and to offer the same for sale at public outery to the highest bidder, and thence afterward to be held subject to sale at private entry according to such regulations as the secretary of the interior may prescribe: Provided, That no lot shall be disposed of, at public sale or private entry, for less than the appraised value thereof: And provided further, That said sales shall be conducted by the register and receiver of the land office in the district in which said reservations may be situated, in accordance with the laws and rules and instructions of the department regulating the sales of public lands.

43. In any case in which parties have already founded, or may hereafter desire to found, a city or town on the public lands, it shall and may be lawful for them to cause Disposal of town to be filed with the recorder for the county in which the same is situated, a plat thereof, for not exceeding six hundred and forty acres, describing its exterior boundaries according to the lines of the public surveys, where such surveys have been executed; also giving the name of such city or town, and exhibiting the streets, squares, blocks, lots and alleys, the size of the same, with measurements and area of each municipal subdivision, the lots in which shall each not exceed four thousand two hundred square feet, with a statement of the extent and general character of the improvements; the said map and statement to be verified under oath by the party acting for and in behalf of the persons proposing to establish such city or town; and within one month after such filing, there shall be transmitted to the general land office, a verified transcript of such map and statement, accompanied by the testimony of two witnesses that such city or town has been established in good faith, and when the premises are within the limits of an organized land district, a similar map and statement shall be filed with the register and receiver, and at any time after the filing of such map, statement and testimony in the general land office, it shall and may be lawful for the president to cause the lots embraced within the limits of such city or town to be offered at public sale to the highest bidder, subject to a minimum of ten dollars for each lot; and such lots as may not be disposed of at public sale, shall thereafter be liable to private entry at said minimum, or at such reasonable increase or diminution thereafter as the secretary of the interior may order, from time to time, after at least three months' notice, in view of the increase or decrease in the value of the municipal property: Provided, That any actual settler upon any one lot as aforesaid, and upon any additional lot in which he may have substantial improvements, shall be entitled to prove up and purchase the same as a preemption, at said minimum, at any time before the day fixed for the public sale. 44. When such cities or towns are established upon unsurveyed lands, it shall and (a) 1 vol. 484, pl. 147. (b) 1 vol. 570, pl. 610.

Rights of actual settlers.

Ibid. 2.

may be lawful, after the extension thereto of the public surveys, to adjust the extension 1 July 1864. limits of the premises according to those lines, where it can be done without inter- Extension limits, ference with rights which may be vested by sale; and patents for all lots so disposed of how adjusted. at public or private sale shall issue as in ordinary cases.

&c.

Ibid. 4.

45. If within twelve months from the establishment of a city or town as aforesaid, in the public domain, the parties interested shall refuse or fail to file in the general land Penalty for neoffice, transcript map, with the statement and testimony called for by the provisions of glect to file map, the second section of this act, it shall and may be lawful for the secretary of the interior, to cause a survey and plat to be made of such city or town; and thereafter the lots in the same shall be disposed of as required by said provisions, with this exception, that they shall each be at an increase of fifty per centum on the aforesaid minimum of ten dollars per lot.

Ibid. 5.

46. Effect shall be given to the foregoing act, according to such regulations as may be prescribed by the secretary of the interior. The act entitled "An act for the relief of Powers of secre the citizens of towns upon the lands of the United States, under certain circumstances," tuy of the inteapproved May 23d, Anno Domini 1844,(a) and all other acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act be and the same are hereby repealed.

rior.

13 Stat. 530.

luts.

47. In the case of any city or town which, at the passage of this act, may be existing 3 March 1865 2 2. on the public lands, in which the lots therein may be variant as to size from the limitation fixed in the said act of 1st July 1864, and in which the lots and buildings as Location of town municipal improvements shall cover an area greater than six hundred and forty acres, such variance as to size of lots or excess in area shall prove no bar to such city or town claim, under said act of 1st July 1864; effect to be given to this act according to such regulations as may be prescribed by the secretary of the interior: Provided, That the Price of lots. minimum price of each said lots in any such town or city, which may contain a greater number of square feet than the maximum named in the act to which this is an amendment, shall be increased to such reasonable amount as the secretary of the interior may by rule establish: Provided further, That where mineral veins are possessed, which pos- Rights in minersession is recognised by local authority, and to the extent so possessed and recognised, the title to town lots to be acquired shall be subject to such recognised possession and the necessary use thereof: Provided, however, That nothing contained herein shall be so construed as to recognise any color of title in possessors, for mining purposes, as against the government of the United States.

al veins.

14 Stat. 541.

Municipal an
ter town sites, in

thorities may en

trust.

48. Whenever any portion of the public lands of the United States have been or 2 March 1867 3 1. shall be settled upon and occupied as a town site, and therefore not subject to entry under the agricultural pre-emption laws, it shall be lawful, in case such town shall be incorporated, for the corporate authorities thereof, and if not incorporated, for the judge of the county court for the county in which such town may be situated, to enter at the proper land office, and at the minimum price, the land so settled and occupied, in trust for the several use and benefit of the occupants thereof, according to their respective interests; the execution of which trust, as to the disposal of the lots in such town, and the proceeds of the sales thereof, to be conducted under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the legislative authority of the state or territory in which the same may be situated: Provided, That the entry of the land intended by Entry. this act to be made shall be made, or a declaratory statement of the purpose of the inhabitants to enter it as a town site under this act shall be filed with the register of the proper land office, prior to the commencement of the public sale of the body of land in which it is included; and that the entry or declaratory statement shall include only such lands as is actually occupied by the town, and the title to which is in the United States. If upon surveyed lands, the entry shall, in its exterior limit, be made in Amount of land. conformity to the legal subdivisions of the public lands authorized by the act of 24th April 1820; (b) and where the inhabitants are in number one hundred and less than two hundred, shall embrace not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres; and in cases where the inhabitants of such town are more than two hundred and less than one thousand, shall embrace not exceeding six hundred and forty acres; and where the number of inhabitants is one thousand and over one thousand, shall embrace not exceeding twelve hundred and eighty acres: Provided, That for each additional one thousand inhabitants, not exceeding five thousand in all, a further grant of three hundred and twenty acres shall be allowed: And provided further, That in any Where there is territory in which a land office may not have been established, declaratory statements, as herein before provided, may be filed with the surveyor-general of the surveying district in which the lands are situate, who shall transmit said declaratory statement to the general land office: And provided further, That any act of said trustees not made in conformity to the rules and regulations herein alluded to shall be void; effect to be (b) 1 vol. 479, pl. 123.

(a) 1 vol. 475, pl. 98.

no land office.

Exceptions.

2 March 1867. given to the foregoing provisions according to such regulations as may be prescribed by the secretary of the interior: And provided further, That the provisions of this act shall not apply to military or other reservations heretofore made by the United States, nor to reservations for lighthouses, custom-houses, mints or such other public purposes as the interests of the United States may require, whether held under reservations through the land office by title derived from the crown of Spain, or otherwise: And provided further, That no title shall be acquired, under the provisions of this act, to any mine of gold, silver, cinnabar or copper.

8 June 1868 21. 15 Stat. 67.

Inhabitants may

avail themselves of the privilege given by act of 1807.

49. The inhabitants of any town located on the public land of the United States, may avail themselves, if the town authorities elect so to do, of the provisions of the act of March 2, 1867, entitled "An act for the relief of the inhabitants of cities and towns upon the public lands:" Provided, This act shall not prevent the issuance of patents to persons who have made, or may make, entries and elect to proceed under existing laws: And provided further, That no title under said act of March 2, 1867, shall be acquired to any valid mining claim or possession held under the existing laws of congress: Provided also, That in addition to the minimum price of the lands included in any town site, entered under the provisions of this act, and "An act for the relief of the inhabitants of cities and towns upon the public lands," approved March 2, 1867, there shall be paid by the parties availing themselves of the provisions of said Costs of survey. acts, all costs of surveying and platting any such town site, and expenses incident thereto, incurred by the United States, before any patent shall issue therefor.

20 May 1862 3 1. 12 Stat. 392.

may enter a quar ter section of

land.

XII. HOMESTEADS.

50. Any person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of twentyone years, and is a citizen of the United States, or who shall have filed his declaration Heads of families of intention to become such, as required by the naturalization laws of the United States, and who has never borne arms against the United States government, or given aid and comfort to its enemies, shall, from and after the 1st January 1863, be entitled to enter one quarter section, or a less quantity, of unappropriated public lands, upon which said person may have filed a pre-emption claim, or which may, at the time the application is made, be subject to pre-emption at one dollar and twenty-five cents or less per acre; or eighty acres or less of such unappropriated lands, at two dollars and fifty cents per acre; to be located in a body, in conformity to the legal subdivisions of the public lands, and after the same shall have been surveyed: Provided, that any person owning and residing on land may, under the provisions of this act, enter other land lying contiguous to his or her said land, which shall not, with the land so already owned and occupied, exceed in the aggregate one hundred and sixty acres. (a)

Ibid. 2.

to be made.

Fees.

and patent to

issue.

51. The person applying for the benefit of this act shall, upon application to the How application register of the land office in which he or she is about to make such entry, make affidavit before the said register or receiver, that he or she is the head of a family, or is twenty-one years or more of age, or shall have performed service in the army or navy of the United States, and that such application is made for his or her exclusive use and benefit, and that said entry is made for the purpose of actual settlement and cultivation, and not either directly or indirectly for the use or benefit of any other person or persons whomsoever; and upon filing the said affidavit with the register or receiver, and on payment of five dollars, when the entry is of not more than eighty acres, he or she shall thereWhen certificate upon be permitted to enter the amount of land specified: Provided, however, that no certificate shall be given or patent issued therefor, until the expiration of five years from the date of such entry; and if, at the expiration of such time, or at any time within two years thereafter, the person making such entry, or if he be dead, his widow; or in case of her death, his heirs or devisee; or in case of a widow making such entry, her heirs or devisee, in case of her death, shall prove by two credible witnesses that he, she or they have resided upon or cultivated the same for the term of five years immediately succeeding the time of filing the affidavit aforesaid, and shall make affidavit that no part of said land has been alienated, and that he will bear true allegiance to the government of the United States; then, in such case, he, she or they, if at that time a citizen of the United States, shall be entitled to a patent, as in other cases provided by Right to vest in law: And provided further, That in case of the death of both father and mother, leaving an infant child or children under twenty-one years of age, the right and fee shall enure to the benefit of said infant child or children; and the executor, administrator or guardian may, at any time within two years after the death of the surviving parent, and in accordance with the laws of the state in which such children, for the time being, have their domicil, sell said land for the benefit of said infants, but for no other purTitle of purcha- pose; and the purchaser shall acquire the absolute title by the purchase, and be entitled

Affidavit.

children.

нег.

(a) See supra 32.

a patent from the United States, on the payment of the office fees and sum of money herein specified: Provided, That until the first day of January 1867, any person applying for the benefit of this act shall, in addition to the oath, hereinbefore required, also make oath that he has not borne arms against the United States, or given aid and comfort to its enemies. (a)

20 May 1862.

Ibid. § 3.

52. The register of the land office shall note all such applications on the tract-books and plats of his office, and keep a register of all such entries, and make return thereof Record of applito the general land office, together with the proof upon which they have been founded. cations.

53. No lands acquired under the provisions of this act shall, in any event, become Ibid. ? 4. liable to the satisfaction of any debt or debts contracted prior to the issuing of the Not to be subject patent therefor.

to prior debts. Ibid. 25.

revert.

54. If at any time after the filing of the affidavit, as required in the second section of this act, and before the expiration of the five years aforesaid, it shall be proven, after In case of abandue notice to the settler, to the satisfaction of the register of the land office, that the donment, land to person having filed such affidavit shall have actually changed his or her residence, or abandoned the said land for more than six months at any time, then and in that event the land so entered shall revert to the government.

Ibid. 26.

tion to be thus

Rules and regu

lations to be esta blished.

55. No individual shall be permitted to acquire title to more than one quarter section under the provisions of this act; and the commissioner of the general land office is Not more than hereby required to prepare and issue such rules and regulations, consistent with this one quarter secact, as shall be necessary and proper to carry its provisions into effect. And the acquired. registers and receivers of the several land offices shall be entitled to receive the same compensation for any lands entered under the provisions of this act that they are now entitled to receive when the same quantity of land is entered with money, one-half to be paid by the person making the application at the time of so doing, and the other half on the issue of the certificate by the person to whom it may be issued; but this shall not be construed to enlarge the maximum of compensation now prescribed by law for any register or receiver: Provided, That nothing contained in this act shall be so Pre-emption construed as to impair or interfere in any manner whatever with existing pre-emption impaired. rights: And provided further, That all persons who may have filed their applications for a pre-emption right, prior to the passage of this act, shall be entitled to all privileges of this act: Provided further, That no person who has served, or may hereafter serve, for Minors to be ena period of not less than fourteen days in the army or navy of the United States, either fit of the act, in regular or volunteer, under the laws thereof, during the existence of an actual war, certain cases. domestic or foreign, shall be deprived of the benefits of this act on account of not having attained the age of twenty-one years.

rights not to be

titled to the beno

Ibid. 27.

56. The fifth section of the act entitled "An act in addition to an act more effectually to provide for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States, and for other Punishment of purposes," approved the 3d of March, in the year 1857, (b) shall extend to all oaths, affirmations and affidavits required or authorized by this act.

false swearing.

Ibid. 28.

mum price, at

13 Stat. 35.

persons in the

57. Nothing in this act shall be so construed as to prevent any person who has availed him or herself of the benefits of the first section of this act, from paying the minimum Applicant may price, or the price to which the same may have graduated, for the quantity of land so purchase at minientered, at any time before the expiration of the five years, and obtaining a patent there- any time. for from the government, as in other cases provided by law, on making proof of settlement and cultivation as provided by existing laws granting pre-emption rights. 58. In case of any person desirous of availing himself of the benefits of the home- 21 Mar. 1864 1. stead act of 20th of May 1862, but who, by reason of actual service in the military or naval service of the United States, is unable to do the personal preliminary acts at the Before whom district land office which the said act of 20th May 1862 requires, and whose family or military and na some member thereof is residing on the land which he desires to enter, and upon which valservice may a bona fide improvement and settlement have been made, it shall and may be lawful for such person to make the affidavit required by said act before the officer commanding in the branch of the service in which the party may be engaged, which affidavit shall be as binding in law, and with like penalties, as if taken before the register or receiver; and upon such affidavit being filed with the register, by the wife or other representative of the party, the same shall become effective from the date of such filing, provided the said application and affidavit are accompanied by the fee and commissions as required. by law.

make adidavit.

Ibid. 2.

59. Besides the ten-dollar fee exacted by the said act, the homestead applicant shall hereafter pay to the register and receiver each, as commissions, at the time of entry, Commissions of one per centum upon the cash price, as fixed by law, of the land applied for, and like registers and commissions when the claim is finally established, and the certificate therefor issued as the basis of a patent.

receivers

(a) So amended by act 21 June 1866, 2. 14 Stat. 67.

(b) 1 vol. 215, pl. 72.

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