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21 March 1864 23.

When clerks of

affidavits.

60. In any case hereafter in which the applicant for the benefit of the homestead, and whose family or some member thereof is residing on the land which he desires to courts may take enter, and upon which a bonâ fide improvement and settlement have been made, is prevented by reason of distance, bodily infirmity, or other good cause, from personal attendance at the district land office, it shall and may be lawful for him to make the affidavit required by the original statute, before the clerk of the court for the county in which the applicant is an actual resident, and to transmit the same with the fee and commissions, to the register and receiver.

14 Stat. 66.

Homestead law

extended to certain states.

Restrictions.

21 June 1866 1. 61. All the public lands in the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Florida shall be disposed of according to the stipulations of the homestead law of 20th May 1862, entitled "An act to secure homesteads to actual settlers on the public domain," and the act supplemental thereto, approved 21st of March 1864, but with this restriction, that until the expiration of two years from and after the passage of this act, no entry shall be made for more than a half-quarter section, or eighty acres; and in lieu of the sum of ten dollars required to be paid by the second section of said act, there shall be paid the sum of five dollars at the time of the issue of each patent; and the public lands in said states shall be disposed of in no other manner, after the passage of this act: Provided, That no distinction or discrimination shall be made in the construction or execution of this act on account of race or color: And provided further, That no mineral lands shall be liable to entry and settlement under its provisions.

Ibid. 3.

Homestead law to be applicable thereto.

2 July 1862 21.

12 Stat. 503.

62. All the provisions of the said homestead law, and the act amendatory thereof, approved March 21st 1864, so far as the same may be applicable, except so far as the same are modified by the preceding sections of this act, are applied to and made part of this act, as fully as if herein enacted and set forth.

XIII. LANDS DONATED TO THE STATES.

63. That there be granted to the several states, for the purposes hereinafter mentioned, an amount of public land, to be apportioned to each state a quantity equal to Lands donated to thirty thousand acres for each senator and representative in congress to which the states

the several states.

Ibid. 2.

to be selected.

are respectively entitled by the apportionment under the census of 1860: Provided, That no mineral lands shall be selected or purchased under the provisions of this act. 64. The land aforesaid, after being surveyed, shall be apportioned to the several states How apportioned in sections, or subdivisions of sections, not less than one quarter of a section; and whenamong the states. ever there are public lands in a state subject to sale at private entry at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, the quantity to which said state shall be entitled shall be From what lands selected from such lands within the limits of such state. And the secretary of the interior is hereby directed to issue to each of the states in which there is not the quantity of public lands subject to sale at private entry at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, to which said state may be entitled under the provisions of this act, land scrip to When scrip to be the amount in acres for the deficiency of its distributive share: said scrip to be sold by said states and the proceeds thereof applied to the uses and purposes prescribed in this act, and for no other use or purpose whatsoever: Provided, That in no case shall any state, to which land scrip may thus be issued, be allowed to locate the same within the limits of any other state, or of any territory of the United States, but their assignees may thus locate said land scrip upon any of the unappropriated lands of the United States, subject to sale at private entry at one dollar and twenty-five cents or less, per acre: And provided further, That not more than one million acres shall be located by such assignees in any one of the states: And provided further, That no such location shall be made before one year from the passage of this act.

issued.

Location.

Ibid. 3.

How expenses be paid.

vested.

to

65. All the expenses of management, superintendence and taxes from date of selection of said lands, previous to their sales, and all expenses incurred in the management and disbursement of the moneys which may be received therefrom, shall be paid by the states to which they may belong, out of the treasury of said states, so that the entire proceeds of the sale of said lands shall be applied, without any diminution whatever, to the purposes hereinafter mentioned.

Ibid. ? 4. 66. All moneys derived from the sale of the lands aforesaid, by the states to which Proceeds to be in the lands are apportioned, and from the sales of land scrip herein before provided for, shall be invested in stocks of the United States, or of the states, or some other safe stocks, yielding not less than five per centum upon the par value of said stocks; and the moneys so invested shall constitute a perpetual fund, the capital of which shall Interest to be ap- remain for ever undiminished (except so far as may be provided in section fifth of this plied to collegiate act), and the interest of which shall be inviolably appropriated, by each state which may take and claim the benefit of this act, to the endowment, support and maintenance of at least one college, where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scien

purposes.

tific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the legislatures of the states may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life.

2 July 1862.

Ibid. 25.

67. The grant of land and land scrip hereby authorized shall be made on the following conditions, to which, as well as to the provisions herein before contained, the pre- Conditions of vious assent of the several states shall be signified by legislative acts:

grant.

intact.

I. If any portion of the fund invested, as provided by the foregoing section, or any Fund to be kept portion of the interest thereon shall, by any action or contingency, be diminished or lost, it shall be replaced by the state to which it belongs, so that the capital of the fund shall remain for ever undiminished; and the annual interest shall be regularly applied, without diminution, to the purposes mentioned in the fourth section of this act; except that a sum not exceeding ten per centum upon the amount received by any state under the provisions of this act, may be expended for the purchase of lands for sites or experimental farms, whenever authorized by the respective legislatures of said states. II. No portion of said fund, nor the interest thereon, shall be applied, directly or Not to be applied indirectly, under any pretence whatever, to the purchase, erection, preservation or repair of any building or buildings.

to building pur

poses.

erected within

III. Any state which may take and claim the benefit of the provisions of this act, College to be shall provide, within five years, at least not less than one college, as described in the five years. fourth section of this act, or the grant to such state shall cease; (a) and said state shall be bound to pay the United States the amount received of any lands previously sold; and the title to purchasers under the state shall be valid.

IV. An annual report shall be made regarding the progress of each college, record- Annual reports. ing any improvements and experiments made, with their cost and results, and such other matters, including state industrial and economical statistics, as may be supposed useful; one copy of which shall be transmitted by mail, free, by each, to all the other colleges which may be endowed under the provisions of this act, and also one copy to the secretary of the interior.

lands.

V. When lands shall be selected from those which have been raised to double the Computation of minimum price, in consequence of railroad grants, they shall be computed to the states at the maximum price, and the number of acres proportionately diminished.

VI. No state while in a condition of rebellion or insurrection against the govern- States in rebelment of the United States, shall be entitled to the benefit of this act.

lion excluded.

VII. No state shall be entitled to the benefits of this act, unless it shall express its Assent to be given within two acceptance thereof by its legislature within two years from the date of its approval by years. the president.(b)

68. Land scrip issued under the provisions of this act shall not be subject to location until after the first day of January 1863.

69. The land officers shall receive the same fees for locating land scrip issued under the provisions of this act, as is now allowed for the location of military bounty land Fees. warrants, under existing laws: Provided, Their maximum compensation shall not be thereby increased.

Ibid. 26.

Ibid. 7.

Ibid. 8.

70. The governors of the several states to which scrip shall be issued under this act, shall be required to report annually to congress, all sales made of such scrip, until the Annual reports whole shall be disposed of, the amount received for the same, and what appropriation has been made of the proceeds.

to congress.

13 Stat. 47.

ance extended.

71. Any state or territory may accept and shall be entitled to the benefits of the act 14 April 1864 1. entitled "An act donating public lands to the several states and territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts," approved July Time for accept2d 1862, by expressing its acceptance thereof, as provided in said act, within two years from the date of the approval of this act, subject, however, to the conditions in said act contained.

72. That the benefit of the provisions of this act, and of the said act approved July 2d 1862, be and the same are hereby extended to the state of West Virginia. (c)

Ibid. 2.

15 Stat. 227.

73. In no case shall more than three sections of public lands of the United States be 27 July 1868 21. entered in any one township, by scrip issued to any state under the act approved July 2d 1862, for the establishment of an agricultural college therein.

XIV. MINERAL LANDS.

74. The mineral lands of the public domain, both surveyed and unsurveyed, are 26 July 1866 ? 1. hereby declared to be free and open to exploration and occupation by all citizens

(a) Time extended for five years, by act 23 July 1866. 14 Stat. 208. (b) By act 23 July 1866, the time is extended three years from that date; and new states are to be entitled to the benefits of the

14 Stat. 251.

act, by expressing their acceptance within three years from the date of their admission. 14 Stat. 208.

(c) Extended to Nevada by act 4 July 1866, 3, 14 Stat. 85; and to Nebraska, by act 30 March 1867, 15 Stat. 13.

26 July 1866.

Mineral lands to be open to explo

ration and occupation.

Ibid. 2. Patents may

issue for veins or

lodes of quartz,

&c. running be neath adjoining lands.

Ibid. 3. Proceedings to obtain patent.

Ibid. 4.

Proceedings in case of unsurveyed lands.

Ibid. 5. Powers of local legislatures.

Ibid. 26.

Settlement of adverse claims.

Ibid. 7. New land districts may be created.

3 March 1863 9. 12 Stat. 740.

Unproductive lands may be rented.

of the United States, and those who have declared their intention to become citizens, subject to such regulations as may be prescribed by law, and subject also to the local customs or rules of miners in the several mining districts, so far as the same may not be in conflict with the laws of the United States.

75. Whenever any person or association of persons claim a vein or lode of quartz, or other rock in place, bearing gold, silver, cinnabar or copper, having previously occupied and improved the same according to the local custom or rules of miners in the district where the same is situated, and having expended in actual labor and improvements thereon an amount of not less than one thousand dollars, and in regard to whose possession there is no controversy or opposing claim, it shall and may be lawful for said claimant, or association of claimants, to file in the local land office, a diagram of the same, so extended laterally, or otherwise, as to conform to the local laws, customs and rules of miners, and to enter such tract and receive a patent therefor, granting such mine, together with the right to follow such vein or lode with its dips, angles and vari ́ations, to any depth, although it may enter the land adjoining, which land adjoining shall be sold subject to this condition.

76. Upon the filing of the diagram as provided in the second section of this act, and posting the same in a conspicuous place on the claim, together with a notice of intention to apply for a patent, the register of the land office shall publish a notice of the same, in a newspaper published nearest to the location of said claim, and shall also post such notice in his office for the period of ninety days; and after the expiration of said period, if no adverse claim shall have been filed, it shall be the duty of the surveyor-general, upon application of the party, to survey the premises and make a plat thereof, endorsed with his approval, designating the number and description of the location, the value of the labor and improvements, and the character of the vein exposed; and upon the payment to the proper officer of five dollars per acre, together with the cost of such survey, plat and notice, and giving satisfactory evidence that said diagram and notice have been posted on the claim during said period of ninety days, the register of the land office shall transmit to the general land office said plat, survey and description; and a patent shall issue for the same thereupon. But said plat, survey or description shall in no case cover more than one vein or lode, and no patent shall issue for more than one vein or lode, which shall be expressed in the patent issued.

77. When such location and entry of a mine shall be upon unsurveyed lands, it shall and may be lawful, after the extension thereto of the public surveys, to adjust the surveys to the limits of the premises according to the location and possession and plat aforesaid, and the surveyor-general may, in extending the surveys, vary the same from a rectangular form, to suit the circumstances of the country and the local rules, laws and customs of miners: Provided, That no location hereafter made shall exceed two hundred feet in length along the vein for each locator, with an additional claim for discovery to the discoverer of the lode, with the right to follow such vein to any depth, with all its dips, variations and angles, together with a reasonable quantity of surface for the convenient working of the same as fixed by local rules: And provided further, That no person may make more than one location on the same lode, and not more than three thousand feet shall be taken in any one claim by any association of

persons.

78. As a further condition of sale, in the absence of necessary legislation by congress, the local legislature of any state or territory may provide rules for working mines, involving easements, drainage and other necessary means to their complete development; and those conditions shall be fully expressed in the patent.

79. Whenever any adverse claimants to any mine located and claimed as aforesaid shall appear before the approval of the survey, as provided in the third section of this act, all proceedings shall be stayed until a final settlement and adjudication, in the courts of competent jurisdiction, of the rights of possession to such claim, when a patent may issue as in other cases.

80. That the president of the United States be and is hereby authorized to establish additional land districts, and to appoint the necessary officers, under existing laws, wherever he may deem the same necessary for the public convenience in executing the provisions of this aet.

XV. LANDS CEDED TO THE UNITED STATES.

81. For the purpose of realizing as much as may properly be done from unproductive lands, and other property of the United States acquired under judicial proceedings, or otherwise, in the collection of debts, the solicitor of the treasury be and he is hereby authorized, with the approval of the secretary of the treasury, to rent, for a period not

exceeding three years, or sell any such lands or other property at public sale, after advertising the time, place and conditions of such sale, for three months preceding the same, in some newspaper published in the vicinity thereof, in such manner and upon such terms as may, in his judgment, be most advantageous to the public interests. XVI. RECLAMATION OF SWAMP LANDS.

3 March 1863.

12 Stat. 3.

tended to Minne

82. That the provisions of the act of congress entitled "An act to enable the state of 12 Mar. 1860 ₫ 1. Arkansas and other states to reclaim the 'swamp lands' within their limits," approved September 28th 1850, (a) be and the same are hereby extended to the states of Minne- Act of 1850 exsota and Oregon: Provided, That the grant hereby made shall not include any lands sota and Oregon. which the government of the United States may have reserved, sold or disposed of (in pursuance of any law heretofore enacted) prior to the confirmation of title to be made under the authority of the said act.

Ibid. 2.

years.

83. The selection to be made from lands already surveyed in each of the states, including Minnesota and Oregon, under the authority of the act aforesaid, and of the act Selection to be to aid the state of Louisiana in draining the swamp lands therein, approved March 2d made within two 1849, (b) shall be made within two years from the adjournment of the legislature of each state, at its next session after the date of this act; and as to all lands hereafter to be surveyed, within two years from such adjournment, at the next session, after notice by the secretary of the interior to the governor of the state, that the surveys have been completed and confirmed.

XVII. LANDS NORTH OF THE OHIO AND EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

11 Stat. 373.

84. To enable persons interested in titles to land in the Vincennes district, Indiana, 21 Dec. 1858 ? 1. to perfect the same, and for the transaction of such other business as may require his services, the office of register of the land office at that place shall be continued for the Office at Vincenperiod of three years from and after the passage of this act, if, in the opinion of the president of the United States, the public interests so long require it.

nes continued.

Ibid. 2.

85. It shall be the duty of the register, under directions from the secretary of the interior, to issue such patent certificates, or other evidences of title, as may from time Duties of the reto time be necessary, as the basis of patents, for the ancient private claims in that gister. district that have been recognised by various confirmatory laws; and prior to finally closing the district, three months' public notice shall be given thereof.

Ibid. 3.

ceiver.

86. A register shall be appointed by the president under this act, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, which register shall be authorized to perform all such Register to perduties, both as register and receiver, as shall be prescribed by the secretary of the form duties of reinterior, and shall receive in full for the same a salary of five hundred dollars Salary. per annum, and such fees for pre-emption bounty-land locations as existing United States laws allow; and in making transcripts of original papers for individuals, said register shall have a right to charge therefor, according to the tariff existing in the local courts of the district.

Fees.

Ibid. 4.

87. The officer so appointed shall be required to reside at Vincennes, and to give bond for the faithful performance of his duties, the safety of the archives in his charge, and Residence. the public moneys which may be received by him, in such penalty as the president of Bond. the United States may deem necessary.

XVIII. LANDS IN FLORIDA.

12 Stat. 11.

be confirmed.

88. Whenever the dividing line between the states of Georgia and Florida shall 13 April 1860 ₫ 1. have been finally surveyed, approved, ratified and confirmed as the boundary between those states, the secretary of the interior shall be and he is hereby authorized to Georgia grants to adjudicate, upon principles of equity and justice, all claims, under sales or grants by the state of Georgia, to lands which may fall within the state of Florida, and all of said claims which may be approved by him shall be and are hereby ratified and confirmed: Provided, however, That the state of Georgia shall first ratify and confirm all Conditions. sales and grants made by the United States of lands in Florida, which may fall within the limits of the state of Georgia under the final adjustment of the boundary line aforesaid.

XIX. LAND CLAIMS IN FLORIDA, LOUISIANA AND MISSOURI.

12 Stat. 85.

Claimants to ap

ply to commis

89. Any person or persons, and the legal representatives of any person or persons, 22 June 1860 § 1. who claim any lands lying within the states of Florida, Louisiana or Missouri, by virtue of grant, concession, order of survey, permission to settle, or other written evidence of title, emanating from any foreign government, bearing date prior to the cession to the sioners for conUnited States of the territory out of which said states were formed, or during the firmation of their period when any such government claimed sovereignty or had the actual possession of the district or territory in which the lands so claimed are situated, shall be and they

[blocks in formation]

titles.

22 June 1860.

Proceedings.

Ibid. 2.

commissioners.

are hereby authorized to make application for the confirmation of their title to the lands so claimed, in the manner following, to wit: they shall file notices in writing, together with the evidence in support of their claims, before the commissioners hereinafter designated, within whose district the lands claimed may be situated, together with a brief abstract of the title of the claimant, and copies of the plats of survey thereof, whenever such surveys have been made and are within the possession of the claimant, and accompanied with a sworn statement by the claimant of the lands supposed to be covered by his claim, according to the legal divisions and subdivisions of the surveys made by the United States, if the land claimed is included in any surveys so made: and the said notices, evidence and the decisions of the commissioners thereon, shall be recorded in a book kept for that purpose, a transcript of which shall, from time to time, be transmitted to the commissioner of the general land office.

90. The registers and receivers of the several land offices in the states of Florida and Appointment of Louisiana, within their respective land districts, and the recorder of land titles for the city of St. Louis, for the state of Missouri, and their successors in office, shall be and they are hereby appointed commissioners, to hear and decide, under such instructions as may be prescribed by the commissioner of the general land office, in conformity with this act, and according to justice and equity and the principles hereinafter established, in a summary manner, all matters respecting such claims within the districts aforesaid as come within the provisions of this act. They shall have power to administer oaths, compel the attendance of and examine witnesses, demand and obtain from the proper offices all public records in which grants of land, warrants, orders of survey or other evidence of claims to land derived from any foreign government may have been recorded, and shall make a report to the commissioner of the general land office on the claims so presented to them for decision, dividing said claims into separate classes in the manner hereinafter provided, and giving their opinion whether such claims ought to be confirmed or rejected.

Their powers.

Ibid. 3. Claims to be classified.

Claims heretofore rejected as fraudulent, not

91. The claims so presented and passed upon by the commissioners, as aforesaid, shall be by them divided in their report into three distinct classes, as follows, viz.:

No. 1 shall contain all claims which, in their opinion, ought to be confirmed, where the lands claimed have been in possession and cultivation by the private claimants or those under whom they derive title, for a period of at least twenty years preceding the date of filing the claim, by virtue of some grant, concession or order of survey, permission to settle, or other written evidence of title, emanating from some foreign government which held or claimed sovereignty or jurisdiction over the territory in which the lands claimed are situated, and where the title emanating from such foreign government bears date anterior to the cession of said territory to the United States.

No. 2 shall contain all claims which, in their opinion, ought to be confirmed, where the lands are claimed under written evidence of title, as above provided, in class No. 1, but where there has been no actual possession and cultivation of the land claimed for a period of at least twenty years prior to the filing of the claim.

No. 3 shall contain all claims which, in their opinion, ought to be rejected, whether from defect of proof, suspicion of fraud based on probable ground, uncertainty of location, vagueness of description, or any other cause sufficient, in their opinion, to justify such rejection: Provided, That in no case shall such commissioners embrace in said classes No. 1 and No. 2, any claim which has been heretofore presented for conto be confirmed. firmation before any board of commissioners or other public officers acting under authority of congress, and rejected as being fraudulent, or procured or maintained by fraudulent or improper means; nor shall any such claim be received or considered by the commissioners, which has been already twice rejected on the merits by previous boards.

Ibid. 4. Duties of com

92. Whenever the said commissioner shall approve the report of the commissioners in cases embraced in classes No. 1 or No. 2, he shall report the same to congress missioner of the for its action; and whenever the said commissioner shall approve the report in

land office.

Ibid. 5. Claims disapproved to be

reported to congress.

Ibid. 26.

cases embraced in class No. 3, the rejection of the claim so acted on shall be final and conclusive, and the land embraced within the claim shall be considered and treated as other public lands belonging to the United States.

93. All claims comprehended within any of the three classes aforesaid, on which there shall be disapproval by the commissioner of the report made by the boards of commissioners aforesaid, shall be reported to congress for its action and final decision thereon.

94. Whenever it shall appear that lands claimed, and the title to which may be conCompensation to firmed under the provisions of this act, have been sold in whole or in part by the United claimants whose States, prior to such confirmation, or where the surveyor-general of the district shall lands have been disposed of ascertain that the same cannot be surveyed and located, the party in whose favor the

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