10TH.--MISCELLANEOUS. THE RANKIN LANLS. The following is a list of the Real Estate deeded by Samuel E. Rankin, former Treasurer of the Agricultural College, upon final settlement of his affuirs as such Treasurer, to a Committee of the Trustees of said College, composed of H. D. Noble, C. Close and O. H. P. Buchanan. Also lots 9 and 10 in Block C, and 40 feet off of the west end of lots 11 and 12 in Block D, with machinery and stock on hand used in the manufacture of School furniture situated in Griffiths' addition to East Fort Des Moines. This real estate was all deeded to the State of Iowa by said committee of trustees, under section 4, chapter 78, acts 15th General Assembly, (see Private and Local Laws, page 67,) except that portion situated in Griffith's addition to East Fort Des Moines. The State has a sheriff's deed for lots 9 and 10, in block C, of said addition, but has no conveyance for the forty feet off of the west end of lots 11 and 12, in block D, of said addition. This real estate is under the control of the Executive Council, and, except that portion in Lyon county, has nearly all been disposed of. SURVEYS. By order of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, the office of Surveyor-General of the States of Iowa and Wisconsin terminated on June 30, 1866; Hon. Henry A. Wiltse, of Dubuque, being the last person to hold the position. The archives of said office, consisting of all the original field notes and plats of the public surveys of the State, correspondence, &c., were placed in charge of a custodian. By act of the General Assembly, approved January 31, 1868, it was made the duty of the Register of State Land Office, to receive said archives and provide for their safe keeping and proper arrangement as public records. The Commissioner of the General Land Office was furnished with a copy of said act, and, upon receipt thereof, he ordered the custodian at Dubuque to turn the said archives over to this office, which order was complied with. These original field notes are generally very full and complete, giving the distance between the section and quarter section corners and the intervening streams, marshes, ponds, lakes, &c.; also, giving a description of the surface, and quality of soil over which each section line is run. The fee for furnishing a certified copy of the original field notes has been fixed at six dollars per township, and for furnishing a copy of the original plats at two dollars per township plat. This is a moderate compensation for the labor performed in preparing the copies. Section 285 of the Code of 1860, which I understand to be still in force, defines a copy of the original field notes to be "a copy of the field books of the original surveys, as returned to the Surveyor General's office, and not merely a copy of the descriptive lists returned to the district land offices." The Thirteenth General Assembly passed the following act, defining the manner of making re-surveys of lands: SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Iowa, That in the re-survey and subdivisions of lands by county surveyors, their deputies or other persons, the rules prescribed by acts of Congress, and the instructions of the Secretary of the Interior, shall be in all respects followed. SEC. 2 Said rules and regulations shall be published in pamphlet form under the direction of the Register of the State Land Office, and one copy furnished for the use of each county surveyor. Approved April 16, 1870. Under this act the Hon. C. C. Carpenter, then Register of the State Land Office, compiled and published in pamphlet form, the laws, rules and instructions of the department, judicial decisions, etc., relative to restoring lost corners, establishing the center of a section, the survey of small islands, beds of lakes that have become dry, and strips of land omitted in the original surveys, riparian ownership, double corners, etc., and furnished each county surveyor with a copy. There are a number of copies still on hand. Said pamphlet, though not voluminous, is very valuable, not only to the surveyor, but to any one who desires general information relative to the manner of surveying government lands. The Fifteenth General Assembly passed the following act : An Act to Provide for the Permanent Survey of Lands. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Iowa, That whenever the owner or owners of adjacent tracts of land shall desire to establish permanently the lines and corners thereof between them, he, she, or they may enter into a written agreement to employ and abide by the survey of some surveyor; and after said survey is completed, a plat thereof, with a description of all corners and lines plainly marked and described thereon, together with the written agreement of the parties, shall be recorded in the recorder's office of the county where the lands are situated; or after any survey of lands is completed, and the parties interested therein as owners are satisfied with such survey, or when the owners of adjoining lands desire to perpetuate existing lines and corners heretofore made between them, it shall be lawful for them to cause a plat thereof to be made, with a description of all such lines and corners made thereon, which plat shall be acknowledged before some officer authorized to take the acknowledgment of deeds, and signed by each of said owners as an agreement between them so far as relates to such lines and corners; all of which shall be recorded in the recorder's office of the county in which the lands are situated; and the lines and corners so made and described and recorded shall be binding upon the parties entering into said agreement and signing said plats, their heirs, successors and assigns, and shall never be changed. SEC. 2. Whenever one or more proprietors of land in this State, the corners and boundaries of whose lands are lost, destroyed, or are in dispute, or who are desirous of having said corners and boundaries permanently established, and who will not enter into agreement as provided by section first of this act, it shall be lawful for said proprietor or proprietors that they shall cause a notice in writing to be served on the owner or owners of adjacent tract or tracts, if known and residing in the county where said lands are situated, or if not known and not residing in such county, by publishing in a newspaper published in such county, and if no newspaper shall be published, then by putting up in four different public places in said county, a written or printed notice to the effect that on a day named therein he, she, or they will make application to the district court of the county in which said lands are situated, at its next succeeding term, for the appointment of a commission of one or more surveyors to make survey of and permanently establish said corners and boundaries, which notice shall be posted up at least four weeks before the time appointed for said application; and one of said notices shall be in the precinct or township in which said corners and boundaries are situated. SEC. 3. Upon the filing of proper petition and proof of due notice aforesaid, the said court shall appoint a commission of one or more surveyors, entirely disinterested, to make said survey, who shall proceed to make said survey and report his or their proceedings to that or the next term of said court, accompanied by a plat and notes of said survey and each of said surveyors shall be authorized to administer an oath to any of the assistants necessary in the execution of said survey, to faithfully and impartially perform their respective duties, and take the evidence under oath administered by the surveyor, and incorporate the same with his or their survey, of any person or persons, who may be able to identify any original government corner, or witness thereto, or government line tree, or other noted object, or any other legally established corner, or other corners that have been recognized as such by the adjoining proprietors for over ten years. SEC. 4. Upon the filing of said report, any person whose interests may be affected by said survey shall be at liberty to enter his objections to said report, and the court shall hear and determine said objections, and enter an order or judgment either approving or rejecting said report, or modifying and amending the same. according to the rights and interests of the parties, or may refer the same back to said commission to correct their report and survey in conformity with the judgment of the court; or the court may, for good reason, set aside said commission and appoint a new one, who shall proceed anew, and determine the boundaries and corners of the lands in question. The corners and boundaries established in said survey, as approved in the final judgment of the court, if not appealed from within thirty days, shall be held and considered as permanently and unalterably established according to said survey. The expenses and costs of the surveys and suit shall be apportioned among all the parties according to their respective interests. Approved March 5, 1874. PLATTING THE LAND GRANTS. The platting of the several land grants of the State, for which the last General Assembly made an appropriation, is almost completed. The plats are made upon a scale of two inches per mile; all the meandered streams and lakes are correctly drawn upon same, and the lands of the several grants designated thereon by appropriate colors. Conflicts, where any have occurred, have been carefully noted on the margin of the plats. These plats have been properly arranged and bound in separate volumes, in good and substantial binding, and each volume appropriately labelled or marked with the numbers of the townships and ranges contained therein. By reference to these plats we will be enabled to see at once whether any particular tract has been conveyed to the State under any grant, and if so, what grant, without having to search through the several government patents and certified lists on file in the office for the information, as heretofore. Owing to the large quantities of lands that the State has received and is receiving under the various land grants, and the constant vigilence required to prevent conflicts in the conveyances of the same by the State, these plats became an absolute necessity. FEES. The following is a Statement of the fees received at the State Land Office, during the biennial period, commencing with November 1, 1875, and ending with September 30, 1877, with date of receipi, name of party from whom received; on what account and amount. Feb. Feb. Feb. 18, 1876.... J. S. Everett.......... Jan. 19, 1876.... A. T. Cole. Jan. 20, 1876.... Judge Baldwin Jan. 21, 1876.... E. Glendenning. 27, 1876.... H. R. Creighton 28, 1876. Thomas Sargent 2, 1876.... M. Garber.. Jan. Feb. 3, 1876....Thompson & Craig For copy of patent... For copy of patent.. 1.00 For copy of patent.... 1.00 For copy of field notes. 1.00 For copy of contract. 1.00 For copy of patent... 1.00 For copy of patent.. 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 |