7. COMPARATIVE VIEW OF THE TONNAGE OF THE UNITED STATES, From 1815 to 1849 inclusive, in Tons. NOTE. No separate returns of tonnage employed in the mackerel fishery were made by the collectors of the customs prior to the year 1830. XII. MINT. Ir is lawful for any person or persons to bring to the Mint gold and silver bullion to be coined; and the bullion so brought is there assayed and coined, as speedily as may be after the receipt thereof, and, if of the standard of the United States, free of expense to the person or persons by whom it has been brought. But the Treasurer of the Mint is not obliged to receive, for the purpose of refining and coining, any deposit of less value than one hundred dollars, nor any bullion so base as to be unsuitable for minting. And there must be retained from every deposit of bullion below the standard such sum as shall be equivalent to the expense incurred in refining, toughening, and alloying the same; an accurate account of which expense, on every deposit, is kept, and of the sums retained on account of the same, which are accounted for by the Treasurer of the Mint with the Treasurer of the United States. Officers of the Mint at Philadelphia. Refiner, R. M. Patterson, Director, $3,500 James C. Booth, Melter and Salary. $2,000 2,000 Jas. B. Longacre, Engraver, 2,000 2,000 W. E. Dubois, Assist. Assayer, 1,300 Officers of the Branch at New Orleans, La. A. W. Redding, Superintend., $ 2,500 John Brooks, Coiner, $2,000 2,000 W. W. Wickes, Treasurer, 2,500 M. F. Bonzano, Melter & Refiner, 2,000| Officers of the Branch at Dahlonega, Ga. A. W. Redding, Superintend., $2,000 Robert H. Moore, Coiner, 1,500 Officers of the Branch at Charlotte, N. C. J. W. Osborne, Superintendent, $ 2,000 Emmor Graham, 1,500 Coiner, $1,500 1. Statement of the Deposits for Coinage, at the Mint of the United States and its Branches, in the Year 1849. 2. Statement of the Coinage of the Mint of the United States and its Branches Up to the close of August, 1850, $24,503,454 of California gold was received at the Mint and branches. Up to the same period 608,177 double eagles were coined, value, $ 12,163,540, and 81,170 gold dollars. Years. 3. Coinage of the Mint of the United States, from 1792, including the Coinage of the Branch Mints from the Commencement of their Operations, in 1838. XIII. PUBLIC LANDS. [From the Land Commissioner's Report, Nov. 28th, 1849.] THE public lands belonging to the General Government are situated; 1st. Within the limits of the United States, as defined by the treaty of 1783, and are embraced by the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and that part of Minesota east of the Mississippi River, all of which have been formed out of the Northwestern Territory, as conveyed with certain reservations to the United States by New York in 1781, by Virginia in 1784, by Massachusetts in 1785, and by Connecticut in 1786; also the lands within the boundaries of the States of Mississippi and Alabama north of 31° north latitude, as conveyed to the United States by Georgia in 1802. 2d. Within the territories of Orleans and Louisiana, as acquired from France by the treaty of 1803, including the portion of the States of Alabama and Mississippi south of 31°; the whole of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, and that portion of Minesota west of the Mississippi River; the Indian Territory; the district called Nebraska; the Territory of Oregon, and the region lying between Oregon and Minesota, north of 42° and south of 49° north latitude. 3d. Within the State of Florida, as obtained from Spain by the treaty of 1819. 4th. In New Mexico and California, as acquired from Mexico, by the treaty of 1848. Within the limits recognized by these treaties and cessions, the public lands covered an estimated area of 1,584,000,000 acres. To the 30th September, 1849, 146,000,000 acres had been sold, leaving unsold an area of 1,438,000,000 acres, which land, in large bodies or detached tracts, is found in the several States and Territories above mentioned. The system for surveying and disposing of the public lands was established by the act of 20th May, 1785, and has continued to the present time with but slight modifications. All public lands, before they are offered for sale, are surveyed in ranges of townships of six miles square, which townships are subdivided into thirty-six sections of one mile square, each section generally containing 640 acres. This subdivision is made by lines crossing each other at right angles, and running to the cardinal points of the compass. The sections are numbered from 1 to 36, beginning at the northeastern corner of the township, and counting alternately from east to west, and from west to east, and are subdivided into quarters, or 160 acres, eighths, or 80 acres, and sixteenths, or 40 acres. The corners of townships, sections and quarter-sections, are designated by monuments established by surveyors in the field. After the lands have been thus surveyed, they are proclaimed by the President for sale at public auction, at not less than $1.25 per acre; and such as thereafter remain unsold may be purchased at private sale at that rate. The security of titles under this system is nearly perfect, as is shown by the fact, that, notwithstanding the extent of sales of land, and the number and variety of purchasers, there has been but little litigation as to bounda ries; and most of this has been caused by fraud, and not by any defect in the system of operations. For the benefit of education, the sixteenth section in each township, or` one thirty-sixth part of the public lands, has been set apart for the support of schools. Besides this, large donations have been made by Congress from time to time for colleges, county seats, seats of government, and internal improvements. Full details of these grants and donations, and also of the present condition of the public lands, are given in the American Almanac for 1850, page 180, et seq. The following tables show the sales of public lands, and the proceeds thereof, in 1848, and in the first three quarters of 1849; also, from the year 1833 to the third quarter of 1849, inclusive: 1. Statement of Public Lands sold, and of Payments into the Treasury on Account thereof, in the Year 1848, and the 1st, 2d, and 3d Quarters of 1849. 2. Quantity of Public Land sold, and the Amount paid for it, in each Year, from 1833 to the Third Quarter of 1849. 7,094 7,514 162,152 2,496,980 3,309 50 34.996 7,144 45,769 62,318 711,291 32,108 406.119 256,578 1,614,390 |