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authorities of the State in lieu, thereof, agreeably to the provisions of the act of Congress approved on the twentieth of May, eighteen hundred and twenty-six, entitled "An act to appropriate lands for the support of schools in certain townships and fractional townships, not before provided for," and which shall be subject to approval by the Secretary of the Interior. And no person shall make a settlement or location upon any tract or parcel of land selected for a military post, or within one mile of such post, or on any other lands reserved by competent authority; nor shall any person obtain the benefits of this act by a settlement or location on mineral lands.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That the public lands, not being mineral lands, occupied as towns or villages, shall not be subdivided, or subject to sale, or to be appropriated by settlers, under the provisions of this act; but the whole of such lands, whether settled upon before or after the survey of the same, shall be subject to the provisions of the act entitled "An act for the relief of the citizens of towns upon the lands of the United States, under certain circumstances," approved May twenty-third, eighteen hundred and forty-four, except such towns as are located on or near mineral lands, the inhabitants of which shall have the right of occupation and cultivation only until such time as Congress shall dispose of the same; nor shall any lands specially reserved for public uses be appropriated under the provisions of this act.*

SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That whenever the public surveys, or any portion of them authorized by this act, or by the act approved September twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and fifty, entitled "An act to create the office of Surveyor-General of the Public Lands in Oregon, and to provide for the survey and to make donations to settlers of the said public lands," are so required to be made, as to render it expedient to make compensation for the surveying thereof by the day, instead of by the mile, it shall be lawful for the Commissioner of the General Land Office, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, to make such fair and reasonable allowance as, in his judgment, shall be necessary to insure the accurate and faithful execution of the work.†

SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That, except where the President of the United States shall see cause otherwise to determine, each officer to be appointed in virtue of this act, and also every other like officer of the United States, may continue in the uninterrupted discharge of his regular official duties, and is hereby authorized accordingly so to act, after the day of expiration of his official commission, and until a new commission shall be issued to him for the same office, or otherwise, until the day when a successor shall enter upon the duties of such office; and the existing official bond of any such officer so acting shall be deemed and held to be good and sufficient, and in force until the date of the approval of a new bond to be given by him if recommissioned, or otherwise, for the additional time wherein he may so continue officially to act, pursuant to authority hereof. And the provision as to bonds to be given by Deputy-Surveyors for the faithful execution of their duties, in a penalty of double the estimated amount of money accruing to them under their surveying contracts, as required by the act of March third, eighteen hundred and thirty-one, entitled "An act to create the office of Surveyor-General of the public lands for the State of Louisiana," referred to in the third section of this act, shall be and the same is hereby made applicable to the public surveys in the State of California; and the sufficiency of the sureties to all such bonds shall be approved and certified by the proper Surveyor-General; and the same pro

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vision is hereby extended to all other branches of the public surveying service elsewhere; and all such bonds heretofore required of Deputy-Surveyors, according to usage in the surveying service, shall be deemed and held to be of the same validity as if the same had been required by law. And it is hereby made the duty of each of the respective SurveyorsGeneral of the public lands of the United States, so far as is compatible with the desk duties of his office, occasionally to inspect the surveying operations while in progress in the field, sufficiently to satisfy himself, from actual inspection, of the fidelity of the execution of the work according to contract, and the actual and necessary expenses incurred by him while so engaged shall be allowed; and where it is incompatible with his other duties for a Surveyor-General to devote the time necessary to make a personal inspection of the work in progress, then he shall be and hereby is authorized to depute a confidential agent to make such examination; and the actual and necessary expenses of such person shall be allowed and paid for that service, and five dollars per day during the examination in the field: Provided, That such examination shall not be protracted beyond thirty days, and in no case longer than is actually necessary; and when a Surveyor-General, or any person employed in his office at a regular salary, shall be engaged in such special service, he or they shall only receive his necessary expenses in addition to his regular salary.

SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Interior be and he is hereby authorized and required to cause to be provided for the office of the Surveyor-General of Oregon, a seal, with such device as shall be deemed suitable, and copies of any papers on file in his office which may be authenticated by him under said seal shall be evidence in all cases in which the originals would be evidence, and from and after the passage of this act the salary of said Surveyor shall be three thousand five hundred dollars per annum.

SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That the quantity of two entire townships, or seventy-two sections, shall be and the same is hereby granted to the State of California for the use of a seminary of learning, said lands to be selected by the Governor of the State, or any person he may designate for that purpose, in legal subdivisions of not less than a quartersection of any of the unsold, unoccupied, and unappropriated public lands therein, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, and to be disposed of as the Legislature shall direct: Provided however, That no mineral lands, or lands reserved for any public purpose whatever, or lands to which any settler may be entitled under the provisions of this act, shall be subject to such selection.

SEC. 13. And be it further enacted, That, there shall be and is hereby granted to the State of California the quantity of ten entire sections of land, for the purpose of erecting the public buildings of that State, said lands to be selected by the Governor, or any persons he may designate, in legal subdivisions of not less than a quarter-section of any of the unsold, unoccupied, and unappropriated public lands in that State, and subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior: Provided however, That none of said selections shall be made of mineral lands or lands reserved for any public purpose whatever, or lands to which any settler may be entitled under the provisions of this act.

Approved, March 3, 1853.

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No. 225.—An Act to authorize the correction of erroneous locations of military bounty land-warrants by actual settlers on the public lands in certain cases.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That where an actual settler on the public lands has sought or shall hereafter attempt to locate the land settled on and improved by him, with a military bounty land-warrant, and where, from any cause, an error has occurred in making such location, said settler shall be authorized to relinquish the land so eroneously located, and to locate such warrant upon the land so settled upon and improved by him, if the same shall then be vacant, and if not, upon any other vacant land, on making proof of those facts to the satisfaction of the land officers, according to such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and subject to his final adjudication.*

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the provisions of the act of third March, eighteen hundred and nineteen, "providing for the correction of errors in making entries of land at the land offices," and of the act of twenty-fourth May, eighteen hundred and twenty-eight, supplementary to said act of third March, eighteen hundred and nineteen, shall be and the same are hereby made applicable to errors in the location of land-warrants. Approved, March 3, 1853.

No. 226.-An Act to appropriate lands for the support of schools in certain townships and fractional townships in the territory of Minnesota, not before provided for.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in those townships and fractional townships in the Territory of Minnesota where sections numbered sixteen and thirty-six, or either of them, directed to be reserved for school purposes by the eighteenth section of the act approved third of March, one thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, entitled "An act to establish the Territorial Government of Minnesota," shall be found fractional in quantity, and in those or fractional townships where no section sixteen or thirty-six shall be found therein, there shall be reserved and appropriated other land for such school purposes, to make up, in the first case, the deficiency in the quantity of said fractional sections sixteen and thirty-six, or either of them, and to give, in the second case, an equivalent for the loss of either or both said sections: Provided, That the mode and manner of selection and approval in both cases, and the quantity selected in the second case, shall be in accordance with the principles settled by the act approved twentieth [of] May, eighteen hundred and twenty-six, entitled "An act to appropriate lands for the support of schools in certain townships and fractional townships not before provided for."+

Approved, March 3, 1853.

*See Nos. 11, 14, 17, 19, 149.

† See No. 169.

No. 227.-An Act to revive and continue in force for a limited time the provisions of an act relative to suspended entries of public land.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the several provisions of the act approved third August, eighteen hundred and forty-six, entitled "An 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 term of ten years from the date hereof; and those provisions are hereby declared applicable 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.*

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That 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 of such surrender, who by said act are constituted the board of adjudication, are hereby 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. Approved, March 3, 1853.

No. 228.-An Act authorizing the sale of certain reserved lands in Alabama.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the lands lying in Clarke county, in the State of Alabama, which have been reserved from sale as cedar lands, under and by virtue of "An act making reservation of certain public lands to supply timber for naval purposes," approved March first, eighteen hundred and seventeen, shall hereafter be liable to be sold in the same manner and under the same provisions and restrictions as other public lands of the United States.

Approved, March 3, 1853.

No. 229.-An Act to continue in force the act entitled "An act to ascertain and settle the private land claims in the State of California," and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That an act entitled "An act to ascertain and settle the private land claims in the State of California," passed March third, eighteen hundred and fifty-one, be, and the same is hereby, continued in force for one year from and after the third day of March, A. D. eighteen hundred and fifty-four, for the purpose of enabling the board of commissioners appointed under said act to determine the claims presented to said board under the act aforesaid.†

* See Nos. 110, 294.

See Nos. 189, 264.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the said board of commissioners may appoint one or more, not exceeding three, competent persons to act as commissioners in the taking of testimony to be used before said board, who shall receive a compensation to be fixed by said board, but not to exceed ten dollars per diem.

Approved, January 18, 1854.

No. 230.-An Act giving further time for satisfying claims for bounty lands and for other purposes.*

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the act entitled "An act to provide for satisfying claims for bounty lands for military services in the late war with Great Britain, and for other purposes," approved July twentyseven, eighteen hundred and forty-two, and also the two acts approved January twenty-seventh eighteen hundred and thirty-five, therein and thereby revived, shall be and the same are hereby revived and continued in force for five years, to be computed from the twenty-sixth day of June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.

Approved, February 8, 1854.

No. 231.-An Act to indemnify the State of Indiana for the failure of title to a township of land granted to said State on her admission into the Union in eighteen hundred and sixteen.

Whereas by a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, made January twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and fifty-three, the State of Indiana has lost one out of the two townships of land granted to her for the use of a State University by act of April sixteenth [nineteenth] eighteen hundred and sixteen, and has become liable to refund to a private corporation the proceeds of said township heretofore appropriated to the support of the State University of Indiana-for remedy thereof: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the governor of the State of Indiana be authorized to select out of lands of the United States, within the said State, now subject to private entry, nineteen thousand and forty acres of land in legal subdivisions, and shall certify the same to the Secretary of the Interior, who shall, forthwith, on receipt of said certificate issue to the State of Indiana, patents for said lands: Provided, The proceeds of said lands, when sold, shall be, and forever remain, a fund for the use of the Indiana University.

Approved, February 23, 1854.

*See Nos. 55, 143.

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