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Bounty land act March 3, 1855. Certificate of caveat, &c.

Land Warrant No.

of

for

has been returned to this office, located by assignee, on the

upon the

day of

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as the

18, at the land office at

on the

, as subscribing

The said warrant purports to have been assigned by the

day of

witnesses, and to have been acknowledged before

A caveat, dated

of a patent in this case.

18-, in the presence of

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As the assignment on said warrant is, in all respects, PRIMA FACIE REGULAR, this office can take no further action in the case, until the locator, or his assignee, shall have been properly notified that the validity of the assignment under which he claims is contested by you; and, in order to enable you to bring the subject-matter to his attention, a "printed notice" is herewith inclosed, TO BE BY YOU SERVED UPON HIM, and returned to this office within months from this date. Upon the receipt here of satisfactory evidence, in the form of an affidavit of the fact (on the back of said notice) of such personal service by you upon the claimant, the case will be taken up and final action had, and the result thereafter made known to you, and the claimant.

It will also be necessary for

to file in this office, in addition to

own affidavit corroborative testimony, going to show the truth of the facts alleged in the caveat, which facts, for the information of the claimant, should be specifically set forth in the blank space left for that purpose in the inclosed form of “ Notice.”

It must appear that the testimony is from disinterested parties; and the officer administering the oath must certify that the deponents are entitled to credit.

In default of furnishing the evidence herein called for within months from this date, a patent will issue on the assignment now on file, unless before that time you, as the contestant, shall transmit to this office a transcript of a bill filed in chancery, making all concerned parties, to annul and set aside said assignment, and in that event action will be deferred until a decree is obtained, when a certified transcript thereof should be immediately sent to this office.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

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Accompanying letter from Commissioner of General Land Office, to dated

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acres, issued under has been returned to the

General Land Office located in your name, at the land office at

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1

18, in virtue of an assignment purportexecuted on the in your favor, in presence , and acknowledged before

of the following witnesses :

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This is to notify you that I have filed, in the General Land Office, a caveat under oath, in which I declare that I am the actual owner of said warrant, and that I have never sold, transferred, or assigned the same, or authorized any other person to sell or assign it for me, or in my name, and that Note. In this space the facts must be fully set forth. I also hereby notify you that within months from this date I shall apply to the Commissioner of the General Land Office to disregard and set aside, as fraudulent and void, the assignment of said warrant to you, and will file proof of the facts annexed in the foregoing as to the invalidity of the assignment, so that if you have any good cause to show why a patent should be issued in your favor, such showing may be made at the office aforesaid, at Washington City, D. C., at or before the time above mentioned, as I shall claim an adjudication upon my application by said office on the merits of the case, and shall demand the said warrant as my lawful property. Should you not make such showing pursuant to this notice and service upon you, I shall demand the warrant, asking that your failure to answer shall be taken PRO CONFESSO in favor of such demand.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

To

TITLE VIII.

Railroad Selections.

No. 280 B.

Circular No. 15. Grants from Congress to States and Corporations. Circular No. 15, of January 24, 1867 (approved January 29, 1867). In regard to selections in satisfaction of railroads and other Congressional grants; with forms for verification of lists of selections, and also of plats of survey of such roads.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, January 24, 1867.

Gentlemen-By the first section of the act of Congress approved July 1, 1864, Statutes 1863-64, page 335, chap. 196, it is provided that from and after the passage of that act, "in the location of lands by States and corporations, under grants from Congress for railroads and other purposes (except for agricultural colleges), the Registers and Receivers of the Land Offices for the several States and Territories, in the districts where such lands may be located, for their services therein, shall be entitled to receive a fee of one dollar for each final location of one hundred and sixty acres, to be paid by the State or corporation making such location; the same to be accounted for in the same manner as fees and commissions on warrants and pre-emption locations, with limitations as to maximums of salary prescribed by existing laws, in accordance with such instructions as shall be given by the commissioner of the General Land Office."

1st. Under this law the Registers and Receivers are each entitled to receive a fee of one dollar for each final location of one hundred and sixty acres, or any quantity approximate thereto, when the deficit is less than forty acres.

2d. When the several quantities shall have been definitely ascertained by you to enure to the grant, as hereinafter prescribed, the fees will then be due thereon.

3d. The State through its grantee, or the grantee, as the case may be, is required to file with the Register and Receiver of the proper land office descriptive lists of the tracts of land claimed as enuring under the grant, within sections of miles each, along the line of route on both sides thereof, to be dated and verified by the signature of the selecting agent.

For agent's certificate to be attached to each list, see Form A.

The party appearing as the agent of the grantee must file with the Register and Receiver written and satisfactory evidence, under seal, showing his authority to act in the premises.

In the preparation of the descriptive lists, the Register and Receiver will afford the agent all reasonable facilities, taking care, however, not to interrupt the current public business.

The lists must be carefully and critically examined by the Register and Receiver; their accuracy tested by the plats and records of their office. When so examined and tested, and found correct in all respects, to be a final location; and you will, on the payment of the requisite fees to the Receiver, so certify at the foot of each list, according to Form B.

After such lists have been examined, and you have attached your certificate thereto, the same will be consecutively numbered, commencing with No. 1, for each railroad or separate grant. Upon the payment of the fees and certification of the lists by you, the Register will post the selections in the tract book, after the following manner :

"Selected Co., act selected "

186-, by A. B., agent for the

Railroad

list No. —;" and on the plats he will mark the tracts so R. R."

After the selections are properly posted and marked on the plats, the lists will be transmitted to this office, accompanied by the evidence of the agent's appointment.

4th. The fees will be due in all cases where the service may have been rendered subsequent to the passage of said act of 1864.

5th. The Receiver will account for the fees thus paid in his monthly and quarterly accounts, specially setting forth in the same the particular case or cases on which such fees had accrued, giving the name of road, number and date of the list of selections for which they had been paid. 6th. By joint resolution No. 10 of January 30, 1865, "mineral lands" are not embraced in the grants made at the 1st session of the 38th Congress, unless otherwise specially provided in the act or acts making the grants.

PACIFIC RAILROADS.

Acts approved July 1, 1862, and July 2, 1864.

7th. By section 21 of the latter act, these companies are required to pay cost of "surveying, selecting, and conveying" the lands, in addition to the Register and Receiver's fees exacted by the act of July 1, 1864, before mentioned. This cost of surveying and conveying is, by the decision of the Secretary of the Interior of November 8, 1866, limited to the lands granted by act July 2, 1864. Therefore, the "cost" will be assessed and collected on the lands outside of ten miles and within twenty miles from the line of the road, where the grant is under both acts.

To ascertain the cost of" surveying," which includes both surveying in the field and office work, the company will apply to the Surveyor-General of the State or Territory in which the lands are situated. Upon ascertaining the sums due for surveying and office work for the "section or sections of road" for which selections have been or are to be made, a deposit of those sums must be made, to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States, with an authorized depository. The duplicate of deposit must be filed with the Surveyor-General; whereupon he will transmit to the Register and Receiver of the proper land office his certificate of such payment having been made, specifying how much was for surveying and how much for office work as per Form C.

The Surveyor-General's certificate, together with the triplicate certificate of deposit and the evidence of the agent's appointment, must accompany the lists of selection when transmitted by you to this office.

8th. Herewith is a form of title-page to be prefixed to the Lists of Selection.

Let me here call your special attention to the necessity of great care in

the examination and testing of these lists, so that all conflicts may be avoided and improper selections be excluded, and that the verified schedules may be absolutely accurate, thus avoiding embarrassment and delay to all concerned.

9th. Pacific Railroad act, July 2, 1864.-It is provided in section 4 that the word "mineral," when it occurs in that act, shall not be held to include iron and coal. Therefore, iron and coal lands are subject to selection by the Pacific Railroads; but all other minerals are expressly excluded from the grant, and must necessarily be so from all selections you may certify to this office. When the verified lists are received at the General Land Office, prepared and certified as above required, such definitive action as the law requires will be here taken, with a view to invest the grantee with a complete title.

These instructions will supersede those of May 30, 1866, Circular No. 9. The forms attached hereto, which are made a part hereof, will be followed in certifying to maps and lists, where the same may be applicable. You will please acknowledge the receipt of this circular, giving the date of reception.

Jos. S. WILSON, Commissioner.

To the Registers and Receivers of the U. S. Land Offices.

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The

U. S. LAND OFFICE.

186—,

under and by virtue of the acts of Congress entitled " and under and in pursuance of the rules and regulations prescribed by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, hereby makes and files the following list of selections of public lands claimed by the said company as enuring to it, and to which it is entitled under and by virtue of the grants and provisions of the said acts of Congress, and the location of the line of route of the of said company; being for section (miles) of the same, commencing at and The selections being particularly described as follows,

the ending to wit:

OF

I,

of the

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being duly sworn, depose and say that I am the land agent ; that the foregoing list of lands,

-, formerly the

which I hereby select, is a correct list of a portion of the public lands company as enuring to

claimed by the said

construction of the

from

to aid in the for which a grant of lands was that the said lands are

made by the acts of Congress approved vacant, unappropriated, and are not interdicted mineral nor reserved lands, and are of the character contemplated by the grant, being within the limits of. miles on each side of the line of route for a continuous

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