for such purposes, or so much thereof as said secretary may designate, shall be and are 18 August 1856. hereby placed under the control of the general land office, to be disposed of and sold in Certain military the same manner and under the same regulations as other public lands of the United reservations to be States: Provided, that said lands shall not be so placed under the control of said general land office until said opinion of the secretary of war, giving his consent, communicated to the secretary of the interior in writing, shall be filed and recorded.

K. LANDS IN OREGON AND WASHINGTON.

I. SURVEY OF LANDS.

sold.

9 Stat. 496.

611. A surveyor-general shall be appointed for the territory of Oregon, who shall have 27 Sept. 1850 1. the same authority, perform the same duties respecting the public lands and private land claims in the territory of Oregon, as are vested in and required of the surveyor of lands Surveyor-genein the United States north-west of the Ohio, (a) except as hereinafter provided.

ral.

612. The said surveyor-general shall establish his office at such place within the said Ibid. 2. territory as the president of the United States may from time to time direct; he shall be office. allowed an annual salary of two thousand five hundred dollars, (b) to be paid quarter-Salary. yearly, and to commence at such time as he shall enter into bond, with competent secu- Bond. rity, for the faithful discharge of the duties of his office. There shall be and hereby is Clerk hire. appropriated the sum of four thousand dollars, or as much thereof as is necessary, for clerk hire in his office; and the further sum of one thousand dollars per annum for office Incidental exrent, fuel, books, stationery and other incidental expenses of his office, to be paid out of the appropriation for surveying the public lands.

penses.

Ibid. 23.

613. If, in the opinion of the, secretary of the interior, it be preferable, the surveys in said territory shall be made after what is known as the geodetic method, under such How lands to be regulations, and upon such terms, as may be provided by the secretary of the interior surveyed. or other department having charge of the surveys of the public lands; and said geodetic surveys shall be followed by topographical surveys, as congress may from time to time authorize and direct. But if the present mode of survey be adhered to, then it shall be the duty of said surveyor to cause a base line, and meridian to be surveyed, marked and established, in the usual manner, at or near the mouth of the Willamette river; and he shall also cause to be surveyed, in townships and sections, in the usual manner, and in accordance with the laws of the United States which may be in force, the district of country lying between the summit of the Cascade Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, and south and north of the Columbia river: Provided however, That none other than township lines shall be run where the land is deemed unfit for cultivation; that no deputy surveyor shall charge for any line except such as may be actually run and marked, nor for any line not necessary to be run; and that the whole cost of surveying shall not exceed the rate of eight dollars per mile, for every mile and part of mile actually surveyed and marked.

10 Stat. 158.

614. It shall be the duty of the said surveyor-general, immediately upon the taking 14 Feb. 1853 3 4. effect of this act, to enter into security in the sum of fifty thousand dollars, conditioned for the safe-keeping of all moneys received by him as surveyor-general, according to law: Amount of bond Provided however, That in order to compensate the surveyor-general of said territory for Additional comthe additional labors and responsibility imposed upon him by this act, in receiving, safe-pensation. keeping, paying over, and accounting for the moneys aforesaid, he shall receive two per centum on all such sums, which shall include the payment for clerk hire, together with all costs and expenses incidental to such special services in any one year: Provided, The Limitation. salary and per-centage of said surveyor-general, and for clerk hire, shall not exceed four thousand dollars for any one year.

615. The said surveyor-general, in the discharge of his duties under this act, shall be Ibid. 10. subject to all the provisions of the act entitled "An act to provide for the better organi- To be subject to zation of the treasury, and for the collection, safe-keeping, transfer and disbursement the sub-treasury of the public revenue," approved August 6th 1846; and all acts and parts of acts in conflict with the provisions of this act be and the same are hereby repealed.

act.

616. That the secretary of the interior be and he is hereby authorized and required to 3 March 1853 3 11 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 Seal to be promay 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.

10 Stat. 248.

vided.

10 Stat. 306.

617. The territory of Washington shall be erected into a separate surveying district; 17 July 1854 87. and the president of the United States is hereby authorized to appoint a surveyor-general for the same, who shall hold his office at such place as the president may direct, and Surveyor-genera, for Washington. the location thereof may be changed from time to time, if, in the judgment of the presi

17 July 1851. dent, the public interest should require it; and the powers, duties, obligations, responsibilities and emoluments of the said surveyor-general shall be the same as are now prescribed by law for the surveyor-general of Oregon.

3 March 1855 ? 26. 10 Stat. 674.

Salaries.

27 Sept. 1850 4. 9 Stat. 497.

Donations to actual settlers.

Conditions.

to heirs of deceased settlers.

618. There shall be paid to the surveyor-general of Washington territory and the officers employed under him, the same amount of compensation as is allowed to the surveyor-general of New Mexico, and the officers employed under him. (a)

II. ACTUAL SETTLEMENTS.

619. There shall be and hereby is granted to every white settler or occupant of the public lands, American half-breed Indians included, above the age of eighteen years, being citizens of the United States, or having made a declaration according to law, of his intention to become a citizen, or who shall make such declaration on or before the first day of December 1851, now residing in said territory, or who shall become a resident thereof on or before the first day of December 1850, (b) and who shall have resided upon and cultivated the same for four consecutive years, and shall otherwise conform to the provisions of this act, the quantity of one half-section, or three hundred and twenty acres of land, if a single man; and if a married man, or if he shall become married within one year from the first day of December 1850, the quantity of one section, or six hundred and forty acres, one-half to himself and the other half to his wife, to be held by her in her own right; and the surveyor-general shall designate the part inuring to the husband and that to the wife, and enter the same on the records of his office; and in Patents to issue all cases where such married persons have complied with the provisions of this act so as to entitle them to the grant as above provided, whether under the late provisional government of Oregon, or since, and either shall have died before patent issues, the survivor and children or heirs of the deceased shall be entitled to the share or interest of the deceased in equal proportions, except where the deceased shall otherwise dispose of it by testament duly and properly executed according to the laws of Oregon: Provided, That no alien shall be entitled to a patent to land, granted by this act, until he shall produce to the surveyor-general of Oregon, record evidence that his naturalization as a citizen of the United States has been completed; but if any alien, having made his declaration of intention to become a citizen of the United States, after the passage of this act, shall die before his naturalization shall be completed, the possessory right acquired by him under the provisions of this act shall descend to his heirs-at-law, or pass to his devisees, to whom, as the case may be, the patent shall issue: Provided further, That in all cases provided for in this section, the donation shall embrace the land actually occupied and cultivated by the settler thereon: [Provided further, That all future contracts by any person or persons entitled to the benefit of this act, for the sale of the land to which he or they may be entitled under this act, before he or they have received a patent therefor, shall be void:](c) Provided further however, That this section shall not be so construed as to allow those claiming rights under the treaty with Great Britain relative to the Oregon territory, to claim both under this grant and the treaty, but merely to secure them the election, and confine them to a single grant of land.

When aliens to receive patents.

Ibid. 14.

Reservation of mineral lands, salt springs, &c.

Improvements thereon to be paid for.

14 Feb. 1853 21. 10 Stat. 158.

pation to entitle Bettlers to preemption.

620. No mineral lands, nor lands reserved for salines, shall be liable to any claim under and by virtue of the provisions of this act. And such portions of the public lands as may be designated, under the authority of the president of the United States, for forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards and other needful public uses, (d) shall be reserved and excepted from the operation of this act: Provided, That if it shall be deemed necessary, in the judgment of the president, to include in any such reservation the improvements of any settler, made previous to the passage of this act, it shall in such case be the duty of the secretary of war to cause the value of such improvements to be ascertained, and the amount so ascertained shall be paid to the party entitled thereto, out of any money not otherwise appropriated.

621. All persons who have located or may hereafter locate lands in the territory of Oregon, in accordance with the provisions of an act entitled "An act to create the office Two years' occu- of surveyor-general of the public lands in Oregon, and to provide for the survey, and to make donations to the settlers of the said public lands," approved September 27, 1850, (e) and of which survey shall have been made or may hereafter be had, in lieu of the term of continued occupation after settlement, as provided by said act, shall be permitted, after occupation for two years (g) of the land so claimed, to pay into the hands of the surveyor-general of said territory at the rate of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre for the lands so claimed, located and surveyed as aforesaid. And upon the death of any settler before the expiration of the two years' continued possession required by this act,

(a) See infra, 635.

(b) See infra, 624.
(c) Repealed, infra, 629.

(d) Decision as to the quantity of land to be reserved for public use, and the places where to be located, rests in the discretion of the president, subject to such regulations as may, from time to

time, be provided by law, as to the particular use, the quantity. or the subsequent disposal thereof for private use. 6 Opin. 156 And see infra, 627.

(e) See supra, 619.

(9) Reduced to one year; infra, 628.

all the rights of the deceased under this act shall descend to the heirs-at-law of such 14 Feb. 1853. settler, including the widow, where one is left, in equal parts; and proof of compliance Rights to dewith the conditions of this act, up to the time of the death of such settler, shall be suffi- scend. cient to entitle them to the patent.

Ibid. ? 2.

622. Upon the payment of money for lands as aforesaid, to the said surveyor-general, he shall issue his certificate of such payment, together with an accurate copy of the when and how survey of the land so located and purchased, to the purchaser thereof; and upon the patents to issue. filing of which said certificate and copy of survey in the office of the commissioner of the general land office, a patent shall issue therefor as in other cases.

623. It shall be the duty of the said surveyor-general to keep and preserve a record of all moneys so received, and to make out and transmit quarterly to the commissioner Accounts of surof the general land office, an accurate report of the money's so received by him as afore- veyor-general.

Ibid. 23.

said.

Ibid. 5.

Ibid. 26.

veyor-general.

624. That the provisions of the act to which this is an amendment, be and the same are hereby extended and continued in force until the first day of December 1855. 625. Every person entitled to the benefit of the fourth section of the act of which this is amendatory, who was resident in said territory on or prior to the first of December Settlers to file 1850, shall be and hereby is required to file with the surveyor-general of said territory, notice with surin advance of the time when the public surveys shall be extended over the particular land claimed by him, where those surveys shall not have been made previous to the date of this act, a notice in writing, setting forth his claim to the benefits of said section, and citing all required particulars in reference to such settlement claim; and all persons In default, to be failing to give such notice on or prior to the first of December 1853, (a) shall be thereafter debarred from ever receiving any benefit under said fourth section. And all persons who, on the first December 1853, shall have settled on surveyed lands in said territory, in virtue of the provisions of the fifth section of the act of which this is amendatory, who shall fail to give notice in writing of such settlement, specifying the particulars thereof to the surveyor-general of said territory, on or prior to the first of April 1855, shall be thereafter debarred from ever receiving the benefits of said fifth section.

barred.

Ibid. 28.

benefits.

626. Each widow now residing in Oregon territory, and such others as shall locate in said territory, whose husband, had he lived, would have been entitled to a claim under widows to be en the provisions of the act to which this is an amendment, shall be entitled under the pro- titled to the same visions and requirements of said act, to the same quantity of land that she would have been but for the death of her husband; and in case of the death of the widow prior to the expiration of the four years' continued possession required by said act, to which this is an amendment, all the rights of the deceased shall inure unto and be vested in the heirs-at-law of such widow.

Ibid. 9.

ments thereor

€27. All reservations heretofore, as well as hereafter, made in pursuance of the fourteenth section of the act to which this is an amendment, shall, for magazines, arsenals, Limitation of dock-yards and other needful public uses, (except for forts) be limited to an amount not reservations. exceeding twenty acres for each and every of said objects at any one point or place; and for forts, to an amount not exceeding six hundred and forty acres at any one point or place: Provided, That if it shall be deemed necessary, in the judgment of the president, Compensation to include in any such reservation the improvement of any settler made previous to such for improve reservation, it shall, in such case, be the duty of the secretary of war to cause the value of such improvements to be ascertained; and the amount so ascertained shall be paid to the party entitled thereto, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated. 628. The donations hereafter to be surveyed in Oregon and Washington territories, 17 July 1854 ? 1. claimed under any of the provisions of the act to create the office of surveyor-general of the public lands in Oregon, &c., approved September 27, 1850,(b) shall in no case include Donations not to a town site, or lands settled upon for purposes of business or trade, and not for agricul- sites, &c. ture. And all legal subdivisions included in whole or in part in such town sites, or settled upon for purposes of business or trade, and not for agriculture, shall be subject Such lands to be to the operations of the act of May 23, 1844, (c) "for the relief of citizens of towns subject to preemption act of upon lands of the United States, under certain circumstances;" whether such settlements 1844. were made before or after the surveys: Provided however, That the period of two years' Period of occupa Occupancy required of settlers before they can purchase the lands claimed by them, under tion reduced to the provisions of the first section of the act of February 14, 1853, (d) above mentioned, shall be and the same is hereby reduced to one year.

10 Stat. 305

include town

one year.

Ibid. 2 2.

Part of act of

629. The proviso to the fourth section of the act of 27th September 1850, above mentioned, by which all contracts for the sale of lands claimed under that law, before the issue of the patents therefor are declared void, shall be and the same is hereby re- 1850 repealed. pealed: (e) Provided, That no sale shall be deemed valid, unless the vendor shall have resided four years upon the land.

(a) Time extended, infra, €30. (b) See supra, 619.

(c) See supra, 98.

(d) See

supra, 621.

(e) See supra, 619.

17 July 1854 3. 630. The pre-emption privilege granted by the act of 4th September 1841, (a) shall be Pre-emption law and the same is hereby extended to the lands in Oregon and Washington territories, of 1841 extended whether surveyed or unsurveyed, not rightfully claimed, entered or reserved under the

to Oregon and

Washington.
Whether lands

be surveyed or
not.

When donation rights to be for

feited.

provisions of this act, or the acts of which it is amendatory, nor excluded by the terms of the said act of 1841, with the exception of unsurveyed lands as above mentioned; and all settlers on unsurveyed lands in said territories shall give notice to the surveyor general, or other duly authorized officer, of the particular tract claimed under this section, within six months after the survey of such lands is made and returned. And all persons claiming donations under this act, or the acts of which it is amendatory, shall in like manner give notice to the surveyor-general, or other duly authorized officer, of the particular lands claimed as such donations, within thirty days after being requested to do so by such officer; and failing such notice in either case, the claimant or claimants Time for giving shall forfeit all right and claim thereto: Provided however, That the time limited by the sixth section of the act of 1853, in which claimants under the act of 1850 are required to give notice of their claims, shall be and the same is hereby extended to the first of December 1855, except in cases where the surveyor-general shall request them so to do, as above provided.

notice extended.

14 Feb. 18537. 10 Stat. 159.

Cascade Moun

Receiver.

631. In any case where orphans have been, or may be, left in either of the said territories, whose parents, or either of them, if living, would have been entitled to a donation under this act, or either of those of which it is amendatory, said orphans shall be entitled to a quarter-section of land, on due proof being made to the satisfaction of the surveyorgeneral, subject to the decision of the secretary of the interior. Said land to be set off to them by the surveyor-general in good agricultural land, not reserved or otherwise appropriated under any law of congress; and, in case of the death of either or any of said orphans, after their lands shall have been designated by the surveyor-general, the ight or rights of the deceased shall vest in the survivor or survivors.

III. SALES OF LANDS.

632. From and after the first of April 1855, all public lands within the limits of the townships surveyed or to be surveyed in said territory, west of the Cascade Mountains, Lands west of the which shall not have been claimed under the provisions of the fourth and fifth sections tains to be sold. of the act of which this is amendatory, or reserved for public uses by law, or order of the president, and excepting also mineral lands, shall be subject to public sale and pri vate entry as other public lands of the United States. And so soon as he shall deem expedient, the president of the United States shall, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, appoint a receiver of public moneys for the territory of Oregon, west of the Cascade Mountains, who shall give bond and security, in the penalty of fifty thousand dollars, for the faithful discharge of his official trust; and whose duties, under the laws in relation to the public lands of the United States in said territory, shall be the same as those of other like officers of the United States; and who shall be allowed not exceeding five hundred dollars per annum for the safe keeping and accounting for the public moneys by him received, including all charges for office rent and clerk hire. And at such time as the president of the United States shall deem it expedient, he shall appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, a register of the land office for the territory of Oregon, west of the Cascade Mountains, who shall enter into bond, with sufficient security, for the faithful discharge of his official duties, as other like officers; and whose duties and authority, under the direction of the secretary of the interior, shall be the same as those imposed by law on other like officers, consistently with the provisions of this act and of the act of which this is amendatory; and whose compensation shall be equal to that allowed to the receiver of public moneys to be appointed under this act. And until such register shall have been appointed, and entered upon the discharge of his official duties, the surveyor-general of Oregon shall perform all the duties which shall appertain to such office. (b)

Register.

17 July 1854 3 4. 10 Stat. 305.

IV. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.

633. In lieu of the two townships of land granted to the territory of Oregon, by the tenth section of the act of 1850, for universities, there shall be reserved to each of the territoGrants for uni- ries of Washington and Oregon, two townships of land of thirty-six sections each, to he selected in legal subdivisions, for university purposes, under the direction of the legis latures of said territories, respectively.

versities.

Ibid. 26.

Registers and re

pointed for

634. All the provisions of this act, and the acts of which it is amendatory, shall be extended to all the lands in Oregon and Washington territories; (c) and, for the purpose ceivers to be ap of carrying said acts into effect in said territories, the president shall be and he is hereby authorized to appoint a register and receiver for each of said territories, whose powers, duties, obligations and responsibilities, shall be the same as are now prescribed district in the territory of Oregon, to be called the Umpqua dis

Oregon and
Washington.

(a) See supra, 83.

(b) See infra, 634.

(c) See act 17 February 1855, to establish an additional land

trict. 10 Stat. 609.

by law for other land officers and for the surveyor-general of Oregon, so far as they 17 July 1854. apply to such officers. They shall keep their offices at such place as the president shall, from time to time, direct; and their compensation shall be twenty-five hundred dollars each per annum, and office rent; but they shall be entitled to no fees or other emoluments of any kind whatsoever, except the receiver's actual and necessary expenses in depositing. And, on satisfactory proof that either of said officers, or any other officer, has charged or received fees or other rewards not authorized by law, he shall be forthwith removed from office.

L. LANDS IN NEW MEXICO, KANSAS, NEBRASKA AND UTAH.
I. LANDS IN NEW MEXICO.

ral.

10 Stat. 303.

635. The president, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, shall be and 22 July 1854 3 1. he is hereby authorized to appoint a surveyor-general for New Mexico, whose annual salary shall be three thousand dollars, and whose power, authority and duties shall be Surveyor-genethe same as those provided by law for the surveyor-general of Oregon ;(a) he shall have proper allowances for clerk hire, office rent and fuel, not exceeding what now is or hereafter may be allowed by law to the said surveyor-general of Oregon; and he shall locate his office, from time to time, at such places as may be directed by the president of the United States.

&c.

636. To every white male citizen of the United States, or every white male above the Ibid. 2 2. age of twenty-one years who has declared his intention to become a citizen, and who was Donations to residing in said territory prior to the first day of January 1853, and who may be still actual settlers, residing there, there shall be and hereby is donated one quarter-section, or one hundred and sixty acres of land. And to every white male citizen of the United States, or every white male above the age of twenty-one years, who has declared his intention to become a citizen, and who shall have removed or shall remove to and settle in said territory between the first day of January 1853, and the first day of January 1858, there shall in like manner be donated one quarter-section, or one hundred and sixty acres, on condition of actual settlement and cultivation for not less than four years: Provided however, That How located. each of said donations shall include the actual settlement and improvement of the donee, and shall be selected by legal subdivisions, within three months after the survey of the land, where the settlement was made before the survey; and where the settlement was made after the survey, then within three months after the settlement has been made; and all persons failing to designate the boundaries of their claims within that time, shall forfeit all right to the same.

Ibid. 23.

ment, &c.

637. On proof of the settlement and cultivation required by this act, to the satisfaction of the surveyor-general or other officer designated by law for that purpose, subject Patents to issue to the supervision of the secretary of the interior, a certificate shall be issued to the on proof of settle party entitled, on presentation of which, if approved by the secretary of the interior, a patent shall issue thereon: Provided however, That on the death of any such settler before the completion of the four years' occupancy and cultivation required by this act, the right shall descend to his heirs-at-law, who shall be entitled to a certificate and Rights to de patent as aforesaid, on proof, as before provided, of continued occupancy and cultiva-scend. tion by such settler to the time of his death: Provided however, That when lands are claimed under any of the provisions of this act by persons who are not citizens of the United States, patents shall not issue therefor until they become citizens.

Ibid. 24.

Reservations.

638. None of the provisions of this act shall extend to mineral or school lands, salines, military or other reservations, or lands settled on and occupied for purposes of trade and commerce, and not for agriculture. And all legal subdivisions settled on and occupied, in whole or in part, for purposes of trade and commerce, and not for agriculture, shall be subject to the provisions of the act of 23d of May 1844, (b) in relation to town sites on Pre-emption of the public lands, whether so settled and occupied before or after the survey of said lands, except that said lands shall be donated instead of being sold.

town sites, &c.

Ibid. 85.

639. When the lands in the said territory shall be surveyed, under the direction of the government of the United States, preparatory to bringing the same into market, sections School lands. numbered sixteen and thirty-six in each township, in said territory, shall be and the same are hereby reserved, for the purpose of being applied to schools in said territory, and in the states and territories hereafter to be created out of the same.

Ibid. 26.

640. When the lands in said territory shall be surveyed as aforesaid, a quantity of land equal to two townships shall be and the same is hereby reserved for the establish- Grant for ut ment of a university in said territory, and in the state hereafter to be created out of the versity. same; to be selected, under the direction of the legislature, in legal subdivisions of not less than one half-section.

641. Any of the lands not taken under the provisions of this act shall be subject to the operation of the pre-emption act of 4th September 1841, (c) whether settled upon

Ibid. 27.

(c) See supra, 83.