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corner, it will be marked and notched as aforesaid, and answer for the corner in lieu of a post, the kind of tree and its diameter being given in the field-notes.

BEARING TREES.

The position of all comer posts, or corner trees, of whatever description that may be established, is to be evidenced in the following manner, viz: From such post or tree the course must be taken and the distances measured to two or more adjacent trees in opposite directions, as nearly as may be, and these are called "bearing trees." Such are to be distinguished by a large smooth blaze, with a notch at its lower end, facing the corner, and in the blaze is to be marked the number of the range, township, and section; but at quarter-section corners nothing but S. need be marked. The letters B. T. (bearing tree) are also to be marked upon a smaller blaze directly under the large one, and as near the ground as practicable. At all township corners, and at all section corners, on range or township lines, four bearing trees are to be marked in this manner, one in each of the adjoining sections,

QUARTER SECTION CORNER POST.

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At interior section corners four trees, one to stand within each of the four sections to which such corner is common, are to be marked in manner aforesaid, if such be found.

A tree supplying the place of a corner post is to be marked in the manner directed for posts, but if such tree should be a beech, or other smooth bark tree, the marks may be made on the bark, and the tree notched.

From quarter section and meander corners

SECTION CORNER POST.

two bearing trees are to be marked, one within each of the adjoining sections.

CORNER STONES.

TOWNSHIP CORNER POST.

Where it is deemed best to use stones for boundaries, in lieu of posts, surveyors may, at any

TOWNSHIP CORNER STONE.

corner, insert endwise into the ground, to the depth of 7 or 8 inches, a stone, the number of cubic inches in which shall not be less than the number contained in a stone 14 inches long, 12 inches wide, and 3 inches thick-equal to 504 cubic inches-the edges of which must be set north and south, on north and south lines, and east and west, on east and west lines; the dimensions of each stone to be given in the field-notes SECTION CORNER STONE. at the time of establishing the corner.

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The kind of stone should also be stated.

MARKING CORNER STONES.

Stones at township corners, common to four townships, must have six notches, cut with a pick or chisel on each edge or side toward the cardinal points; and where used as section corners on the range and township lines, or as section corners in the interior of a township, they will also be notched, to correspond with the directions given for notching posts similarly situated

Posts or stones at township corners on the base and standard lines, and which are common to two townships on the north side thereof, will have six notches on each of the west, north,

QUARTER SECTION CORNER STONE.

SECTION CORNER.

MOUNDS.

and east sides or edges; and where such stones or posts are set for corners to two townships south of the base or standard, six notches will be cut on each of the west, south, and east sides or edges.

Stones when used for quarter section corners, will have 4 cut on them-on the west side on north and south lines, and on the north side on east and west lines.

Whenever bearing trees are not found, mounds of earth, or stone, are to be raised around posts on which the corners are to be marked in the manner aforesaid. Wherever a mound of earth is adopted, the same will present a conical shape.

Prior to piling up the earth to construct a mound, there is to be dug a spadeful or two of earth from the corner boundary point, and in the cavity so formed is to be deposited a marked stone, or a portion of charcoal (the quantity whereof is to be noted in the field-book); or in lieu of charcoal or marked stone, a charred stake is to be driven twelve inches down into such centre-point; either of these will be a witness for the future, and whichever is adopted, the fact is to be noted in the field-book.

When mounds are formed of earth, the spot from which the earth is taken is called the "pit," the centre of which ought to be, wherever practicable, at a uniform distance and in a uniform direction from the centre of the mound. There is to be a "pit" on each side of every mound.

At meander corners (a) the "pit" is to be directly on the line, eight links further from the water than the mound. Wherever necessity is found for deviating from these rules in respect to the "pits," the course and distance to each is to be stated in the field-books.

Perpetuity in the mound is a great desideratum. In forming it with light alluvial soil, the surveyor may find it necessary to make due allowance for the future settling of the earth, and thus making the mound more elevated than would be necessary in a more compact and tenacious soil, and increasing the base of it. In so doing, the relative proportions between the township mound and other mounds are to be preserved as nearly as may be.

The earth is to be pressed down with the shovel during the process of piling it up. Mounds are to be covered with sod, grass side up, where sod is to be had; but, in forming a mound, sod is never to be wrought up with the earth, because sod decays, and in the process of decomposing it will cause the mound to become porous, and therefore liable to premature destruction.

POSTS IN MOUNDS.

Must show above the top of the mound ten or twelve inches, and be noticed and marked precisely as they would be for the same corner without the mound.

WITNESS MOUNDS TO TOWNSHIP OR SECTION CORNERS.

If a township or section corner, in a situation where bearing or witness trees are not found within a reasonable distance therefrom, shall fall within a ravine, or in any other situation where the nature of the ground, or the circumstances of its locality, shall be such as may prevent or prove unfavorable to the erection of a mound, you will perpetuate such corner by selecting, in the immediate vicinity thereof, a suitable plot of ground as a site for a bearing or witness mound, and erect thereon a mound of earth in the same manner and conditioned in every respect, with charcoal, stone, or charred stake, deposited beneath, as before directed; and measure and state in your field-book the distance and course from the position of the true corner of the bearing or witness mound so placed and erected.

(*) For meandering navigable streams, see page 22.

DOUBLE CORNERS.

Double comers are to be nowhere except on the base and standard lines, whereon are to appear both the corners which mark the intersections of the lines which, close thereon, and those from which the surveys start on the north. On these lines, and at the time of running the same, the township, section and quarter-section corners are to be planted, and each of these is a corner common to two (whether township or section corners), on the north side of the line, and must be so marked.

The corners which are established on the standard parallel, at the time of running it, are to Le known as "siandard corners," and, in addition to all the ordinary marks (as herein prescribed), they will be marked with the letters S. C. Closing corners will be marked with the letters C. C., in addition to other marks.

You will recollect that the corners (whether township or section corners) which are common two (two townships or two sections), are not to be planted diagonally like those which are common to jour, but with the flat sides facing the cardinal points, and on which the marks and notches are made as usual. This, it will be perceived, will serve yet more fully to distinguish the standard parallels from all other lines.

Instructions for Surveys Made Since June 1, 1864.

By instructions to surveyors general, dated June 1, 1864, the Surveying Manual was modified in the following particulars:

POSTS IN MOUNDS.

All posts in mounds will hereafter be planted or anven into the ground to the depth of twelve inches, at the precise corner point; and the charcoal, charred stake, or marked stone required in the Manual will be deposited twelve inches below the surface, against the north side of the post when the deputy is running north, and against the west side when the deputy is running west, etc.

Township mounds will be five feet in diameter at their base, and two and a half feet in perpendicular height. Posts in township mounds are therefore required to be four and a half feet in length, so as to allow twelve inches to project above the mound.

Mounds at section, quarter-section, and meander corners will be four and a half feet in diameter at their base, and two feet in perpendicular height, the posts being four feet in length, leaving twelve inches to project above the mound.

Pits should be of uniform dimensions. The pits for a township mound will be eighteen inches wide, two feet in length, and at least twelve inches deep, located six feet from the posts. At section corners the pits will be eighteen inches square, and not less than twelve inches in depth.

At township corners common to four townships, the pits will be dug on the lines and lengthwise to them. On base and standard lines, where the corners are common to only two townships or sections, three pits only will be dug-two in line on either side of the post, and one on the line north or south of the corner, as the case may be. By this means the standard and closing corners will be readily distinguished from each other.

NOTCHING SECTION CORNER POSTS.

Posts or stones at the corners of sections in the interior of townships will have as many notches on the south and east edges as they are miles from the south and east boundaries of the township, instead of being notched on all four edges, as directed in the Manual.

MARKING CORNERS IN REGIONS REMOTE FROM TIMBER, AND DESTITUTE OF STONE.

By circular of July 24, 1873, surveys of such lands are marked thus: In addition to the manner of establishing corners of public surveys by mounds of earth with deposits at the point of the corner, deputy surveyors are required to drive in the center of one of the pits at each section and township corner, sawed or hewed stakes not less than two inches square and two feet in length, said stakes to be marked in the manner heretofore prescribed for marking

corner-posts, and to be driven one foot in the ground. At corners common to four townships, the stakes are to be driven in the pits east of the mound, and at corners common to four sections the stakes are to be driven in the pit southeast of the mound, and at corners common to two townships or sections they are to be driven in the pit east of the corner. requirement does not apply to quarter-section corners.

BEARING TREES.

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Where a tree not less than two and a half inches in diameter can be found for a bearing tree within three hundred links of the corner, it should be preferred to the pit.

MEANDERING NAVIGABLE STREAMS.

Standing with the face looking down stream, the bank on the left hand is termed the "left bank," and that on the right hand the "right bank." These terms are used to distinguish the two banks of a river or stream.

Both banks of navigable rivers are meandered by taking the courses and distances of their windings. At those points where either the township or section lines intersect the banks of a navigable stream, posts, or, where necessary, mounds of earth or stone, are established, called "meander corners."

Rivers are deemed navigable waters when they can be used as highways of commerce between the states. The right of a grantee of land bordering on a navigable river stops with the bank of the stream, though he may construct landings and wharves. New States have the same rights, sovereignty, and jurisdiction over navigable streams as the original States. The State has sovereignty over ground that was part of the bed of a meandered navigable stream at the time of her admission, and the public land laws do not apply to it subse quently (a).

GENERAL REMARKS.

The previous instructions are not always complied with by rascally surveyors, and in some localities no remnants of surveys are to be found. In the old settled States, this is to be expected, but in the Territories and States where the surveys have lately been made, there is not often a satisfactory reason for the obliteration of corners. Petitions for resurvey, where there are no corners over wide areas, endorsed by the county surveyors, should be sent to the General Land Office, or to the delegation in Congress. Settlers should see that the surveys in progress are correctly made as indicated herein, and complaints of irregularities should be sent to the Surveyor-General, or the Commissioner of the General Land Office.

Surveys May be Made at the Expense of Settlers in Certain Cases. Applications for surveys must be made to the Surveyor-General in writing, upon the receipt of which he will furnish the applicant with an estimate of how much the desired survey will cost. On receiving a certificate of deposit of a United States depositary, showing that the required sum has been deposited with him in a proper manner to pay for the work, the Surveyor-General will contract with a competent United States deputy surveyor, and have the survey made and returned in the same manner as other public surveys are.

The payment of the amount required for the survey will not give the depositor any priority of claim or right to purchase the land, or in any manner affect the claim or claims of any party or parties thereto; and, when surveyed, it will be subject to the same general laws and regula tions in relation to the disposition thereof as other public lands are.

The township to be surveyed must be within the range of the regular progress of the public surveys embraced by existing standard lines.

Where parties do not use the certificates of deposits in payment of their own land, they may assign them to others who may use them in payment of land under the pre-emption or homestead laws. Such assignments need not be acknowledged before any officer, but are to be made in the same way as on promissory notes and other negotiable paper.

() N. B. Bradley, Copp's Public Land Laws, p. 763.

Settlers making deposits are required to transmit the original certificate of deposit to the Secretary of the Treasury in Washington, D. C., and the duplicate must be sent to the United States Surveyor-General. The third copy or triplicate certificate is alone; used in payment of lands (see page 11, g., certificates of deposit).

Where the amount of the deposit is greater than the cost of the survey, the excess is repaid on an account to be stated by the Surveyor-General. No provision of law exists for refunding to other parties than the depositors.

HOW TO SUBDIVIDE SECTIONS.

The course to be pursued in the subdivision of sections is to run straight lines from the estab lished quarter-section corners-United States surveys to the opposite corresponding corners, and the point of intersection of lines so run will be the corner common to the several quarter sections, or, in other words, the legal centre of the section.

In the subdivision of fractional sections where no opposite corresponding corners have been or can be fixed, the subdivision lines should be ascertained by running from the established corners due north, south, east, or west lines, as the case may be, to the water-course, Indian boundary line, or other external boundary of such fractional section.

The law presupposes the section lines surveyed and marked in the field by the United States deputy surveyors to be due north and south, or east and west lines, but in actual experience this is not always the case; hence, in order to carry out the spirit of the law, it will be necessary, in running subdivisional lines through fractional sections, to adopt mean courses where the section lines are not due lines, or to run the subdivision line parallel to the section line where there is no opposite section line.

Upon the lines closing on the north and west boundaries of a township, the quarter-section corners are established by the United States deputy-surveyors at precisely forty chains to the north or west of the last interior section corner, and the excess or deficiency in the measurement is thrown on the outer tier of lots, as per Act of Congress approved May 10, 1800.

In the subdivision of quarter-sections, the quarter-quarter corners are to be placed at point; equidistant between the section and quarter-section corners and between the quarter corners and the common centre of the section, except on the last half-mile of the lines closing on the north or west boundaries of a township, where they should be placed at twenty chains (original measurement) to the north or west of the quarter-section corner.

The subdivision lines of fractional quarter-sections should be run from points on the section lines, intermediate between the section and quarter-section corners, due north, south, east, or west to the lake, water-course, or reservation, which renders such tracts fractional.

When there are double sets of section corners on township and range lines, the quarter corners for the sections south and east of the lines are not established in the field by the United States surveyors, but in subdividing such sections said quarter corners should be so placed as to suit the calculations of the areas of the quarter-sections adjoining the township boundaries, as expressed upon the official plat, adopting a proportional measurement where the present measurement of the north or west boundaries of the section differs from the original measurement.

RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF LOST CORNERS.

The original corners, when they can be found, must stand as the true corners they were intended to represent, even though not exactly where strictly professional care might have placed them in the first instance.

Missing corners should be re-established in the identical localities they originally occupied. When the point cannot be determined by the existing land-marks in the field, resort must be had to the field-notes of theorigin al surveys. The law provides that the lengths of the lines as stated in the field-notes shall be considered as the true lengths thereof, and the distances between corners set down in the field-notes constitute proper data from which to determine the true locality of a missing corner; hence the rule that all such should be restored at distances proportionate to the original measurements between existing original corners. That is, if the

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