firmation. in an entire body, receive cl'ms foun years of age, who, on the twenty-second day of February, one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, actually inhabited and cultivated such tract of land, or actually cultivated and improved such lot, or who on that day cultivated any tract of land in the vicinity of any town or city, having a perma nent residence in such town or city in said Territory; and Certificates of con- to grant certificates of confirmation for any tract of land thus inhabited and cultivated, or cultivated by any person of the above description, residing in any town or city in the vicinLand to be located ity of the tract so cultivated; which land shall be located in &c. and not to ex- an entire body, as nearly as possible in conformity to the ceed 640 acres. surveys of the contiguous public lands, and so as to embrace the principal improvements then made on any tract so claimed, and shall not exceed in quantity six hundred and forty acres : Commissioners to and it shall also be the duty of said commissioners to receive red on habitation claims to land founded on habitation and cultivation, comand cultivation be- menced between the twenty-second of February, one thoury, 1819, and 17th sand eight hundred and nineteen, and the seventeenth of July, 1821, &c. and report, &c. to be July, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-one, when Florida was surrendered to the United States, and evidence in support of the same; and to report an abstract of all such claims to Congress, and of the claims by them confirmed, to the Secretary of the Treasury; and the claims merely reported on shall be laid before Congress at their next session, with the evidence of the time, nature, and extent, of such inhabitation and cultivation, in each case, and the extent of Proviso; no claim the claim: Provided, That no claim shall be received, conin favor of claims firmed, or reported to Congress, by the said commissioners, evidence from the for confirmation, in favor of any person, or the legal repreBritish or Spanish sentatives of any person, who claims any tract of land in said Territory by virtue of any written evidence of title derived from either the British or Spanish Government. Approved, May 26, 1824. tween 22d Februa laid before Congress. to be received, &c. in virtue of written Government. marked, through by which the navi. CHAP. 302.-An act to authorize the State of Indiana to open a canal through the public lands, to connect the navigation of the rivers Wabash and the Miami of Lake Erie. SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress asA route for a canal sembled, That the State of Indiana be, and is hereby, auto be surveyed and thorized to survey and mark, through the public lands of the the public lande, United States, the route of a canal, by which to connect the gation of the Wa- navigation of the rivers Wabash and Miami of Lake Erie; Lake Erie may be and ninety feet of land on each side of said canal shall be connected. reserved from sale on the part of the United States, and the each side, vested use thereof forever be vested in the State aforesaid, for a for the canal. canal, and for no other purpose whatever. bash and Miami of Ninety feet, on grant to be void, if The reservat'n and SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That if the said State the canal be not shall not survey and direct by law said canal to be opened, and furnish the Commissioner of the General Land Office completed in 12 months. tion on the United a map thereof, within three years from and after the date of this act, or if the said canal be not completed suitable for navigation within twelve years thereafter, or if said land, hereby granted, shall ever cease to be used and occupied for the purpose of constructing and keeping in repair a canal suitable for navigation, the reservation and grant aforesaid shall be void and of none effect: Provided, That nothing Proviso; no obliga in this act contained, or [that] shall be done in pursuance States to appropri thereof, shall be deemed to imply any obligation on the part of the United States to appropriate money to defray the expense of surveying or opening said canal: And provided, Proviso; the canal likewise, That the said canal, when completed, shall be, and for the Govern forever remain, a public highway, for the use of the Gov- ment of the United ernment of the United States, free from any toll or charge whatever, for any property of the United States, or persons in their service, on public business, passing through the same. ate money. to be a highway States forever. canal may pass, to future sale. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That every section of Each sect'n of land land through which said canal route may pass shall be, and through which the the same is hereby, reserved from future sale, under the di- be reserved from rection of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, until hereafter specially directed by law; and the said State is hereby authorized, without waste, to use any materials on the public lands adjacent to said canal that may be necessary for its construction. Approved, May 26, 1824. CHAP. 303.-An act granting to the counties or parishes of each State and Territory of the United States, in which the public lands are situated, the right of pre-emption to quarter sections of land, for seats of justice within the same. ter section of land eral counties of Territory of the U. are public lands, SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there be granted to the several counties or The right of preparishes of each State and Territory of the United States emption to 1 quar where there are public lands, at the minimum price for which granted to the sev public lands of the United States are sold, the right of each State and preemption to one quarter section of land, in each of the coun- States where there ties or parishes of said States and Territories, in trust for said for seats of justice. counties or parishes, respectively, for the establishment of seats of justice therein: Provided, The proceeds of the sale Proviso; erection of of each of said quarter sections shall be appropriated for the public buildings in purpose of erecting public buildings in the county or parish with the proceeds. for which it is located, after deducting therefrom the amount originally paid for the same: And provided, further, That Proviso; seat of justhe seat of justice for said counties or parishes, respectively, shall be fixed previously to a sale of the adjoining lands within the county or parish for which the same is located. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That so much of such so much of acts as acts, heretofore passed, granting to States rights of pre-emp- tice at or near the tion for county or parish purposes, as require said seats of centre of counties, the County, &c. tice to be fixed, &c. require seats of jus &c. repealed. justice to be continued at or near the centre of each of said counties or parishes, be, and the same is hereby, repealed. Approved, May 26, 1824. [See Part II, Nos. 303, 430, 611.] formed into a new land district. district. CHAP. 304.-An act to establish an additional land office in the State of Missouri. SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress asPublic lands to be sembled, That so much of the public lands of the United States included in the present district of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, as lies within the following boundaries, Boundaries of the to wit: Beginning on the Mississippi river, between townships numbered forty-eight and forty-nine; thence, west, to the range line between ranges ten and eleven; thence, north, to the township line between townships numbered fifty-two and fifty-three; thence, west, to the range line between ranges thirteen and fourteen; thence, north, to the northern boundary line of the State of Missouri; thence, east, with the State line, to the river Des Moines; thence, with the river Des Moines and the State line, to the Mississippi river; thence, with and down the Mississippi river, to the place of beginning, so as to include all the islands within the limits of the State of Missouri, shall be formed into a new land district, to be called "the District of Salt River;" and for Land office as the the sale of the public lands within the district hereby constituted, there shall be a land office established at such place within the said district as the President of the United States may designate. President may di rect. A register and receiver to be ap pointed, &c. All lands embrac ed within the dis been offered for any proclamation SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That there shall be a register and receiver appointed to said office, to superintend the sales of public lands in the said district, and who shall reside at the place where said office is established, give security in the same manner and sums, and whose compensation, emoluments, duties, and authorities, shall, in every respect, be the same, in relation to the lands to be disposed of at their offices, as are or may be by law provided in relation to the registers and receivers of public moneys in the several offices established for the sale of the public lands. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That all such public trict which have lands, embraced within the district created by this act, which sale pursuant to shall have been offered for sale to the highest bidder at St. of the President, Louis, pursuant to any proclamation of the President of the unsold, liable to be United States, and which lands remain unsold at the taking disposed of at pri- effect of this act, shall be subject to be entered and sold at and now remain vate sale. private sale by the proper officer or officers of the land office hereby created, in the same manner, and subject to the same terms, and upon the like conditions, as the sales of said lands would have been subjected to in the land office at St. Louis, had they remained attached to that office. Approved, May 26, 1824. [See Part II, No. 64.] CHAP. 305.-An act enabling the claimants to lands within the limits of the State of Missouri and Territory of Arkansas to institute proceedings to try the validity of their claims.* *See chap. 343. lands, in that part now included Spanish grant, &c. March, 1804, to to the district of Missouri. SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That it shall and may be lawful for any person or Persons claiming persons, or their legal representatives, claiming lands, tene- of the late prov ments, or hereditaments, in that part of the late province of ince of Louisiana Louisiana which is now included within the State of Mis- within the State of Missouri, by virtue souri, by virtue of any French or Spanish grant, concession, of any French or warrant, or order of survey, legally made, granted, or issued, legally made, and before the tenth day of March, one thousand eight hundred before the 10th of and four, by the proper authorities, to any person or persons present petitions resident in the province of Louisiana at the date thereof, or court of the State on or before the tenth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and four, and which was protected or secured by the treaty between the United States of America and the French Republic, of the thirtieth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and three, and which might have been perfected into a complete title, under and in conformity to the laws, usages, and customs, of the Government under which the same originated, had not the sovereignty of the country been transferred to the United States; in each and every such case it shall and may be lawful for such person or persons, or their legal representatives, to present a petition to the district court of the State of Missouri, setting forth fully, plainly, and substantially, the nature of his, her, or their claim to the lands, tenements, or hereditaments, and particularly stating the date of the grant, concession, warrant, or order of survey, under which they claim, the name or names of any person or persons claiming the same, or any part thereof, by a different title from that of the petitioner, or holding possession of any part thereof otherwise than by the lease or permission of the petitioner; and, also, if the United States be interested on account of the lands within the limits of such claim not claimed by any other person than the petitioner; also, the quantity claimed, and the boundaries thereof, when the same may have been designated by boundaries, by whom issued, and whether the said claim has been submitted to the examination of either of the tribunals which have been constituted by law for the adjustment of land titles in the present limits of the State of Missouri, and by them reported on unfavorably, or recommended for confirmation; praying, in said petition, that the validity of such title or claim may be inquired into and decided by the said court: and the said court is hereby authorized and required to hold and exercise jurisdiction of every petition presented in conformity with the provisions of this act, and to hear and determine the same, on the petition, in case no answer or answers be filed after due notice; or on the petition, and the answer or answers of any person or persons interested in preventing any claim from being established; and the answer of the district attorney of the United States, where he may have filed an answer, according to the evidence which shall be adduced by the petitioner, by any person interested in presenting the decree of the court in favor of the title of the petitioner or petitioners, and by the United States, and in conformity with the principles of justice, and according to the laws and ordinances of the Government Copy of petition to under which the claim originated; and the copy of such peant or possessor, or tition, with a citation to any adverse possessor or claimant, district attorney shall be served on such possessor or claimant in the ordinary the term, &c. legal manner of serving such process in the State of Mis be serv'd on claim fifteen days before take notice, &c. souri, at least fifteen days before the term of the district court of the United States to which the same is made returnable, and, in like manner, on the district attorney of the United States, where the Government is interested in the District attorney to defence; and it shall be the duty of the United States attorney for the district in which the suit shall be instituted, in all cases where the United States are interested on account of the public domain, to take notice of each petition filed under the provisions of this act, in the said district, and to make defence, on all just and proper occasions, in behalf of the public interest. Every petition pre act, to be conduct rules of a court of equity. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That every petition sented under this which shall be presented under the provisions of this act ed according to the shall be conducted according to the rules of a court of equity, except that the answer of the district attorney of the United States shall not be required to be verified by his oath, and tried, without any continuance, unless for cause shown; and Power of the court. the said court shall have full power and authority to hear and determine all questions arising in said cause relative to the title of the claimants, the extent, locality, and boundaries, of the said claim, or other matters connected therewith, fit and proper to be heard and determined; and, by a final decree, to settle and determine the question of the validity of the title according to the law of nations, the stipulations of any treaty and proceedings under the same, the several acts of Congress in relation thereto, and the laws and ordinances of the Government from which it is alleged to have been derived, and all other questions properly arising between the claimants and the United States; which decree shall in all cases refer to the treaty, law, [or] ordinance, under which it is confirmed or decreed against; and the court may, at its discretion, order disputed facts to be found by a jury, according to the regulations and practice of the said court when directing issues in chancery before the same |