approved April twentieth, eighteen hundred and eighteen, shall be so construed by the proper accounting officers of the government as to restrict the aggregate amount allowed as compensation for the register's and receiver's commissions on moneys received at any land-office in any one calendar year, to the sum of twenty-five hundred dollars each; and that the registers and receivers shall not receive for any one quarter or fractional quarter more than a pro rata allowance of said maximum of twenty-five hundred dollars. Their compensation, both for salary and commissions, to commence and be calculated from the time they enter on the discharge of their duties.

Approved, February 2, 1859.

No. 349.-An Act for the punishment of the crime of forgery [of] or counterfeiting military bounty-land warrants, military bounty-land certificates, certificates of location, certificates of purchase and receivers' receipt.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That if any person or persons shall falsely make, alter, forge, or counterfeit, or cause or procure to be falsely made, altered, forged, or counterfeited, or willingly aid or assist in falsely making, altering, forging, or counterfeiting, any military bountyland warrant, or military bounty-land warrant certificate, issued or purporting to have been issued by the Commissioner of Pensions under any act of Congress, or any certificate of location of any military bounty-land warrant, or any duplicate certificate of the location of any military bounty-land warrant, or military bounty-land warrant certificate, upon any of the lands of the United States, or any certificate of the purchase of any of the lands of the United States, or any duplicate certificate of the purchase of any of the lands of the United States, or any receipt for the purchase-money of any of the lands of the United States, or any duplicate receipt for the purchase-money of any lands of the United States, issued or purporting to have been issued by the register and receiver at any land-office of the United States, or by either of them; or if any person or persons shall pass, utter or publish as true any false, forged, or counterfeited military bountyland warrant, military bounty-land warrant certificate, certificate of location, or duplicate certificate of location, certificate of purchase, duplicate certificate of purchase, receipt or duplicate receipt, for the purchase-money of any of the lands of the United States, knowing the same to be false or forged, such person or persons so offending shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of felony, and, being thereof duly convicted, shall be sentenced to be imprisoned and kept at hard labor for a period not less than three years nor more than ten years: Provided nevertheless, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to deprive the courts of the several States of jurisdiction under the laws thereof over offences declared punishable by this law.

Approved, February 5, 1859.

No. 350.-An Act granting the right of way over, and depot grounds on, the military reserve at Fort Gratiot, in the State of Michigan, for railroad purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the right of way through and the privilege of constructing depots and workshops on the public lands of the United States lying in the county of St. Clair, State of Michigan, commonly called the Fort Gratiot military reservation, be, and the same is hereby, granted to any railroad company or companies which may construct a railroad or railroads from the city of Detroit, or any other place in said State, to or near the village of Port Huron, in said State: Provided, That in the opinion of the President of the United States, such grant or grants be not injurious to the purposes of public defence, and that the location of said buildings on, and such road or roads as to position and width through said reservation, and the price of the land to be so occupied, being first determined by the Secretary of War, be approved by the President: And provided further, That if the price of such grant or grants be not paid within thirty days after the approval of the President, or if either of said roads shall not be completed within three years, or if, at any time after its completion, it shall be discontinued, the grant shall cease and determine as to such road: And provided further, That all the buildings to be erected upon said reservation shall be of wood, and if, at any time, it should be deemed expedient by the commanding officer of Fort Gratiot or by any other higher military authority, to destroy such buildings by fire or otherwise, no claim shall be made against the United States for damages. Approved, February 8, 1859.

No. 351.-An Act for the admission of Oregon into the Union.

Whereas the people of Oregon have framed, ratified, and adopted a constitution of State government which is republican in form, and in conformity with the Constitution of the United States, and have applied for admission into the Union on an equal footing with the other States: Therefore

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Oregon be, and she is hereby, received into the Union on an equal footing with the other States in all respects whatever, with the following boundaries: In order that the boundaries of the State may be known and established, it is hereby ordained and declared that the State of Oregon shall be bounded as follows, to wit: Beginning one marine league at sea due west from the point where the forty-second parallel of north latitude intersects the same; thence northerly, at the same distance from the line of the coast, lying west and opposite the State, including all islands within the jurisdiction of the United States, to a point due west and opposite the middle of the north ship channel of the Columbia River; thence easterly, to and up the middle channel of said river, and, where it is divided by islands, up the middle of the widest channel thereof, to a point near Fort Walla-Walla, where the forty-sixth parallel of north latitude crosses said river; thence east, on said parallel, to the middle of the main channel of the Shoshones or Snake River; thence up the middle of the main channel of said river, to the mouth of the Owy

hee River; thence due south, to the parallel of latitude forty-two degrees north; thence west, along said parallel, to the place of beginning, including jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases upon the Columbia River and Snake River, concurrently with States and Territories of which those rivers form a boundary in common with this State.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the said State of Oregon shall have concurrent jurisdiction on the Columbia and all other rivers and waters bordering on the said State of Oregon so far as the same shall form a common boundary to said State, and any other State or States now or hereafter to be formed or bounded by the same; and said rivers and waters, and all the navigable waters of said State, shall be common highways and forever free, as well as to the inhabitants of said State as to all other citizens of the United States, without any tax, duty, impost, or toll therefor.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That, until the next census and apportionment of representatives, the State of Oregon shall be entitled to one representative in the Congress of the United States.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the following propositions be, and the same are hereby, offered to the said people of Oregon for their free acceptance or rejection, which, if accepted, shall be obligatory on the United States and upon the said State of Oregon, to wit: First. That sections numbered sixteen and thirty-six in every township of public lands in said State, and where either of said sections, or any part thereof, has been sold or otherwise been disposed of, other lands equivalent thereto, and as contiguous as may be, shall be granted to said State for the use of schools. Second. That seventy-two sections of land shall be set apart and reserved for the use and support of a State university, to be selected by the governor of said State, subject to the approval of the Commissioner of the General Land-Office, and to be appropriated and applied in such manner as the legislature of said State may prescribe for the purpose aforesaid, but for no other purpose. Third. That ten entire sections of land, to be selected by the governor of said State, in legal subdivisions, shall be granted to said State for the purpose of completing the public buildings, or for the erection of others at the seat of government, under the direction of the legislature thereof. Fourth, That all salt springs within said State, not exceeding twelve in number, with six sections of land adjoining, or as contiguous as may be to each, shall be granted to said State for its use, the same to be selected by the governor thereof within one year after the admission of said State, and when so selected, to be used or disposed of on such terms, conditions, and regulations as the legislature shall direct: Provided, That no salt spring or land, the right whereof is now vested in any individual or individuals, or which may be hereafter confirmed or adjudged to individual or individuals, shall by this article be granted to said State. Fifth. That five per centum of the net proceeds of sales of all public lands lying within said State which shall be sold by Congress after the admission of said State into the Union, after deducting all the expenses incident to the same, shall be paid to said State, for the purpose of making public roads and internal improvements, as the legislature shall direct: Provided, That the foregoing propositions, herein before offered, are on the condition that the people of Oregon shall provide by an ordinance, irrevocable without the consent of the United States, that said State shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil within the same by the United States, or with any regulations Congress may find necessary for securing the title. in said soil to bona fide purchasers thereof; and that in no case shall nonresident proprietors be taxed higher than residents. Sixth. And that the said State shall never tax the lands or the property of the United States in

any

said State: Provided however, That in case any of the lands herein granted to the State of Oregon have heretofore been confirmed to the Territory of Oregon for the purposes specified in this act, the amount so confirmed shall be deducted from the quantity specified in this act.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That, until Congress shall otherwise. direct, the residue of the Territory of Oregon shall be, and is hereby, incorporated into, and made a part of the Territory of Washington. Approved, February 14, 1859.

No. 352.-An Act for the relief of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad Company.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That whereas the State of Mississippi, by its act approved on the twenty-eighth of January, eighteen hundred and fifty-two, and the State of Alabama, by its act approved on the first of December, eighteen hundred and fifty-one,* did transfer to the Mobile and Ohio Railroad Company the lands which were granted to said State under the provisions of the act of Congress approved the twentieth September, eighteen hundred and fifty, to aid in the construction of a railroad from Mobile to the mouth of the Ohio River, the said transfers of said lands so made by said States, respectively, to said company, are hereby recognized, ratified, and confirmed, and the title to all bona fide purchasers of said company are also hereby confirmed; and that the time limited by said original act of Congress for the completion of said railroad is hereby extended, and the said company is allowed further time till the twentieth of September, in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-five, to complete the same, anything in said act to the contrary notwithstanding: Provided nevertheless, That the said Mobile and Ohio Railroad Company be subjected to, and shall comply with all the conditions, restrictions, and limitations contained in the act of Congress above referred to, approved the twentieth September, eighteen hundred and fifty; And provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed so as to release the States of Mississippi or Alabama from any liability imposed upon them by the said act of September twentieth, eighteen hundred and fifty.

Approved, February 18, 1859.

No. 353.-An Act to authorize settlers upon sixteenth and thirty-six [th sections, who settled before the surveys of the public lands, to pre-empt their settlements.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That where settlements, with a view to pre-emption, have been made before the survey of the lands in the field which shall be found to have been made on sections sixteen or thirty-six, said sections shall be subject to the pre-emption claim of such settler; and if they, or either of them, shall have been or shall be reserved. or pledged for the use of schools or colleges in the State or Territory in

* See No. 178.

which the lands lie, other lands of like quantity are hereby appropriated in lieu of such as may be patented by pre-emptors; and other lands are also hereby appropriated to compensate deficiencies for school purposes, where said sections sixteen or thirty-six are fractional in quantity, or where one or both are wanting by reason of the township being fractional, or from any natural cause whatever: Provided, That the lands by this section appropriated, shall be selected and appropriated in accordance with the principles of adjustment and the provisions of the act of Congress of May twentieth, 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, February 26, 1859.

No. 354.-An Act to protect the land fund for school purposes in Sarpy county, Nebraska Territory.

Whereas by the treaty between the United States and the Omaha tribe of Indians, by which said Indian tribe ceded their lands in the Territory of Nebraska to the United States, a reservation was made of a part of section thirty-six, in town[ship] fourteen north, range thirteen east, for the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions; and whereas, by virtue of a joint resolution of Congress, approved March third, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, a large portion of the remainder of said section thirty-six has been pre-empted, leaving but a fraction for the use of schools: therefore:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the superintendent of common schools of the county of Sarpy, in which said land is situated, shall be, and [he] hereby is, authorized to select six hundred and forty acres of any unoccupied public lands in said county in subdivisions of not less than one quarter section, in lieu of the aforesaid section thirty-six : Provided, That as soon as such selection shall be made it shall be the duty of such superintedent to file a notice thereof, with a description of the land selected, in the office of the register of the land-office in the Omaha land district, who shall thereupon withdraw such land so selected from the list of lands subject to pre-emption, or public or private sale in said land district, and shall report the fact to the United States Commissioner of Public Lands, and the land so selected shall, after such filing with the register, belong to the school fund of said county in all respects the same as other school lands; and the fraction of said section thirty-six remaining after satisfying the terms of said treaty, and after said pre-emptions as mentioned in the foregoing preamble, shall be subject to pre-emption, public sale, or private entry, the same as other public lands.

Approved, February 26, 1859.