Certain persons debarred benefit of the act to which this is an amendment. Their pay and duties. 8. Certain widows entitled to the benefit of the land law. 9. Limitation of reservations. 10. The surveyor general subject to the provisions of congress for the safe keeping and disbursments of public revenue. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That 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 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 twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and fifty, 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 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 land 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, all the rights of the deceased under this act shall descend to the heirs-at-law of such settler, including the widow, where one is left, in equal parts; and proof of compliance with the conditions of this act, up to the time of the death of such settler, shall be sufficient to entitle them to the patent. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That 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 survey of the land so located and purchased, to the purchaser thereof, and upon the 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. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That 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 of the general land office, an accurate report of the moneys so received by him as aforesaid. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the said surveyor general immediately upon the taking effect of this act, to enter into security in the sum of fifty thousand dollars, conditioned for the safe keeping of all moneys re ceived by him as surveyor general according to law: Provided, however, That, in order to compensate the surveyor general of said territory for the additional labors and responsibilities imposed upon him by this act, in receiving, safe-keeping, paying over, and accounting for the moneys aforesaid, he shall receive a per centum on all such sums, which shall include the pay for clerk hire, together with all costs and expenses incidental to such special services, in any one year: Provided, The salary and per centage of said surveyor general, and for clerk hire, shall not exceed four thousand dollars for any one year. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, 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, eighteen hundred and fifty-five. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That 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, eighteen hundred and fifty, shall be, and hereby is required to file with the surveyor general of said territory, in 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 failing to give such notice on or prior to the first of December, eighteen hundred and fifty-three, shall be thereafter debarred from ever receiving any benefit under said fourth section. And all persons who, on the first of December, eighteen hundred and fifty-three, 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, eighteen hundred and fifty-five, shall be thereafter debarred from ever receiving the benefits of said fifth section. SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That from and after the first of April, eighteen hundred and fifty-five, all public lands within the limits of the townships surveyed or to be surveyed in said territory, west of the Cascade mountains, which shall not have been claimed under the provisions of the fourth and fifth sections 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 private entry as other public lands in 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 appertain to such office. SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That 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 the provisions of the act to which this is an amendment, shall be entitled under the provisions and requirements of said act, to the same quantity of land that she would have been but for the death of her husband; and that 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. SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That 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, dock yards, and other needful public uses, except for forts, be limited to an amount not exceeding twenty acres for each and every one 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, in the judgment of the president, to include in any such reservation the improvement of any settler made previous to such 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. SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That the said surveyor general, in the discharge of his duties under this act, shall be subject to all the provisions of the act entitled "an act to provide for the better organization of the treasury, and for the collection, safe keeping, transfer, and disbursement of the public revenue," approved August sixth, eighteen hundred and forty-six; and all acts and parts of acts in conflict with the provisions of this act be, and the same are hereby repealed. APPROVED, February 14, 1853. AN ACT TO AMEND THE ACT, APPROVED SEPTEMBER TWENTY-SEVENTH, EIGHTEEN SEC. 1. Town sites not to be included in donations heretofore made. Proviso changing the time for the purchase of lands to one, instead of two years. 2. That portion of the law making contracts for the sale of lands by settlers, repealed. 3. Pre-emption privilege extended to lands in Oregon and Washington territories. Notifications to be filed within thirty days after requested to do so. Time further extended. 4. Two townships of land granted to this territory for university purposes. 5. Orphans entitled to 160 acres of land. Surveyor general to set apart the land for orphans. 6. All the provisions of this act extended to Washington territory, and a register and receiver to be appointed. Their compensation. 7. A surveyor general to be appointed. His duties, powers and obligations the same as in Oregon. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the donations hereafter to be surveyed in Oregon and Washington territories, 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 twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and fifty, shall in no case include a townsite, or lands settled upon for purposes of business or trade, and not for agriculture; and all legal sub-divisions 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 to the operations of the act of May twenty-third, eighteen hundred and forty-four, "for the relief of citizens of towns upon lands of the United States, under certain circumstances," whether such settlements were made before or after the surveys: Provided, however, That the period of two years' occupancy required of settlers before they can purchase the lands claimed by them under the provisions of the first section of the act of February fourteenth, eighteen hundred and fifty-three, above mentioned, shall be, and the same is hereby reduced to one year. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the proviso to the fourth section of the act of twenty-seventh September, eighteen hundred and fifty, above mentioned, by which all contracts for the sale of lands claimed under that law, before the issue of patents therefor are declared void, shall be, and the same is hereby repealed: Provided, That no sale shall be deemed valid, unless the vendor shall have resided four years upon the land. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the pre-emption privilege granted by the act of fourth September, eighteen hundred and forty-one, shall be, and the same is hereby extended to the lands in Oregon and Washington territories, whether surveyed or unsurveyed, not rightfully claimed, entered, or reserved, under the provisions of this act, or the acts of which it is amendatory, nor excluded by the terms of the said act of eighteen hundred and forty-one, 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 |