strued to preclude any person, who may have filed a notice of intention to claim any tract of land by pre-emption, from the right allowed by law to others to purchase such tract by private entry after the expiration of the right of pre-emption. 3 March, 1843, c. 86, s. 9, v. 5, p. 621. SEC. 2273. When two or more persons settle on the same tract of land, the right of pre-emption shall be in him who made the first settlement, provided such person conforms to the other provision of the law; and all questions as to the right of pre-emption arising between different settlers shall be determined by the register and receiver of the district within which the land is situated; and appeals from the decision of district officers, in cases of contest for the right of pre-emption, shall be made to the Commissioner of the General Land-Office, whose decision shall be final, unless appeal therefrom be taken to the Secretary of the Interior. 4 Sept., 1841, c. 16, s. 11, v. 5, p. 456. 12 June, 1858, c. 154, s. 10, v. 11, p. 326. Barnard vs. Ashley, 18 How., 43; Garland vs. Wynn, 20 How., 6; Lindsey vs. Hawse, 2 Bl. 554; Minnesota vs. Batchelder, 1 Wall., 109; Johnson vs. Tawsley, 13 Wall., 72. SEC. 2274. When settlements have been made upon agricultural public lands of the United States, prior to the survey thereof, and it has been or shall be ascertained, after the public surveys have been extended over such lands, that two or more settlers have improvements upon the same legal subdivision, it shall be lawful for such settlers to make joint entry of their lands at the local land-office, or for either of said settlers to enter into contract with his co-settlers to convey to them their portion of said land after a patent is issued to him, and, after making said contract, to file a declaratory statement in his own name, and prove up and pay for said land, and proof of joint occupation by himself and others, and of such contract with them made, shall be equivalent to proof of sole occupation and pre-emption by the applicant: Provided, That in no case shall the amount patented under this section exceed one hundred and sixty acres, nor shall this section apply to lands not subject to homestead or pre-emption entry. 3 March, 1873, c. 283, s. 1, v. 17, p. 609. SEC. 2275. Where settlements, with a view to pre-emption, have been made before the survey of the lands in the field, which are found to have been made on sections sixteen or thirty-six, those sections shall be subject to the pre-emption claim of such settler; and if they, or either of them, have been or shall be reserved or pledged for the use of schools or colleges in the State or Territory in which the lands lie, other lands of like quantity are appropriated in lieu of such as may be patented by pre-emptors; and other lands are also appropriated to compensate deficiencies for school purposes, where 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. 26 Feb., 1859, c. 58, v. 11, p. 385. SEC. 2276. The lands appropriated by the preceding section shall be selected, within the same land-district, in accordance with the following principles of adjustment, to wit: For each township, or fractional township, containing a greater quantity of land than three-quarters of an entire township, one section; for a fractional township, containing a greater quantity of land than one-half, and not more than three-quarters, of a township, three-quarters of a section; for a fractional township, containing a greater quantity of land than one-quarter, and not more than one-half, of a township, one-half section; and for a fractional township, containing a greater quantity of land than one entire section, and not more than one-quarter of a township, one quarter-section of land. 26 Feb., 1859, c. 58, v. 11, p. 385. 20 May, 1826, c. 83, s. 1, v. 4, p., 179. SEC. 2277. All warrants for military bounty-lands, which are issued under any law of the United States, shall be received in payment of pre-emption rights at the rate of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, for the quantity of land therein specified; but where the land is rated at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, and does not exceed the area specified in the warrant, it must be taken in full satisfaction thereof. 22 March, 1852, c. 19, s. 1, v. 10, p. 3. SEC. 2278. Agricultural-college scrip, issued to any State under the act approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, or acts amendatory thereof, shall be received from actual settlers in payment of pre-emption claims in the same manner and to the same extent as authorized in case of military bounty-land warrants, by the preceding section. 1 July, 1870, c. 196, v. 16, p. 186. SEC. 2279. No person shall have the right of pre-emption to more than one hundred and sixty acres along the line of railroads within the limits granted by any act of Congress. 3 March, 1853, c. 143, v. 10, p. 244. SEC. 2280. Any settler on lands heretofore reserved on account of claims under French, Spanish, or other grants, which have been or may be hereafter declared by the Supreme Court of the United States to be invalid, shall be entitled to all the rights of pre-emption granted by the preceding provisions of this chapter, after the lands have been released from reservation, in the same manner as if no reservation had existed. 3 March, 1853, c. 143, v. 10, p. 244. SEC. 2281. All settlers on public lands which have been or may be withdrawn from market in consequence of proposed railroads, and who had settled thereon prior to such withdrawal, shall be entitled to preemption at the ordinary minimum to the lands settled on and cultivated by them; but they shall file the proper notices of their claims and make proof and payment as in other cases. 27 March, 1854, c. 25, v. 10, p. 269. 14 July, 1870, c. 272, s. 2, v. 16, p. 279. SEC. 2282. Nothing contained in this chapter shall delay the sale of any of the public lands beyond the time appointed by the proclamation of the President. 4 Sept., 1841, c. 16, s. 14, v. 5, p. 457. SEC. 2283. The Osage Indian trust and diminished-reserve lands in the State of Kansas, excepting the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections in each township, shall be subject to disposal, for cash only, to actual settlers, in quantities not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres, or one quarter-section to each, in compact form, in accordance with the general principles of the pre-emption laws, under the direction of the Commissioner of the General Land-Office; but claimants shall file their declaratory statements as prescribed in other cases upon unoffered lands, and shall pay for the tracts, respectively, settled upon within one year from date of settlement where the plat of survey is on file at that date, and within one year from the filing of the township plat in the district office where such plat is not on file at date of settlement. 9 May, 1872, c. 149, s. 1, v. 17, p. 90. SEC. 2284. The sale or transfer of his claim upon any portion of these lands by any settler prior to the twenty-sixth day of April, eighteen hundred and seventy-one, shall not operate to preclude the right of entry, under the provisions of the preceding section, upon another tract settled upon subsequent to such sale or transfer; but satisfactory proof of good faith must be furnished upon such subsequent settlement. 9 May, 1872, c. 149, s. 3, v. 17, p. 90. SEC. 2285. The restrictions of the pre-emption laws, contained in sections twenty-two hundred and sixty and twenty-two hundred and sixty-one, shall not apply to any settler on the Osage Indian trust and diminished-reserve lands in the State of Kansas, who was actually residing on his claim on the ninth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two. 9 May, 1872, c. 149, s. 3, v. 17, p. 90. SEC. 2286. There shall be granted to the several counties or parishes of each State and Territory, where there are public lands, at the minimum price for which public lands of the United States are sold, the right of pre-emption to one quarter-section of land, in each of the counties or parishes, in trust for such counties or parishes, respectively, for the establishment of seats of justice therein; but the proceeds of the sale of each of such quarter-section shall be appropriated for the purpose of erecting public buildings in the county or parish for which it is located, after deducting therefrom the amount originally paid for the same. And the seat of justice for such 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. 26 May, 1824, c. 169, s. 1, v. 4, p. 50. SEC. 2287. Any bona-fide settler under the homestead or pre-emption laws of the United States who has filed the proper application to enter not to exceed one quarter-section of the public lands in any district land-office, and who has been subsequently appointed a register or receiver, may perfect the title to the land under the pre-emption laws by furnishing the proofs and making the payments required by law, to the satisfaction of the Commissioner of the General Land-Office. 20 April, 1871, c. 21, s. 16, v. 17, p. 10. SEC. 2288. Any person who has already settled or hereafter may settle on the public lands, either by pre-emption, or by virtue of the homestead law or any amendments thereto, shall have the right to transfer, by warranty against his own acts, any portion of his pre-emption or homestead for church, cemetery, or school purposes, or for the right of way of railroads across such pre-emption or homestead, and the transfer for such public purposes shall in no way vitiate the right to complete and perfect the title to their pre-emptions or homesteads. Act of 3 March, 1873, c. 266, v. 17, p. 602. SEC. 2289. Every person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States, or who has filed his declaration of intention to become such, as required by the naturalization laws, shall be entitled to enter one quarter section or a less quantity of unappropriated public lands, upon which such person may have filed a pre-emption claim, or which may, at the time the application is made, be subject to pre-emption at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre; or eighty acres or less of such unappropriated lands, at two dollars and fifty cents per acre, to be located in a body, in conformity to the legal subdivisions of the public lands, and after the same have been surveyed. And every person owning and residing on land may, under the provisions of this section, enter other land lying contiguous to his land, which shall not, with the land so already owned and occupied, exceed in the aggregate one hundred and sixty acres. 20 May, 1862, c. 75, s. 1, v. 12, p. 392. SEC. 2290. The person applying for the benefit of the preceding section shall, upon application to the register of the land-office in which he is about to make such entry, make affidavit before the register or receiver that he is the head of a family, or is twenty-one years or more of age, or has performed service in the Army or Navy of the United States, and that such application is made for his exclusive use and benefit, and that his entry is made for the purpose of actual settlement and cultivation, and not either directly or indirectly for the use or benefit of any other person; and upon filing such affidavit with the register or receiver, on payment of five dollars when the entry is of not more than eighty acres, and on payment of ten dollars when the entry is for more than eighty acres, he shall thereupon be permitted to enter the amount of land specified. 21 June, 1866, c. 127, s. 2, v. 14, p. 67. 29 May, 1862, c. 75, s. 2, v. 12, p. 392. 21 March, 1864, c. 38, s. 2, v. 13, p. 35. SEC. 2291. No certificate, however, shall be given, or patent issued therefor, until the expiration of five years from the date of such entry; and if at the expiration of such time, or at any time within two years thereafter, the person making such entry; or if he be dead, his widow; or in case of her death, his heirs or devisee; or in case of a widow making such entry, her heirs or devisee, in case of her death, proves by two credible witnesses that he, she, or they have resided upon or cultivated the same for the term of five years immediately succeeding the time of filing the affidavit, and makes affidavit that no part of such land has been alienated, except as provided in section twenty-two hundred and eighty-eight, and that he, she, or they will bear true allegiance to the Government of the United States; then, in such case, he, she, or they, if at that time citizens of the United States, shall be entitled to a patent, as in other cases provided by law. 21 June, 1866, c. 127, s. 2, v. 14, p. 67. SEC. 2292. In case of the death of both father and mother, leaving an infant child or children under twenty-one years of age, the right and fee shall inure to the benefit of such infant child or children; and the executor, administrator, or guardian may, at any time within two years after the death of the surviving parent, and in accordance with the laws of the State in which such children, for the time being, have their domicile, sell the land for the benefit of such infants, but for no other purpose; and the purchaser shall acquire the absolute title by the purchase, and be entitled to a patent from the United States on the payment of the office-fees and sum of money above specified. 21 June, 1866, c. 127, s. 2, v. 14, p. 67. SEC. 2293. In case of any person desirous of availing himself of the benefits of this chapter; but who, by reason of actual service in the mili tary or naval service of the United States, is unable to do the personal preliminary acts at the district land-office which the preceding sections require; and whose family, or some member thereof, is residing on the land which he desires to enter, and upon which a bona fide improvement and settlement have been made, such person may make the affidavit |