SEC. 2380. The President is authorized to reserve from the public lands, whether surveyed or unsurveyed, town-sites on the shores of harbors, at the junction of rivers, important portages, or any natural or prospective centres of population. 3 March, 1863, c. 80, s. 1, v. 12, p. 754. SEC. 2381. When, in the opinion of the President, the public interests require it, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Interior to cause any of such reservations, or part thereof, to be surveyed into urban or suburban lots of suitable size, and to fix by appraisement of disinterested persons their cash value, and to offer the same for sale at public outcry to the highest bidder, and thence afterward to be held subject to sale at private entry according to such regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe; but no lot shall be disposed of at public. sale or private entry for less than the appraised value thereof. And all such sales shall be conducted by the register and receiver of the landoffice in the district in which the reservations may be situated, in accordance with the instructions of the Commissioner of the General LandOffice. 3 March, 1863, c. 80, s. 2, v. 12, p. 754. SEC. 2382. In any case in which parties have already founded, or may hereafter desire to found, a city or town on the public lands, it may be lawful for them to cause to be filed with the recorder for the county in which the same is situated, a plat thereof, for not exceeding six hundred and forty acres, describing its exterior boundaries according to the lines of the public surveys, where such surveys have been executed; also giving the name of such city or town, and exhibiting the streets, squares, blocks, lots, and alleys, the size of the same, with measurements and area of each municipal subdivision, the lots in which shall each not exceed four thousand two hundred square feet, with a statement of the extent and general character of the improvements; such map and statement to be verified under oath by the party acting for and in behalf of the persons proposing to establish such city or town; and within one month after such filing there shall be transmitted to the General LandOffice a verified transcript of such map and statement, accompanied by the testimony of two witnesses that such city or town has been estab. lished in good faith, and when the premises are within the limits of an organized land-district, a similar map and statement shall be filed with the register and receiver, and at any time after the filing of such map, statement, and testimony in the General Land-Office it may be lawful for the President to cause the lots embraced within the limits of such city or town to be offered at public sale to the highest bidder, subject to a minimum of ten dollars for each lot; and such lots as may not be disposed of at public sale shall thereafter be liable to private entry at such minimum, or at such reasonable increase or diminution thereafter as the Secretary of the Interior may order from time to time, after at least three months' notice, in view of the increase or decrease in the value of the municipal property. But any actual settler upon any one lot, as above provided, and upon any additional lot in which he may have substantial improvements shall be entitled to prove up and purchase the same as a pre-emption, at such minimum, at any time before the day fixed for the public sale. 1 July, 1864, c. 205, s. 2, v. 13, p. 343. SEC. 2383. When such cities or towns are established upon unsurveyed lands, it may be lawful, after the extension thereto of the public, surveys, to adjust the extension limits of the premises according to those lines, where it can be done without interference with rights which may be vested by sale; and patents for all lots so disposed of at public or private sale shall issue as in ordinary cases. 1 July, 1864, c. 205, s. 3, v. 13, p. 344. SEC. 2384. If within twelve months from the establishment of a city or town on the public domain, the parties interested refuse or fail to file in the General Land-Office a transcript map, with the statement and testimony called for by the provisions of section twenty-three hundred and eighty-two, it may be lawful for the Secretary of the Interior to cause a survey and plat to be made of such city or town, and thereafter the lots in the same shall be disposed of as required by such provisions, with this exception, that they shall each be at an increase of fifty per centum on the minimum of ten dollars per lot. 1 July, 1864, c. 205, s. 4, v. 13, p. 344. SEC. 2385. In the case of any city or town, in which the lots may be variant as to size from the limitation fixed in section twenty-three hundred and eighty-two, and in which the lots and buildings, as municipal improvements, cover an area greater than six hundred and forty acres, such variance as to size of lots or excess in area shall prove no bar to such city or town claim under the provisions of that section; but the minimum price of each lot in such city or town, which may contain a greater number of square feet than the maximum named in that section, shall be increased to such reasonable amount as the Secretary of the Interior may by rule establish. 3 March, 1865, c. 107, s. 2, v. 13, p. 530. SEC. 2386. Where mineral veins are possessed, which possession is recognized by local authority, and to the extent so possessed and recognized, the title to town-lots to be acquired shall be subject to such recognized possession and the necessary use thereof; but nothing contained in this section shall be so construed as to recognize any color of title in possessors for mining purposes as against the United States. 3 March, 1865, c. 107, s. 2, v. 13, p. 530. SEC. 2387. Whenever any portion of the public lands have been or may be settled upon and occupied as a town-site, not subject to entry under the agricultural pre-emption laws, it is lawful, in case such town be incorporated, for the corporate authorities thereof, and, if not incor porated, for the judge of the county court for the county in which such town is situated, to enter at the proper land-office, and at the minimum price, the land so settled and occupied in trust for the several use and benefit of the occupants thereof, according to their respective interests; the execution of which trust, as to the disposal of the lots in such town, and the proceeds of the sales thereof, to be conducted under such regulations as may be prescribed by the legislative authority of the State or Territory in which the same may be situated. 2 March, 1867, c. 177, v. 14, p. 541. SEC. 2388. The entry of the land provided for in the preceding section shall be made, or a declaratory statement of the purpose of the inhabitants to enter it as a town-site shall be filed with the register of the proper land-office, prior to the commencement of the public sale of the body of land in which it is included, and the entry or declaratory statement shall include only such land as is actually occupied by the town, and the title to which is in the United States; but in any Territory in which a land-office may not have been established, such declaratory statements may be filed with the surveyor-general of the surveying-district in which the lands are situated; who shall transmit the same to the General Land-Office. 2 March, 1867, c. 177, v. 14, p. 541. SEC. 2389. If upon surveyed lands, the entry shall in its exterior limit be made in conformity to the legal subdivisions of the public lands authorized by law; and where the inhabitants are in number one hun dred, and less than two hundred, shall embrace not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres; and in cases where the inhabitants of such town are more than two hundred, and less than one thousand, shall embrace not exceeding six hundred and forty acres; and where the number of inhabitants is one thousand and over one thousand, shall embrace not exceeding twelve hundred and eighty acres; but for each additional one thousand inhabitants, not exceeding five thousand in all, a further grant of three hundred and twenty acres shall be allowed. 2 March, 1867, c. 177, v. 14, p. 541. SEC. 2390. The words "not exceeding five thousand in all," in the preceding section, shall not apply to Salt Lake City, in the Territory of Utah; but such section shall be so construed in its application to that city that lands may be entered for the full number of inhabitants contained therein, not exceeding fifteen thousand; and as that city covers school-section number thirty-six, in township number one north, of range number one west, the same may be embraced in such entry, and indemnity shall be given therefor when a grant is made by Congress of sections sixteen and thirty-six, in the Territory of Utah, for school purposes. 1 July, 1870, c. 193, v. 16, p. 183. SEC. 2391. Any act of the trustees not made in conformity to the regulations alluded to in section twenty-three hundred and eighty-seven shall be void. 2 March, 1867, c 177, V. 14, p. 541. SEC. 2392. No title shall be acquired, under the foregoing provisions. of this chapter, to any mine of gold, silver, cinnabar, or copper; or to any valid mining-claim or possession held under existing laws. 2 March, 1867, c. 177, v. 14, p. 541. 8 June, 1868, c. 53, v. 15, p. 67. SEC. 2393. The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to military or other reservations heretofore made by the United States, nor to reservations for light-houses, custom-houses, mints, or such other public purposes as the interests of the United States may require, whether held under reservations through the Land-Office by title derived from the Crown of Spain, or otherwise. 2 March 1867, c. 177, v. 14, p. 541. SEC. 2394. The inhabitants of any town located on the public lands may avail themselves, if the town authorities choose to do so, of the provisions of sections twenty-three hundred and eighty-seven, twentythree hundred and eighty-eight, and twenty-three hundred and eightynine; and in addition to the minimum price of the lands embracing any town-site so entered, there shall be paid by the parties availing themselves of such provisions all cost of surveying and platting any such town-site, and expenses incident thereto incurred by the United States, before any patent issues therefor; but nothing contained in the sections herein cited shall prevent the issuance of patents to persons who have made or may hereafter make entries, and elect to proceed under other laws relative to town-sites in this chapter set forth. 8 June, 1868, c. 53, v. 15, p. 67. CHAPTER NINE. SURVEY OF THE PUBLIC LANDS. Sec. 2395. Rules of survey. 2400. Prices of surveys, how estab- 2401. When survey may be had by settlers in township. 2402. Deposit for expenses of surveys deemed an appropriation, &c. 2403. Deposits made by settlers for public surveys to go in part payment of lands. 2404. Augumented rates for surveys of lands covered with forests, &c., in Oregon. SEC. 2395. The public lands shall be divided by north and south lines run according to the true meridian, and by others crossing them at right angles, so as to form townships of six miles square, unless where the line of an Indian reservation, or of tracts of land heretofore surveyed or patented, or the course of navigable rivers, may render this impracticable; and in that case this rule must be departed from no further than such particular circumstances require. 18 May, 1796, c. 29, s. 2, v. 1, p. 465. 10 May, 1800, c. 55, s. 3, v. 2, p. 73. Second. The corners of the townships must be marked with progressive numbers from the beginning; each distance of a mile between such corners must be also distinctly marked with marks different from those of the corners. Third. The township shall be subdivided into sections, containing, as nearly as may be, six hundred and forty acres each, by running through the same, each way, parallel lines at the end of every two miles; and by marking a corner on each of such lines, at the end of every mile. The sections shall be numbered respectively, beginning with the number one in the northeast section and proceeding west and east alternately through the township with progressive numbers till the thirty-six be completed. Fourth. The deputy surveyors, respectively, shall cause to be marked on a tree near each corner established in the manner described, and within the section, the number of such section, and over it the number of the township within which such section may be; and the deputy surveyors shall carefully note, in their respective field-books, the names of the corner-trees marked and the numbers so made. Fifth. Where the exterior lines of the townships which may be subdivided into sections or half-sections exceed, or do not extend six miles, the excess or deficiency shall be specially noted, and added to or deducted from the western and northern ranges of sections or half-sections in such township, according as the error may be in running the lines from east to west, or from north to south; the sections and half-sections bounded on the northern and western lines of such townships shall be sold as containing only the quantity expressed in the returns and plats respectively, and all others as containing the complete legal quantity. Sixth. All lines shall be plainly marked upon trees, and measured with chains, containing two perches of sixteen and one-half feet each, subdivided into twenty-five equal links; and the chain shall be adjusted to a standard to be kept for that purpose. Seventh. Every surveyor shall note in his field-book the true situations of all mines, salt licks, salt springs, and mill-seats which come to his knowledge; all water courses over which the line he runs may pass; and also the quality of the lands. Eighth. These field-books shall be returned to the surveyor-general, who shall cause therefrom a description of the whole lands surveyed to be made out and transmitted to the officers who may superintend the sales. He shall also cause a fair plat to be made of the townships and fractional parts of townships contained in the lands, describing the subdivisions thereof, and the marks of the corners. This plat shall be recorded in books to be kept for that purpose; and a copy thereof shall be kept open at the surveyor-general's office for public information, and other copies shall be sent to the places of the sale, and to the General Land-Office. |