# United States Statutes at Large/Volume 3/17th Congress/2nd Session/Chapter 10

Chap. X.—An Act to revive and continue in force certain acts for the adjustment of land claims in the territory of Michigan.
Act of May 11, 1820, ch. 85, revived, and continued in force till 1st Nov. next. Report of the commissioners to be laid before Congress.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the act, entitled “An act to revive the powers of the commissioners for ascertaining and deciding on claims to land in the district of Detroit, and for settling the claims to land at Green Bay and Prairie du Chien, in the territory of Michigan,” approved May the eleventh, one thousand eight hundred and twenty, shall be, and the same is hereby, revived, and shall continue in force until the first day of November next; and it shall be the duty of the said commissioners, as soon thereafter as may be, to forward their report, as is required by the second section of said act, to the Secretary of the Treasury, to be by him laid before Congress at its next session.
Second section of the act of April 23, 1812, ch. 62, to embrace certain claims.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the second section of the act, entitled “An act to authorize the granting of patents for land, according to the surveys that have been made, and to grant donation rights to certain claimants of land in the district of Detroit, and for other purposes,” approved April twenty-third, one thousand eight hundred and twelve, shall be so construed as to embrace all persons who have claims confirmed below Milk river point, at the lower end of Lake St. Clair.
Patents to be issued to persons whose claims have been filed under the act of May 11, 1820, ch. 85.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That patents shall, and they are hereby directed to, be issued, in the mode pointed out by law in other cases, to persons whose claims to lands, town or village lots, have been regularly filed with the commissioners appointed by an act, entitled “An act to revive the powers of the commissioners for ascertaining and deciding on claims to land in the district of Detroit, and for settling the claims to land at Green Bay and Prarie du Chien, in the territory of Michigan,” ​passed on the eleventh day of May, one thousand eight hundred and twenty, and whose claims are contained in the report transmitted to the Secretary of the Treasury, and which have been reported favourably on by said commissioners: and such persons are hereby confirmed in their claims, agreeably to any surveys heretofore made or the lines and boundaries established by the claimants respectively:Proviso. Provided, That such confirmations shall only amount to a relinquishment forever, on the part of the United States, and that not more than six hundred and forty acres shall be confirmed by virtue of any one claim; nor shall more be confirmed, in any case, than the quantity claimed; nor shall any claim extend in width more than forty, nor in depth more than eighty, arpents; nor to land heretofore, and now, reserved by the United States for public uses.
Claimants have been removed by any officer of the United States’ army, to have certificates for any tract of land, &c. which they have occupied after such removal.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That wherever it shall appear to the said commissioners that any claimant to land, or a town or village lot, at Green Bay or Prairie du Chien, cannot establish his, her, or their, claim to the same, in consequence of his, her, or their, removal therefrom by any officer of the United States’ army, it shall be the duty of the said commissioners to issue a certificate to such person or persons, for any tract of land, or village lot, which may have been occupied by him, her, or them, after such removal, not exceeding, in quantity, that originally claimed; on which certificates patents shall issue, as in other cases; which claims shall be, in all other respects, subject to the restrictions and provisions of the third section of this act.
Occupants of land in Green bay, Prairie du Chien, or Michilimackinaw, on July 1, 1812, who have continued to submit to the authority of the United States, or their representatives, to be confirmed in said land. Act of May 11, 1820, ch. 85.Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That every person, who, on the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and twelve, was a resident of Green Bay, Prairie du Chien, or within the county of Michilimackinaw, and who, on the said day, occupied and cultivated, or occupied a tract of land which had previously been cultivated by said occupant, lying within either of said settlements, and who has continued to submit to the authority of the United States, or to the legal representatives of every such person, shall be confirmed in the tract so occupied and cultivated, and the said commissioners, in the adjudicating on claims to land embraced by this act, are authorized to take into their consideration the evidence and facts collected and reported to them by the agents of the United States, pursuant to the provisions of the act of the eleventh of May, one thousand eight hundred and twenty, as well as such other and further evidence and testimony as may or shall be exhibited before them by the claimants, to support their claims: And the register of the land office at Detroit is authorized and required to receive and record all notices and claims to lands provided for by this act, and which shall be exhibited to him on or before the first day of October next: Provided, however,Proviso. That no person shall be confirmed in a greater quantity than six hundred and forty acres; nor shall any tract, so confirmed, exceed eighty arpents from front to rear. And it shall be the duty of the surveyor general of the United States, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, to cause the land confirmed by this act to be surveyed, at the expense of the claimants, respectively; plats of which shall be returned, as in other cases, and patents therefor shall be granted to the several claimants in the manner prescribed by law.
An additional sum to be allowed to persons carrying this law into effect.Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury shall be, and he is hereby, authorized to allow to the former agent, and to each of the persons whose duty it is made to carry this law into effect, such sum, in addition to the sum allowed by the first recited act, as he may deem just and reasonable.
Approved, February 21, 1823.