# United States Statutes at Large/Volume 2/8th Congress/2nd Session/Chapter 14

Chap. XIV.—An Act concerning the mode of surveying the Public Lands of the United States.
Act of May 18, 1796, ch. 29. Mode of surveying public lands north of the Ohio.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the surveyor-general shall cause all those lands north of the river Ohio, which by virtue of the act, intituled “An act providing for the sale of the lands of the United States, in the territory northwest of the river Ohio, and above the mouth of the Kentucky river,” were subdivided, by running through the townships, parallel lines each way, at the end of every two miles, and by marking a cornerCorners to be marked. on each of the said lines, at the end of every mile; to be subdivided into sections, by running straight lines from the mile corners thus marked, to the opposite corresponding corners, and by marking on each of the said lines, intermediate corners as nearly as possible equidistant from the corners of the sections on the same.Half sections purchased before July 1, 1804, to be surveyed and marked. And the said surveyor-general shall also cause the boundaries of all the half sections, which had been purchased previous to the first day of July last, and on which the surveying fees had been paid, according to law, by the purchaser, to be surveyed and marked, by running straight lines from the half-mile corners, heretofore marked, to the opposite corresponding corners; and intermediate corners shall, at the same time, be marked on each of the said dividing lines, as nearly as possible equidistant from the corners of the half section on the same line:Whole expense of survey not to exceed three dollars per mile. How the expense of making the surveys is to be paid. Provided, that the whole expense of surveying and marking the lines, shall not exceed three dollars for every mile which has not yet been surveyed, and which shall be actually run, surveyed, and marked by virtue of this section. And the expense of making the subdivisions, directed by this section, shall be defrayed out of the monies appropriated, or which may be hereafter appropriated, for completing the surveys of the public lands of the United States.
Principles upon which the boundaries and contents of the public lands are to be ascertained.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the boundaries and contents of the several sections, half sections, and quarter sections of the public lands of the United States, shall be ascertained in conformity with the following principles, any act or acts to the contrary notwithstanding:
1st. All the corners marked in the surveys, returned by the surveyor-general, or by the surveyor of the land south of the state of Tennessee, respectively, shall be established as the proper corners of sections, or subdivisions of sections, which they were intended to designate; and the corners of half and quarter sections, not marked on the said surveys, shall be placed as nearly as possible equidistant from those two corners which stand on the same line.
Boundary lines run and marked by the surveyor south of the Tennessee river to be the proper boundaries of sections.2d. The boundary lines, actually run and marked in the surveys returned by the surveyor-general, or by the surveyor of the land south of the state of Tennessee, respectively, shall be established as the proper boundary lines of the sections, or subdivisions, for which they were intended, and the length of such lines, as returned by either of the surveyors aforesaid, shall be held and considered as the true length thereof.
​Boundary lines not actually run to be ascertained.And the boundary lines, which shall not have been actually run, and marked as aforesaid, shall be ascertained, by running straight lines from the established corners to the opposite corresponding corners; but in those portions of the fractional townships, where no such opposite corresponding corners have been or can be fixed, the said boundary lines shall be ascertained, by running from the established corners, due north and south, or east and west lines, as the case may be, to the water-course, Indian boundary line, or other external boundary of such fractional township.
Surveys to be returned.3d. Each section, or subdivision of section, the contents whereof shall have been, or by virtue of the first section of this act, shall be returned by the surveyor-general, or by the surveyor of the public lands south of the state of Tennessee, respectively, shall be held and considered as containing the exact quantity, expressed in such return or returns: and the half sections and quarter sections, the contents whereof shall not have been thus returned, shall be held and considered as containing the one half, or the one fourth part respectively, of the returned contents of the section of which they make part.
Part of a former act repealed. Act of March 26, 1804, ch. 35.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That so much of the act entituled “An act making provision for the disposal of the lands in the Indiana territory, and for other purposes,” as provides the mode of ascertaining the true contents of sections or subdivisions of sections, and prevents the issue of final certificates, unless the said contents shall have been ascertained, and a plot certified by the district surveyor, lodged with the register, be, and the same is hereby repealed.
Approved, February 11, 1805.