# United States Statutes at Large/Volume 5/28th Congress/2nd Session/Chapter 42

Chap. XLII.—An Act to grant certain lands to the State of Indiana, the better to enable the said State to extend and complete the Wabash and Erie canal from Terre Haute to the Ohio river.
Act of Feb. 27, 1841, ch. 12. Lands granted on the canal.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there be, and hereby is, granted to the State of Indiana, for the purpose of aiding said State in extending and completing the Wabash and Erie canal from Terre Haute, in the county of Vigo, in said State, to the Ohio river, at Evansville, in said State, as the course thereof has bene established and surveyed by the authority of said State, one moiety of the public lands, (remaining unsold, and not otherwise disposed of, encumbered or appropriated,) in a strip five miles in width on each side of said canal; to ​be selected by an agent or agents to be appointed by the Governor of said State, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States;Lands reserved. reserving to the United States each alternate section, (or other proper subdivisions of said land,) from one end of said canal to the other; and before the selection, to be made as aforesaid by such agent or agents, shall be deemed to have been made and perfected, a chart or charts, showing the coursesChart of the canal to be reported to the Gen’l Land Office. and distances and points of termination of said canal, shall be reported, or caused to be reported by the Governor of Indiana, or by some person or persons by him appointed to the Commissioner of the General Land Office.
Lands granted in Vincennes district.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That, for the purpose hereinbefore mentioned, there be, and hereby is, granted to the said State, in addition to the grant hereinbefore provided for, one moiety of all the other lands in the Vincennes land district, in said State, and which remain, as aforesaid, unsold, and not otherwise disposed of, encumbered or appropriated, to be selected under the authority and by the direction of the Governor of said State:Their selection. Provided, That, in the selection of the lands by this section provided for, no lands shall be comprehended which, in and by the first section of this act, are (in alternate sections or other proper subdivisions) directed to be reserved as aforesaid;Lands selected to be reported to the register. and the lands so selected shall be reported, or caused to be reported, by the Governor of said State, to the register of the land office at Vincennes, before such selection shall be deemed to be made and completed.
Disposal of the lands granted by 1st and 2d sections of this act.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That all the lands, by the first and second sections of this act granted as aforesaid, shall, after the selections thereof shall have been made and completed as aforesaid, be subject to be disposed of by the General Assembly of said State, for the purpose aforesaid, and no other; and the President shall direct the further sales of the public lands, in the Vincennes land district aforesaid, to be suspended until the Governor of said State shall have caused the selections aforesaid to be made and perfected as aforesaid, and shall have notified the Secretary of the Treasury thereof: Provided, That such suspension shall not continue longer than twelve months from and after the passing of this act.
U. S. to have use of the canal free.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the said canal when completed, shall be and forever remain a public highway for the use of the Government of the United States, free from any toll or other charge whatever, for any property of the United States, or persons in their service, passing through or along the same; and shall be completed within fifteen years from and after the passing of this act,Canal to be completed in 15 years, or land to revert to the United States. or the State shall be holden to pay to the United States the amount of the price or prices for which any and all of said land which may have been disposed of by said State may have sold; and such of said lands as may not have been thus disposed of shall, from and after said fifteen years, if said canal should not then have been completed, revert to and again become the property of the United States:Price of the lands limited. Provided always, That it shall not be competent for the said General Assembly to dispose of said lands, or any of them, at a price lower than, for the time being, shall be the minimum price of other public lands.
Approved, March 3, 1845.