# United States Statutes at Large/Volume 3/15th Congress/1st Session/Chapter 126

Chap. CXXVI.—An Act respecting the surveying and sale of the public lands in the Alabama territory.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the powers and duties ​Act of March 2, 1819, ch. 47. The powers of the surveyor of the northern part of Mississippi, limited to Alabama. Lands to be surveyed. Compensation.of the surveyor for the lands in the northern part of the Alabama territory, and that only. And it shall be his duty to cause such of the said lands, to which the Indian title has been, or shall hereafter be, extinguished, as the President of the United States shall direct, to be surveyed and divided in the same manner, and under the same regulations, as are provided by law in relation to other public lands. And the said surveyor shall receive for his services, hereafter, an annual compensation of two thousand dollars, and shall be allowed not exceeding two clerks, whose whole compensation shall not exceed fifteen hundred dollars per annum.
Lands excepted from sale on which to build towns.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That in every public sale hereafter to be made of public lands, in the territory of Alabama, there shall, in addition to the usual reservation of section sixteen, in each township, for the support of schools, be excepted from the sale [of] such sections, not exceeding ten in any one land district, as the President of the United States shall have designated, for the purpose of laying out and establishing towns thereon; which sections, so designated and reserved, for the purpose aforesaid, shall be laid off into lots, and offered for sale, in the manner, and on the terms and conditions, and with the same limitation as to price, as is prescribed, for the laying off and sale of lots, by the fifth section of the act, entitledAct of March 3 1817, ch. 62. An entire township to be located for the support of a seminary of learning, and a section for the seat of government. “An act to authorize the appointment of a surveyor for the lands in the northern part of the Mississippi territory, and the sale of certain lands therein described,” passed on the third of March, one thousand eight hundred and seventeen. And there shall be reserved from sale, in the Alabama territory, an entire township, which shall be located by the Secretary of the Treasury, for the support of a seminary of learning within the said territory; and also, any one entire section, which may be located under the direction of the governor of the said territory, for the seat of government therein.
Lands attached to the district east of Pearl river. The lands after having been surveyed, to be sold, except No. 16, and other reservations, &c. The President to designate the time of sale.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That all the lands lying between the basis meridian, and the first standard meridian, in the Alabama district, be attached to the land district east of Pearl river. And the lands so attached to the said district, east of Pearl river, after having been surveyed according to law, shall, with the exception of section number sixteen in each township which shall be reserved for the support of schools therein, and with the further exception of such reservations as may be made in pursuance of the second section of this act, shall be offered for sale to the highest bidder, under the direction of the register of the land office, and the receiver of public moneys, at the place where the land office is kept, and on such day or days as shall, by proclamation of the President of the United States, be designated for that purpose: the sale shall remain open two weeks and no longer. The lands shall not be sold for less than two dollars an acre, and shall, in every other respect, be sold in tracts of the same size, and on the same terms and conditions, as have been, or may be, provided for lands sold in the same district.Lands offered, and not sold, may be disposed of at private sale, &c. Patents, &c. All the lands offered for sale, and remaining unsold at the close of the said public sales, may be disposed of at private sale, by the register of the land office, in the same manner, and on the same terms and conditions, as are or may be provided for the sale of other lands in the same district; and patents shall be granted in the same manner, and on the same terms, as for other lands in the said district.
Approved, April 20, 1818.