Iowa capitol reporter. [volume] (Iowa City, Iowa) 1841-1855, 1847-02-17
Il s.nn,e ~ MI. DIN stead. .

,css erefeTred petitions relative 70 ihe s.
t,eknent Of lost or oblifeated corners
e q. s Surrey.
NhGselect committee to whom was re-
feDsds the petition Of Lawrence Name
anapihers, praying for the passage Of an
acetythe General Assembly for the es-
talsatshnent Of lost or obliterated corners
inabesU United States survey, have instruc-
tedme 10 report:
0hstgby an act concerning the mode of
suo4eying the public lands Of the United
SielBs approved Feb. II, l845, (chapte'
74psEe 10, part fret, Of United States
Leg hws.) ample provision is made byI
w&ielu the object desired BY the prayer of
thapekitioners can be attained.
6he provisions Of the second section of
thsfpEegoing act are as follows:
Sxqyg2. And be it further enacted, That
thetbcndaries and contents Of the seve-
ralaeciions, half sections, and quarter sec
tiqps, sdf the public lands Of the United
States, shall be ascertained in conformity
with the following principles-any act or
actsso Ms contrary Notwithstanding.
AR. All the corners marked in the sur
vega retlrned by the Surveyor General
orJN rAst surveyor Of the land south Of
the State Of Tennessee respectively, shall
be established as, the proper corners Of
sessions OF subdivisions Of sections
which they are intended TO designate, and
the CORNERS Of half and quarter sections,
notnaxked on said surveys, shall be plac-
ed as nearly as possible equidistant from
these two corners which stand on the
same line.
2SD. The boundary lines actually run
and marked in the surveys returned by
the Surveyor General or by the surveyor
ogthe land south Of the State of Tennessee
respectively, shall be established as the
proper boundary lines Of the sections ~
subdivisions. for which they are intended,
and tie length Of such lines as returned
by either of the surveyors aforesaid, shall
besheM ana considered as the true length
shexeot,. the boundary lines which
shall not have been actually run and mark
edas Aforesaid, shall be ascertained by
running straight lines from the corners to
theopposite corresponding corners; but in
those portions Of the fractional townships,
where no corresponding corners have
been fixed, the said boundary lines shall
be ascertained By running lines from the
established corners due north and south,
or east and west, as the case may be, TO
the water course, Indian boundary line,
or other external boundary Of such frac-
'tiOnal township.
sections, The. contents Of which shall have
been, pr by virtue ofthe first section Of
this act, shall be returned to the Surveyor
General, Or by the surveyor Of the public
lands south Of The State Of Tennessee re-
apectively, shall be held and considered
AS containing the exact quantity express
ed in such return or returns, and the half
sections and quart:on sections, the contents
whereof shall not have been thus returned.
-shall be held and considered as the one
half or one fourth part, respectively, Of
the returned contents Of the section.
The mode OF subdividing the public
lands Of the United States is more fully
explained in a circular from the Treasury
Department, dated General Land Office,
May 25, 1881. page 444, part second, Of
United States Land Laws, on page $50,
the Commissioner observes:
In those cases where the tier of sections
on the north and uest side of the township
Con " hich size the law requires that any
excess or deficiency Of quantity, as the
case may be, should be thrcwn) are rep-
resented to contain either more or less than
the quantity Of regular sections; (viz, six
hundred and forty acres, } the quarters Of
such sections are, notwithstanding, to be
regarded as subdiyisible, under the law,
into half quarter sections, by lines suppos.
edzssorbe-run due north and south, and
starting from points equidistant between
thespcsts o. corners forming the bounda.
ry Of the quarter section. But if, from
any special and anomalous laws, (for
which the Surveyor General is response
bic, lhs excess should prove to be 50
great % TO have rendered it necessary for
the Surveyor General in dividing the outer
tier Of seetions, either on the north or
west side Of the townships, to subdiyide
the extreme tier Of quarter sections into
more than two lots Of eighty acres each,
or thereabouts, giving to each of the sew
erai lots ofa quarter section 80 anomalous
ly constituted, a specific designation BY
number or letter; you are to act according
ly in the sale Of such lands.
In circular to Surveyors General
from the General Land Office, dated May
8, 1883, IN pursuance Of an act Of Con.
gress. approvsd, April 5, 1912, this SUBJ
ject is referredto, as follows:
Fractional sections containing less than
one hundred and sixty acres or the residu-
ary portion Of fractional section, after
the subdivision into Is many quarter quar-
ter sections az it is susceptible Of, may
DO subdivi1ed into lots, each containing
the quantity Of q quarter quarter section,
as nearly as practicable, by 50 laying down
the line ofsubdivision, as that they shall
be twenty chains wide, which distances
are to be marked on the plot Of subdivi<
sion, as are also areas Of the quarter quar-
tiers and residuary fractions.
Your committee is ofopinion that the
acts Of Congress are the only criterion by
which to Be governed in tho division or
subdivision Of public lands, aud that the
GnId nntaa rnfnrnAl ~ H. C,,~,>ro.