Iowa capitol reporter. [volume] (Iowa City, Iowa) 1841-1855, 1851-09-03
Circular to the school Fund Com.
missiOners.
OFFIcE OF Surf. OF Pun. INsr.l
Iowa City, Iowa, Sept. 3, 1851.

transmit herewith
transcripts of the selections OF school
land, made in your county under the
act of Congress of the 4th Septem-
Der 1851, which have been approx
eddy the Secretary Of the Interior.
You will observe that the area of the
tracts is given in too columns, and
that the outer exceeds the inner col
.umn in quantity. This is owing to
the fact that each selection embrac-
ing a less quantity than $50 acres,
has by the terms of the grant been
taken .jor $50 acres. Wherever this
has occurred, the inner column will
show the actual number of acres, and
the outer, the number of acres for
which, the tract has been received
by the State. The outer or right
hand column therefore will be your
guide as to quantity in making sales.
You are hereby authorized to sell
the same in accordance with the fol-
lowing instructions:
And first, your attention is direc-
ted to that portion Of the selections
termed
CLAIMED LANDS
that is, those given in by claimants
to be selected in their names by the
agents, Messrs Whitaker Brown and
Morrison. These lands will only be
sold to the claimant for whom they
were selected or his assignee. In
case you sell to an assignee you
should require him to file with you
a regular quit claim deed and in case
of several transfers, you should re-
quire all the dees, from that execu-
ted by the original claimant to the
one held by the person proposing to
purchase, to be thus filed, These
claims will be sold precisely as they
were returned by the claimants to
TIE agents, without reference to claim
regulations, occupancy or improve
ment, except in those cases where
a portion Of the claim has been re-
linquished as authorized in my cir.
cular of January 25, 1851, in which
event you will be governed as to
quantity by the arrangement then
entenred into between the claimant
and Fund Commissioner.
l send you a list of the claims SO
far as they have been reported to me
by the agents. You are aware how
ever that many claims were given in
which, through the negligence of the
agents, were notreported to this Office.
If there are any in this condition
which were not adjusted and report
ed by you to this office, in accordance
with the instructions of my circular
above alluded to, you will satisfy
Yourself as to their validity-thatMey
acre selected By the agent at the request
Of the clainmnts-by such evidence as
you may be able to obtain, accom-
panied with the affidavit of the clai-
mant. l return herewith the list of
claims reported by you in May last.
With the aid Of this list and that re-
ported to me by the agents, upon
careful examination, think you will
be able satisfactorily to adjust any
claim that may be presented for in
vestigation.
You will bear in mind that your
first business will be to settle and dis
pose of all claims of this character.
Should there be conflicting interests
relative to any claim which you can
not settle amicably and acquitably,
you will withhold the land from sale
and report the facts to this office, or
should any claim be embraced in
either of the lists or known to you
from other sources of information, for
which the claimant or his assignee
does not apply, you will reserve the
same from sale and report in like
manner.
now propose to notice the second
class of these lands which are known
UNCLAIMED LANDS
being unencumbered, so far as the
knowledge of the agents extended, at
the time of their selection. There
are also claims on this portion of the
grant, made subsequent to its selec-
ton, which | wish recognized. In
order that a claim of this character
may be valid, a description of it
should be filed with you in writing
and it should be further identified by
such occupancy and improvement as
to render it genuine according to the
ordinary claim regulations of the
county. You must in great mea-
sure exercise your own discretion as
to quantity, making the distribution
ofprairie and timber equitable among
the claimants without detriment to the
school fund-that is, sub-dIvide each
body of land in such a manner as to
leave no unsaleable remnants. Per-
init no one person to purchase more
than half section, and require each
to take fair proportion of the prai-
RE with the timbered land--say about
so acres Of the latter to $40 of the
former.
In case the prairie is detached
from the timber, yet sufficiently near
for farming purposes, you will allow
persons to take the necessary proper
ton of each. In apportioning any
particular tract among sundry claim
ants, should they prefer making the
subdivision by any other lines than
the government surveys, you will per-
init them to do so, upon condition that
any additional expense for surveying
shall he incurred hv thnmSelyos