The Shasta courier. [volume] (Shasta, Calif.) 1852-1872, 1853-04-30
NUMBER s.


The Prescription Act.
Synopsis Of Act 10 proride for the SURVEYS Of the
Public Lands IN California. the granting of pre-
emption rights therein, and for other purposes
The act provides for the appointment Of a Re.
| gister of the Land Office and Receiver Of Public
Money for California, with each salary of three
| thousand dollars per annum and the Presid ent
may, If he should deem it necessary, divide Cal.
ifornia into two or three Land Districts and ap-
| point Register and Receiver for each District
All the public lands in California, whether sur
yeyed unsurveyed. with the exception Of
sections Is and sc, which are granted to the
State for the purposes of public schools in each
| township, and with the exception Of lands APP
propriated under the authority of this act, or re-
served by competent authority, and excepting
also the lands claimed under any foreign grant
or title, and the mineral land, shall be subject
| to the prescription laws Of the 4th of September,
| l841,* with all the exceptions, conditions and
| limitations therein, except as herein otherwise
provided; and shall, after the plats thereof are
returned to the office of the register, be offered
for sale, after six months public notice in the
State, of the time and place of sale under the
laws, rules and regulations now governing euch
sales, or such as may be hereafter prescribed:
PvoUtded That, where unsurveyed lands arc
claimed by pre-emption, the usual notice of such
claim shall be filed within three months after
the return nf the plats surveys to the land Office
and proof and payment shall be made prior to
the day appointed by the Presidents proclama-
ton for the commencement OF the sale, including
such lands, the entry of such claims to be made
by legal subdivisions, according to the United
States survey, and in the most compact form.
And provided further That the fact of persons
having heretofore had the benefit of said act of
the 4th OF September, 1841, shall interpose no
bar to their obtaining the benefits of this act;
| Ill e Il. 81. kill
ter having been proclaimed and offered, shall be
subject to entry at private sale as other public
land, and at the same minimum price per acre
and the Register and Receiver shall not be emit
tied to any per centage or fees except for decid-
ing pre-emption cases, when each OF them shall
be allowed the same fees as are allowed to other
like officers but the Receiver shall be entitled
to his actual necessary expenses going and re-
turning in making his deposits, Provided, That
nothing in this act shall be construed to author
| Use any settlement to be made on any public
lands not surveyed, unless the same be made
| within one year from the passage of this act
nor shall any right of such settlers be recognised
by virtue of any settlement or improvement
made of such unsurveyed lands subsequent to
that day And provided further, That this act
shall mot be construed to authorize any settle
ment to be made on any tract of land in the oc-
cupation possession Of any Indian tribe, or to
grant any presumption ight to the same.
Where any settlement, by the erection of .
dwelling house, or the cultivation OF any portion
of the land, shall be made upon the sixteenth
and thirty-sixth sections, before the same shall
be surveyed, or where such sections may be re-
served for public uses, or taken by private claims,
other lands shall be selected by the proper au-
thorities of the State in lieu thereof, agreeably
to the provisions OF the &C: of Congress. appro-
we'd on the goth of May, 1926, entitled-"An act
TO appropriate lands for the support of schools
-
not before provided for and which shall be SUBJ
ject to approval by the Secretary Of the Interior.
And no person shall make settlement or loca-
ton upon any tract parcel of land selected for
military post, or within mile of such post
or on any other lands reserved by competent
authority; nor shall any person obtain the bene-
fits of this act by settlement or location on
mineral lands.
The public lands, not being mineral lands, oc-
cupied as towns or villages shall not be subdi-
vided, subject to sale, or be appropriated by
settlers under the provisions OF this act but the
whole of such lands, whether settled upon be-
fore after the survey OF the same, shall be SUBJ
ect to the provisions OF the act entitled An act
for the relief of the citizens of towns upon the
lands of the United States, under certain circum-
stances, approved May %, 1874 except such
towns as are located on or near mineral lands,
the inhabitants of which shall have the right of
occupation and cultivation only until such times
Congress shall dispose of the same; nor shall
any lands, specially reserved for public uses, be
appropriated under the provisions of this act.
The quantity of two entire townships, or sew
enty-two sections, shall be granted to the State
Of California for the use OF a seminary OF learn
ing.
And ten entire sections, for the purpose of
erecting the public buildings of that State.
The following synopsis Of the law Of 1s41,
is from the Stale Jon,nal:
"The tenth section provides that from and at
ter the date of its passage, every pers, n being
the head of family, or widow, or single man.
of age, being citizen, or having bled his dec
laraton of Intention to become such, according
to law, who since the first day of June, 1910,
has made or shall thereafter make settlement,
in person. upon the public lands to which the
Indian title was extingnished at the time OF set
Element. and which has been shall haze been sur
veyed prior thereto and who shall inhablt and I'M
prove the same, and who has shall erect
dwelling thereon shall be authorized to enter
with the Register of the Land Office for the dis
trict in which the land may lie, by legal subdi-
visions, any number OF acres, not exceeding one
hundred and sixty, to include the residence Of
such claimant, upon paying to the United States
the minimum price OF such land subject to the
following limitations and exceptions: No person
shall have but one pre-emptive right; no person
who owns 800 acres of land elsewhere, and no
person who quits or abandons his residence to
reside on the public lands in the same State or
Territory shall acquire any right. Also, no lands
included in any reservation by treaty or law, or
reserved for salines, or for other purposes, such
as school lands and Indian reservations; no 81.
ternate sections granted for works OF ln'e:nal
improvement; no sections or portions OF section:
included within the limits of any incorporated
town ; no portions Of the public lands which
have been selected as the site for town or city;