The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1866-10-06
CHAP. LXXXVI.

|
| An Act to reduce the Expenses of the Survey and
| Sale of the Public Lands in the United Staes
Be it enacted by the Senate and House OF Rep
| resentatives of the United States of America in
| Congress assembled, That contracts for the sur
Vey of the public lands shall not become binding
| upon the United States until approved by the
| Commissioner of the General Land Office, except
in such cases IS said Commissioner shall Otherwise
| specially order.
SEC 2. And be it further enacted, That the
printed manual of instructions relating to the
public surveys, prepared at the General Land
Office, and bearing date February twenty-seeond,
| eighteen hundred and ty-fiYe, the Instructions
of the Commissioner of the General Land Office,
and the special instructions of the surveyor gen
eral, when not in conflict with said printed man
ual, the instructions of said Commissioner,
shall be taken and deemed to be part of every
contract for surveying the public lands of the
United States.
SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the
Commissioner of the General Land Office shall
have power and it shall be his duty, to fix the
prices per mile for public surveys, which shall in
no case exceed the maximum established by law
and that, under Instructions to be prepared by
said Commissioner, an accurate account shall bc
kept by each surveyor genera of the cost of sur
veyng and plating private Land CLAIMS to be re-
ported to the General Land Office, with the map
| of such claim, and that patents shall not issue
for any such private claim until the cost of survey
and plating shall have been paid into the Treas
ury of the United States by the claimant
SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That from
and after the first day of July next, and upon the
recommendation of the Commissioner of the Gen.
eral Land Office approved by the Secretary of the
Interior, the President may order that the Terri
tories of Utah and ColOrB,. o shall constitute
surveying district, the duties of surveyor general
in said district to be performed by the surveyor
general of Colorado; and the surveying district
of Nevada shall be united to that Of California,
the duties of the surveyor general of the former
to be transferred to the surveyor general of Cali
fonia and the transfer of the effects and archives
OF the offices to be made under the instructions
of the Commissioner of the General Land Office.
SEC .. And be it further enacted, That upon
the recommendation of the Commissioner of the
General Land Office, approved by the Secretary
of the Interior, the President may order the dis
continuance of any land office and the transfer of
its business and archives to any other Land Office
within the same State or Territory.
SEC. &. And be it further enacted, That from and
after the first day of Suly next the compensation
of registers and receivers in all the land offices in
the United States shall be annual salary of
five hundred dollars to each, with the fees and
commissions now prescribed by law, and to be
paid by claimants an additional lee in donation
of five dollars for each final certificate for
one hundred and sixty acres, ten dollars for three
hundred and twenty acres, and fifteen dollars for
six hundred and forty acres to be accounted for
in the same mar ncr az fees and commissions in
warrant and pre- e-emption locations. with linita-
tons as TO maximum of salary prescribed by ex-
isting laws, and in accordance with such instruc
tions as shall be given by the Commissioner of
SEC. z. And be it further enacted, That ia re-
gard to settlements which by existing laws are
authorized in certain States and Territories upon
unsurvey lands, which privilege is hereby exten-
ded to California, the pre-emptiOn claimant shall
be- and is hereby in all cases, required, from and
and sixty-two, to file his declaratory statement
within three months from the date of the receipt
at the district land Office of the approved plat of
the township embracing such pre- -emption settle
ment: Provided, The provisions of this section
shall not be held to authorize pre-emption and
settlement of mineral lands, which are hereby |
exempted from the provisions of this act
SEC 8. And be it further enacted, That from |
ady S 81 meI IT, ana
the register and receiver OF New Mexico shall be |
transferred to and devolye upon the surveyor |
lawful for the President, in like manner to trans
Ter the duties of register and receiver in any dis
trict to the surveyor general where the public in
terest may require such transfer.
SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That from |
and after the first day of July next the salary of
the surveyor general of California shall not eX
salaries of the surveyor general of Oregon and |
Washington shall not exceed two thousand five
hundred dollars each per annum, and should the
surveying districts of Utah and Nevada be here
after established by order of the President, each
as an independent district, the salaries of the
veyor general shall not exceed thee thousand
dollars each for said districts.
SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That when
the settlers in any township or townships, not
mineral or reserved by Government, shall desire
a survey made of the same, under the authority
of the surveyor general of the United States, and
shall file an application therefor in writing, and
the credit of the United States, sum sufficient
to pay for such survey, together with all expenses
incident thereto, without cost or claim for in
be lawful for said surveyor general, under snch
instructions as may be given him by the Commits
sioner of the General Land Office, and in accord
ance with existing laws and instructions, to sur
Vey such township or townships, and make return
thereof to the general and proper local land
once: Provided, The townships SO proposed to
De surveyed are within the range of the regular
progress of the public surveys embraced by exist
ing standard lines or bases for the township and
sub-divisional surveys
Approved, May 80, 1882
CHAP. XC.