The Arizona sentinel., 1875-02-20
CONGRESSIONAL,
AN ACT
To grant title to certain lands in
 the Territory of Arizona.

To grant title to certain lands ir
 the Territory of Arizona.
 Whereas certain lands in Santa
 Cruz Valley, county of Pima
 and Territory of Arizona, have
 for many years been occupied
 and possessed by persons ol Mexican birth, who became ci.
 tizens of the United States un. der the treaty of Guadalupe Hi.
 dalgO and the Gadsden treaty ; and Whereas the said persons desire
 to secure patents for said lands
 in the small and irregular tracts
 in which they were originally
 taken up under Mexican author
 ity, and have been held and cul-
 tivated to the present time, and
 they cannot do 50 under the ex-
 isting land laws of the United
 States: Tn orefore.
 Be jt 8n3ct6d 5y 15e Sslate and Bouse of Representative of the U0ited .Stotes of ADae,Tca ia Con- greSs assembled, That 8lI the right aud title of the United States to the land embraced in sections two, eleven. and fourteen, and the east half of sections three, ten, and fifteen, of township fourteen south, range thirteen east, Gila and Salt River meridian, in the county of Pima, Territory of Ari- zona, be, and the same are here. by, relinquished and granted to the person or persons who have been in actual bona fde occupancy or possession of said land, by them- selves or their ancestors or grant ors for twenty years next prece- ding the date of the passage of this act and it shall be the duty of the register and the receiver of the United States land office for the district in which said land lies, to hear and determine, sub- ject to the approval of the Com missioner of the General Land- Office, the rights of the parties under this act; and for that purpose the said register and the said receiver shall have the power to summon witnesses, ad- minister Oaths, and take testimO- ny relative to such occupancy or possession: Pt0ojded, That no claim as afOrsaid shall be of any validity under this act unless it shall have been duly filed with the said register and the said re- ceiver within one year after the passage of this act: Aud proaded further, That this grant shall not extend to any reservation of the United States, nor prejudice any valid adverse right or claim, if such exist, to said land, or any part thereof, nor perclude a judi. cial examination and adjustment thereof.
 SEC. 2. That whenever it shall have been determined by the said register and the said receiv- CT, or on an appeal by the Con- of the General Land Office or Secretary of the Interior, that any tract has been occupied as aforesaid, it shall be the duty of the surveyor-ge general for said Territory to cause the said claims to be survey ed in accordance with the lines of such occupancy, and to furnish approved plats of the same, upon the receipt of the ap- proval of which said plats and the field-notes thereof by the General Land Office, patents shall isSUe as in other cases.
 sEC. 8. That any part or parts of said designated lands that are rot shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioner of the General LanC Office to have been 50 occu- pied for twenty years, shall be held by him as open to settlement under the provisions of the pre- enptiOn or homestead laws of the United States, and patents shall be issued therefor for any num- Der Of acres not exceeding one hundred and sixty that parties