An Act to authorize the issuance of commemorative medals to certain societies of which Benjamin Franklin was a member, founder, or sponsor in observance of the 250th anniversary of his birth.
PL 84-259 (S.463), enacted 08/09/1955

69 S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 259-AUG. 9, 1955 
541 
of New Mexico by deeds dated December 3,1951, and recorded in book 
142 at pa<2:es 547 to 556. inclusive, records of Otero County, New 
Mexico, in exchange for lands of the United States pursuant to the 
Act of June 28, 1984 (48 Stat. 1269; 43 U. S. C. 315^), as amended, 
are hereby made parts of said Lincoln National Forest and hereafter 
shall be subject to all laws, rules, and regulations applicable to that 
national forest. 
Approved August 9, 1955, 
Public Law 258 
CHAPTER 618 
AN ACT 
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to issue patents for certain lands 
in Florida borderinj^ upon Indian River. 
August 9, 1955 
[S. 464] 
Be it enacted by the Senate and Rou^e of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assemhled^ That the Secretary 
of the Interior shall issue patents for the public lands erroneously 
omitted from the survey which are situated between the position of the 
record meander line represented on the plat approved March 10, 1845, 
and the actual shoreline of the Indian River in sections 11, 13, 14, 23, 
24, 25, and 36, township 27 south, range 37 east, Tallahassee Meridian, 
Florida, to persons who hold such public lands in good faith and in 
peaceful adverse possession, if they or their predecessors in interest 
have been issued patents, prior to January 1, 1954, for the upland 
tracts adjoining such erroneously omitted lands. 
Payment to the 
Ignited States shall be made for lands so patented at the same price per 
acre as that at which the land included in the original patent was pur-
chased, but in no case less than $1.25 per acre. No patent shall issue 
for any tract unless application for tile tract is made by a qualified 
person within one year from the date of enactment of this Act. The 
Secretary shall issue no patents until the conclusion of such period. 
The Secretary may, by public sale at not less than the appraised value 
or under any appropriate public land law, dispose of any tract of 
public land subject to this Act which is not applied for by a qualified 
person within the one-year period. 
SEC. 2. L^pon the filing of a plat of resurvey under section 1 of this 
Act, the Secretary shall give such notice as he finds appropriate by 
newspaper publication or otherwise of the opening of the lands to pur-
chase under this Act. 
SEC. 3. Nothing in this Act shall affect valid existing rights. 
Approved August 9, 1955. 
Florida. 
Land patents. 
Public Law 259 
CHAPTER 619 
AN ACT 
To authorize the issuance of commemorative medals to certain societies of which 
Benjamin Franklin was a member, founder, or sponsor in observance of the 
two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of his birth. 
August 9, 1955 
[S. 463] 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and Hoii^ne of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assemhled. That, in commemora-
tion of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the birth of Benja-
min Franklin occurring on January 17, 1956, and in connection with 
the observance and celebration of that event, the Secretary of the 
Treasury is authorized and directed to have struck seventy-one bronze 
medals of an appropriate design and inscription and to provide for 
Benjamin Frank-
lin societies. 
Com memorative 
medals.