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GENERAL

PUBLIC ACTS OF CONGRESS

RESPECTING THE

SALE AND DISPOSITION OF PUBLIC LANDS.

No. 1 B.-An Act to extend the provisions of "An Act to enable the State of Arkansas and other States to reclaim the swamp lands within their limits,"* to Minnesota and Oregon, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the provisions of the act of Congress entitled "An act to enable the State of Arkansas and other States to reclaim the swamp lands' within their limits," approved September twenty-eight, eighteen hundred and fifty, be, and the same are hereby, extended to the States of Minnesota and Oregon: Provided, That the grant hereby made shall not include any lands which the government of the United States may have reserved, sold, or disposed of (in pursuance of any law heretofore enacted) prior to the confirmation of title to be made under the authority of the said act.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the selection to be made from lands already surveyed in each of the States including Minnesota and Oregon, under the authority of the act aforesaid and of the act to aid the State of Louisiana in draining the swamp lands therein, approved March second, one thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, shall be made within two years from the adjournment of the Legislature of each State at its next session after the date of this act; and, as to all lands hereafter to be surveyed, within two years from such adjournment, at the next session, after notice by the Secretary of the Interior to the Governor of the State, that the surveys have been completed and confirmed. Approved, March 12, 1860.

No. 2 B.--An Act to settle the titles to lands along the boundary line between the States of Georgia and Florida.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That whenever the dividing line

* Vol. I. No. 182.

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between the States of Georgia and Florida shall have been finally surveyed, approved, ratified, and confirmed, as the boundary between those States, the Secretary of the Interior shall be, and is hereby, authorized to adjudicate, upon principles of equity and justice, all claims under sales or grants by the State of Georgia, to lands which may fall within the State of Florida, and all of said claims which may be approved by him shall be and are hereby ratified and confirmed: Provided, however, That the State of Georgia shall first ratify and confirm all sales and grants made by the United States of lands in Florida which may fall within the limits of the State of Georgia under the final adjustment of the boundary line aforesaid.

Approved, April 13, 1860.

No. 3 B.-An Act to create an additional Land District in Washington Territory.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, when in the opinion of the President it may be expedient, all the public lands in the Territory of Washington, to which the Indian title shall have been extinguished, or may hereafter be extinguished, lying east and south of the following boundaries, shall constitute a new land district to be called the "Columbia River District," viz: Beginning on the boundary line between the United States and the British possessions, and on the summit of the Cascade Mountains, at the nearest range line to the east line of range twelve, thence south on the nearest range lines on the summit of said mountains to the line dividing townships ten and eleven north, thence west to the line dividing ranges six and seven west, thence north on said line to the third standard parallel, thence west to "Shoal Water Bay," thence with the Shoal Water Bay, including any islands therein, to the Pacific-the western boundary of said district above the line dividing ranges ten and eleven, and on the summit of the Cascade Mountains, to be adjusted by the Department of the Interior as near the points before given as is consistent with the lines of the public surveys and the President shall be authorized hereafter, from time to time, as circumstances may require, to adjust the boundaries of the land districts in said territory, and remove the offices when the same shall be expedient.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the President be, and he is hereby, authorized to appoint by and with the advice and consent of the Senate or during the recess thereof, and until the end of the next session after such appointment, a register and receiver for said district, who shall be required to reside at the site of the land office, be subject to the same laws, and entitled to the same compensation as is or may hereafter be prescribed by the law in relation to the existing land office and officers in said territory. Approved, May 16, 1860.

No. 4 B.-An Act to settle the titles to certain lands set apart for the use of certain half-breed Kansas Indians, in Kansas Territory.

Whereas by the sixth article of a treaty made and concluded at the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, on the third day of June, eigh

teen hundred and twenty-five, between the United States of America and the Kansas nation of Indians, there was reserved from the lands ceded by said treaty to the United States by said Kansas nation of Indians, one mile square of land for each of the half-breeds of the Kansas nation named in the said sixth article, which land has been surveyed and allotted to each of the said half-breeds in the order in which they are named in, and in accordance with, the provisions of the said sixth article of said treaty: Therefore—

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all the title, interest and estate of the United States is hereby vested in the said reservees who are now living, to the land reserved, set apart and allotted to them respectively, by the said sixth article of said treaty; and in case any of the said reservees named in the said sixth article are deceased, and leaving heirs, then all the title, interest of the United States to the land allotted to such deceased reservees is hereby vested and confirmed in such persons as shall by the Secretary of the Interior be decided to be the heirs of such deceased reservees; but nothing herein contained shall be construed to give any force, efficacy, or binding effect to any contract, in writing or otherwise, for the sale or disposition of any lands named in this act, heretofore made by any of said reservees, or their heirs.

SEC. 2.* And be it further enacted, That in case of any of the reservees now living, or the heirs of any deceased reservees, shall not desire to reside upon, or occupy the lands to which such reservees or such heirs are entitled by the provisions of this act, the Secretary of the Interior, when requested by them, or either of them, so to do, is hereby authorized to sell such lands belonging to those so requesting him, for the benefit of such reservees, or such heirs; and the Secretary of the Interior is also authorized to sell, with the assent of the Kansas nation of Indians, the lands allotted to the reservees who are deceased leaving no heirs, for the benefit of the living reservees, their heirs, and the heirs of those deceased, equally; said lands to be sold in accordance with such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and approved by [the] Secretary of the Interior; and patents in the usual form shall be issued to the purchasers of said lands, in accordance with the provisions of this act.

SEC. 3.* And be it further enacted, That the proceeds of the land, the sale of which is provided for by this act, shall be paid to the parties. entitled thereto, or applied by the Secretary of the Interior for their benefit, in such manner as he may think most advantageous to their interest.

Approved, May 26, 1860.

No. 5 B.-An Act to authorize the President of the United States, in conjunction with the State of California, to run and mark the boundary lines between the Territories of the United States and the State of California.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President of the United States be, and he hereby is, authorized and empowered to appoint

*Repealed and modified by No. 61 B.

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