(ACT of March 3d, 1803.)

fit to provide for: Provided, however. That no other claims shall be embraced by this appropriation, but those, the evidence of which shall have, on or before the first day of January next, been exhibited by the claimants to the secretary of state, and recorded in books to be kept in his office for that purpose, at the expense of the party exhibiting the same, who shall pay to the person employed by the secretary of state for recording the same, at the rate of twelve and an half cents for every hundred words contained in each document thus recorded; nor shall any grant, deed, conveyance, or other written evidence, of any claim to the said lands, derived, or pretended to be derived, from the state of Georgia, and not recognised by the above mentioned articles of agreement, ever after be admitted or considered as evidence in any of the courts of the United States, unless it shall have been exhibited and recorded in the manner, and within the time, above mentioned: And provided also, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to recognise, or affect, the claims of any person or persons to any of the lands above mentioned: And provided also, That no certificate shall be granted for lands situated without the boundary lines established by treaty between the United States and the Choctaws, made the seventeenth day of October, in the year eighteen hundred and two.

4. SEC. x. A surveyor of the lands of the United States south of the state of Tennessee, shall be appointed, whose duty it shall be to engage a sufficient number of skilful surveyors as his deputies, and to cause the lands above mentioned, to which the titles of the Indian tribes have been extinguished, to be surveyed and divided in the manner hereafter directed, and to do and perform all such other acts, in relation to the said lands, as the surveyor general is authorized and directed to do in relation to the lands lying northwest of the river Ohio, and above the mouth of the river Kentucky.

5. SEC. XI. The lands for which certificates, of any description whatever, shall have been granted by the commissioners in pursuance of the provisions of this act; shall, as soon as may be, be surveyed under the direction of the surveyor of the lands of the United States above mentioned, in conformity to the true tenor and intent of such certificates; and the said surveyor shall also cause all the other lands of the United States, in the Mississippi territory, to which the Indian title has been extinguished, to be surveyed; as far as practicable, into townships, and subdivided into half sections, in the manner provided for the surveying of the lands of the United States situate northwest of the river Ohio, and above the mouth of the Kentucky river, and shall transmit to the registers of the land offices, respectively, general and particular plots of all the lands surveyed as aforesaid, and shall also forward copies of the said plots to the secretary of the treasury; and he shall, also, with the approbation of the said secretary, fix

(ACT of March 3d, 1803.)

the compensation of the deputy surveyors, chain carriers, and axe men: Provided, That the whole expense of surveying and marking the lines shall not exceed four dollars for every mile that shall be actually run, surveyed and marked.

6. SEC. XII. All the lands aforesaid not otherwise disposed of, or excepted by virtue of the preceding sections of this act, shall, with the exception of the section number sixteen, which shall be reserved in each township for the support of schools within the same; with the exception also of thirty-six sections, to be located in one body, by the secretary of the treasury, for the use of Jefferson college, and also with the exception of such town lots, not exceeding two, in the town of Natchez, and of such an outlot, adjoining the same, not exceeding thirty acres, as may be the property of the United States, to be located by the governor of the Mississippi territory, for the use of the said college, be offered for sale to the highest bidder, under the direction of the governor of the Mississippi territory, of the surveyor of the lands of the United States, above mentioned, and of the register of the land office at the places, respectively, where the land offices are kept, and on such day or days as shall, by a public proclamation of the president of the United States, be designated for that purpose. The sales shall remain open at each place for three weeks, and no longer: and all lands, other than the section number sixteen, remaining unsold at the closing of the public sales, may be disposed of at private sale, by the registers of the respective land offices, in the same manner, under the same regulations, for the same price, and on the same terms and conditions, as is provided by law for the sale of the lands of the United States north of the river Ohio, by an act, entitled "An act to amend the act, entitled an act providing for the sale of the lands of the United States in the territory northwest of the Ohio, and above the mouth of Kentucky river:" Provided always, That the lands which may be sold at public sale by virtue of this act shall not be sold for less than two dollars per acre, and shall, in every other respect, be sold on the same terms and conditions as was provided for the lands sold at public sale by the last recited act. And patents shall be obtained for all lands granted or sold in the Mississippi territory, in the same manner, and on payment of the same fees, as is provided for lands sold north of the river Ohio, by the said last recited act: Provided, however, That evidences of the public debt of the United States shall not be received in payment for the purchase of said lands.

7. SEC. x. The registers of the land offices, and the receivers of public moneys, appointed in pursuance of this act, shall receive the same fees and compensation as the registers and receivers of the land offices north of the river Ohio.

(ACT of March 27th, 1804.)

8. SEC. XVII. All navigable rivers, within the territory of the United States, south of the state of Tennessee, shall be deemed to be and remain public highways.

ACT of March 26, 1804. 3 Bioren, 596.

9. SEC. XIV. [See lands northwest of the Ohio, 36.]

ACT of March 27, 1804. 3 Bioren, 626.

An act supplementary to an act, entitled "An act regulating the grants of land,”

&c.

10. [SEC. I. Claimants to land in the Mississippi territory, allowed until the last day of November, one thousand eight hundred and four, to fill their claims, &c. Infra, 12.]

SEC. II. III. IV. V. [The commissioners to meet on the first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and four, make report, &c.]

SEC. VI. From and after the first day of April, in the year one thousand eight hundred and four, the surveyor of the lands of the United States south of the state of Tennessee, shall receive an annual compensation of two thousand dollars, in lieu of the annual compensation now fixed by law. And the lands claimed by virtue of Spanish grants, legally and fully executed, and the titles. to which were confirmed by the articles of agreement and cession between the United States and the state of Georgia, shall be surveyed, in the manner prescribed by the act to which this is a supplement, at the expense of the United States, any thing in the said act to the contrary notwithstanding.

SEC. VII. The tract of country lying north of the Mississippi territory, and south of the state of Tennessee, and bounded on the east by the state of Georgia, and on the west by Louisiana, shall be, and the same is hereby annexed to, and made a part of, the Mississippi territory.

SEC. XII. Transcripts of the records of the British province of West Florida, to claims for land therein, and which have been delivered to the government of the United States, may be produced as evidence, and shall be entitled to the same weight, in any court of the United States, as if the same had been delivered, or shall be delivered, to either of the registers of the land offices in the Mississippi territory, before the last of March, one thousand eight hundred and four, any thing in this act, or in the fifth section of the act to which this is a supplement, to the contrary notwithstanding. [Supra, 31.]

3 T

ACT of March 2, 1805. 3 Bioren, 650.

An act further to amend an act entitled "An act regulating the grants of land,” &c. (Supra, 1.)

12. SEC. 1. Persons who may have obtained, or shall obtain, certificates from the board of commissioners, appointed to ascer tain the claims to lands in the Mississippi territory, shall be allowed three months after the respective date of such certificates, for entering the same with the register of the proper land office.

SEC. 11. [The commissioners appointed under the act of one thousand eight hundred and three, authorized to grant lands lying in the island of Nannee Hubba, if the claims for such lands be filed before the first day of May, one thousand eight hundred and five.]

SEC. v. [Claimants of lands in the Mississippi territory by virtue of British grants allowed further time until December 1, 1805, to file their claim. Claims not then filed to be barred, &c.] [Infra, 19.]

ACT of March 2, 1805. 3 Bioren, 6:2.

An act for ascertaining and adjusting the titles and claims to land, within the territory of Orleans, and the district of Louisiana.

13. SEC. I. Any person or persons, and the legal representatives of any person or persons, who, on the first day of October, in the year one thousand eight hundred, were resident within the territories ceded by the French republic to the United States, by the treaty of the thirtieth of April, one thousand eight hundred and three, and who had, prior to the said first day of October, one thousand eight hundred, obtained from the French or Spanish governments, respectively, during the time either of the said gov ernments had the actual possession of said territories, any duly registered warrant, or order of survey, for lands lying within the said territories, to which the Indian title had been extinguished, and which were on that day actually inhabited and cultivated by such person or persons, or for his or their use, shall be confirmed in their claims to such lands, in the same manner as if their titles had been completed.

SEC. 11. To every person, or to the legal representative or representatives of every person, who, being either the head of a family, or twenty-one years of age, had, prior to the twentieth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and three, with the permission of the proper Spanish officer, and in conformity with the laws, usages, and customs, of the Spanish government, made an actual settlement on a tract of land within the said territories, not claimed by virtue of the preceding section, or of any Spanish or French grant, made and completed before the first day of October, one thousand eight hundred, and during the time the government, which made such grant, had the actual possession of the said territories, and who did, on the said twentieth day

(ACT of March 2d, 1805)

of December, one thousand eight hundred and three, actually inhabit and cultivate the said tract of land; the tract of land, thus inhabited and cultivated, shall be granted: Provided, however, That not more than one tract shall be thus granted to any one person, and the same shall not contain more than one mile square, together with such other and further quantity, as heretofore has been allowed for the wife and family of such actual settler, agreeably to the laws, usages, and customs, of the Spanish government: Provided, also, That this donation shall not be made to any person who claims any other tract of land in the said territorics by virtue of any French or Spanish grant.

SEC. III. For the purpose of more conveniently ascertaining the titles and claims to land in the territory ceded, as aforesaid, the territory of Orleans shall be laid off into two districts, in such manner as the president of the United States shall direct; in each of which he shall appoint, in the recess of the Senate, but who shall be nominated at their next meeting, for their advice and consent, a register, who shall receive the same annual compensation, give security in the same manner, and in the same sums, and whose duties and authorities shall, in every respect, be the same, in relation to the lands which shall hereafter be disposed of at their offices, as are by law provided with respect to the registers in the several offices established for the disposal of the lands of the United States north of the river Ohio, and above the mouth of Kentucky river. The president of the United States shall likewise appoint a recorder of land titles in the district of Louisiana, who shall give security in the same manner, and in the same sums, and shall be entitled to the same annual compensation, as the registers of the several land offices.

SEC. IV. Every person claiming lands in the abovementioned - territories, by virtue of any legal French or Spanish grant, made and completed before the first day of October, one thousand eight hundred, and during the time the government which made such grant had the actual possession of the territories, may, and every person claiming lands in the said territories, by virtue of the two first sections of this act, or by virtue of any grant or incomplete title, bearing date, subsequent to the first day of October, one thousand eight hundred, shall, before the first day of March, one thousand eight hundred and six, deliver to the register of the land office, or recorder of land titles, within whose district the land may be, a notice in writing, stating the nature and extent of his clains, together with a plat of the tract or tracts claimed; and shall, also, on or before that day, deliver to the said register or recorder, for the purpose of being recorded, every grant, order of survey, deed, conveyance, or other written evidence of his claim; and the same shall be recorded by the register or recorder, or by the translator hereinafter mentioned, in books to be kept by them for that purpose, on receiving from the parties at the rate