Mortgages forbidden. Sales and leases No mortgage or other incumbrance of the said lands, or any thereof, shall be valid in favor of any person or for any purpose or under any circumstanoes whatsoever. Said fands shall not be sold or leased, in whole or in part, to highest bidder. except to the highest and best bidder at a public auction to be held at the county seat of the county wherein the lands to be affected, or the major portion thereof, shall lie, notice of which public auction shall first have been duly given by advertisement, which shall set forth the Advertisement. nature, time, and place of the transaction to be had, with a full description of the lands to be offered, and be published once each week for not less than ten successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation published regularly at the State capital, and in that newspaper of like circulation which shall then be regularly published nearest to the location of such lands so offered; nor shall any sale or contract for the sale of any timber or other Sales of timber. natural product of such lands be made, save at the place, in the manner, and after the notice by publication thus provided for sales and leases of the lands themselves: Short leases. Provided, That nothing herein contained shall prevent said proposed States from leasing any of said lands referred to in this section for a term of five years or less without said advertisement herein required. sales. All lands, leaseholds, timber, and other products of land, before being offered, shall be appraised at their true Appraisal and value, and no sale or other disposal thereof shall be made for a consideration less than the value so ascertained, nor in any case less than the minimum price hereinafter fixed, nor upon credit unless accompanied by ample security, and the legal title shall not be deemed to have passed until the consideration shall have been paid. per Minimum prices. No lands shall be sold for less than three dollars acre, and no lands which are or shall be susceptible of irrigation under any projects now or hereafter completed Irrigable lands. or adopted by the United States under legislation for the reclamation of lands, or under any other project for the reclamation of lands, shall be sold at less than twenty-five dollars per acre: Provided, That said State, at the request of the Secretary of the Interior, shall from time to time relinquish such of its lands to the United States as at any time are needed for irrigation works in connection with tion projects. any such Government project. And other lands in lieu Lieu selections. thereof are hereby granted to said State, to be selected from lands of the character named and in the manner prescribed in section twenty-four of this act. There is hereby reserved to the United States and excepted from the operation of any and all grants made or confirmed by this act to said proposed State all land actually or prospectively valuable for the development of water powers or power for hydroelectric use or transmission and which shall be ascertained and designated by the 61002°-S. Doc. 547, 64-1-21 Relinquish ment for reclama Water-p o wer reservations. Secretary of the Interior within five years after the proclamation of the President declaring the admission of the State; and no lands so reserved and excepted shall be subject to any disposition whatsoever by said State, and any conveyance or transfer of such land by said State or any officer thereof shall be absolutely null and void Lieu selections. within the period above named; and in lieu of the land so reserved to the United States and excepted from the operation of any said grants there be, and is hereby, granted to the proposed State an equal quantity of land to be selected from land of the character named and in the manner prescribed in section twenty-four of this act. Separate funds of proceeds. Investment. Irregular leases void. Enforcement of land provisions. Rights of State and citizens. Commission to select granted lands. A separate fund shall be established for each of the several objects for which the said grants are hereby made or confirmed, and whenever any moneys shall be in any manner derived from any of said land the same shall be deposited by the state treasurer in the fund corresponding ing to the grant under which the particular land producing such moneys was by this act conveyed or confirmed. No moneys shall ever be taken from one fund for deposit in any other, or for any object other than that for which the land producing the same was granted or confirmed. The state treasurer shall keep all such moneys invested in safe, interest-bearing securities, which securities shall be approved by the governor and secretary of state of said proposed State, and shall at all times be under a good and sufficient bond or bonds conditioned for the faithful performance of his duties in regard thereto, as defined by this act and the laws of the State not in conflict herewith. Every sale, lease, conveyance, or contract of or concerning any of the lands hereby granted or confirmed, or the use thereof or the natural products thereof, not made in substantial conformity with the provisions of this act shall be null and void, any provision of the constitution or laws of the said State to the contrary notwithstanding. It shall be the duty of the Attorney-General of the United States to prosecute, in the name of the United States and in its courts, such proceedings at law or in equity as may from time to time be necessary and appropriate to enforce the provisions hereof relative to the application and disposition of the said lands and the products thereof and the funds derived therefrom. Nothing herein contained shall be taken as in limitation of the power of the State or of any citizen thereof to enforce the provisions of this act. SEC. 29. That all lands granted in quantity, or as indemnity, by this act, shall be selected, under the direction and subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, from the surveyed, unreserved, unappropriated, and nonmineral public lands of the United States within the limits of said State, by a commission composed of the governor, surveyor-general or other officer exercising the functions of a surveyor-general, and the attorney-general of the said State; and after its admission into the Union Territorial grants confirmed SEC. 30. That all grants of lands heretofore made by any act of Congress to said Territory, except to the extent to State. modified or repealed by this act, are hereby ratified and confirmed to said State, subject to the provisions of this act: Provided, however, That nothing in this act contained shall, directly or indirectly, affect any litigation now pend-Pending litigaing and to which the United States is a party, or any right or claim therein asserted. selected by Cali SEC. 2485. All selections of any portion of the public Certain lands domain, to which no homestead, preemption or other fornia confirmed right had been acquired by any settler under the laws of to that State. the United States, and not being mineral land, nor reserved for naval, military or Indian purposes nor held or claimed under any valid Mexican or Spanish grant, and not included within the limits of any city, town or village or of the county of San Francisco, made prior to the twenty-third day of July, one thousand eight hundred July 23, 1866, 14 and sixty-six, and theretofore sold to bona-fide purchasers 1875, 18 S., 475, by the State of California are confirmed to the State of Mar. 1, 1877, 19 S., California: Provided, however, That said State shall not receive any greater quantity of land for school or improvement purposes than she is entitled to by law. S., 218; Mar. 3, 267. tions are on lands July 23, 1866, 14 SEC. 2486. When selections named in the foregoing sec- Where selection have been made upon lands already surveyed by au- already surveyed. thority of the United States, the authorities of said States, s.,219. where the same has not been already done, shall notify the register of the land-office, for the district in which the land is situated, which notice shall be regarded as the date of the State selection; and the said registers of the several land-offices, after investigation and decision, shall, under the instruction of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, forward all such selections to the General Where selections are upon Ibid. Land-Office, and the Commissioner of the General Land manner. SEC. 2487. When the State of California has made such land surveyed selections from the lands not surveyed by the authority only by State au- of the United States, but which selections have been surveyed by the authority of said State, and the land sold to purchasers in good faith, under the laws of the State, such selections, from said twenty-third of July, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, when marked off and designated in the field, shall have the same force and effect as the preemption rights of a settler upon unsurveyed public lands; and if upon a survey of such lands by the United States, the lines of the two surveys shall be found not to agree, the selection shall be so changed as to include those legal subdivisions which nearest conform to the identical land included in the State survey and selection. Upon filing with the register of the proper United States Land Office of the township plat, in which any such selection of unsurveyed land is located, the holder of the State title shall be allowed the same time to present and prove up his purchase and claim as is allowed pre-emptors under existing laws and if found in accordance with the law the land embraced therein shall be certified over to the State by the Commissioner of the General Land Office. Public lands in California except eral lands to be ACTS OF CONGRESS. An Act To provide for the survey of the public lands in California, the granting of preemption rights therein, and for other purposes. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That all the public school and min- lands in the State of California, whether surveyed or unsubject to pre- surveyed, with the exceptions of sections sixteen and emption entry. thirty-six, which shall be and hereby are granted to the State for the purposes of public schools in each township, and with the exception of lands appropriated under the authority of this act, or reserved by competent authority, and excepting also the lands claimed under any foreign grant or title and the mineral lands, shall be subject to the preemption laws of fourth September, eighteen hundred and forty-one, with all the exceptions, conditions, and limitations therein, except as is herein otherwise provided. lect for school pur State may se- SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That an act entitled poses lands in lieu "An act to provide for the survey of the public lands in teenth and thirty California, the granting of preemption rights therein, and for other purposes," approved March third, one thousand of certain six sixth sections. eight hundred and fifty-three, shall be construed as giving the State of California the right to select for school purposes other lands in lieu of such sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections as were settled upon prior to survey, reserved for public uses, covered by grants made under Spanish or Mexican authority, or by other private claims, or where such sections would be so covered if the lines of the public survey were extended over such lands, which shall be determined whenever township lines shall have been extended over such land, and in case of Spanish or Mexican grants, when the final survey of such grants shall have been made. The surveyor-general for the State of California shall furnish the State authorities with lists of all such sections so covered, as a basis of selection, such selections to be made from surveyed lands, and within the same land district as the section for which the selection is made. Approved, July 23, 1866 (14 Stat., 220). An Act Relating to indemnity school selections in the State of Cali fornia. nia. furnish Indemnity Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of school lands conthe United States of America in Congress assembled, That firmed to Califor the title to the lands certified to the State of California, known as indemnity school selections, which lands were selected in lieu of sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections, lying within Mexican grants, of which grants the final survey had not been made at the date of such selection by said State, is hereby confirmed to said State in lieu of the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections, for which the selections were made. When by final survey school sec tions are not in Mexican grants. chasers of land SEC. 2. That where indemnity school selections have been made and certified to said State, and said selection shall fail by reason of the land in lieu of which they were taken not being included within such final survey of a Mexican grant, or are otherwise defective or invalid, the same are hereby confirmed, and the sixteenth or thirtysixth section in lieu of which the selection was made shall, upon being excluded from such final survey, be disposed of as other public lands of the United States: Provided, That if there be no such sixteenth or thirty-sixth section, Innocent purand the land certified therefor shall be held by an innocent certified for purchaser for a valuable consideration, such purchaser shall be allowed to prove such facts before the proper landoffice, and shall be allowed to purchase the same at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, not to exceed three hundred and twenty acres for any one person: Provided, That if such person shall neglect or refuse, after knowledge of such facts, to furnish such proof and make payment for such land, it shall be subject to the general landlaws of the United States. school sections |