TOWN SITE ACT OF 1867.

AN ACT for the relief of the inhabitants of cities and towns upon the public lands.

Be it enacted, etc., That whenever any portion of the public lands of the United States have been or shall be settled upon and occupied as a town site, and therefore not subject to entry under the agricultural preemption laws, it shall be lawful in case such town shall be incorporated, for the corporate authorities thereof, and if not incorporated, for the judge of the county court, for the county in which such town may be situated, to enter at the proper land office, and at the minimum price, the land so settled and occupied in trust for the several use and benefit of the occupants thereof, according to their respective interests; the execution of which trust as to the disposal of the lots in such town, and the proceeds of the sale thereof, to be conducted under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the legislative authority of the State or Territory in which the same may be situated: Provided, That the entry of the land intended by this act to be made shall be made, or a declaratory statement of the purpose of the inhabitants to enter it as a town site under this act, shall be filed with the Register of the proper Land Office prior to the commencement of the public sale of the body of land in which it is included, and that the entry or declaratory statement shall include only such lands as are actually occupied by the town, and the title to which is in the United States. If upon surveyed lands, the entry shall in its exterior limits be made in conformity to the legal subdivisions of the public lands authorized by the act of twenty-fourth of April, one thousand eight hundred and twenty, and when the inhabitants are in number one hundred and less than two hundred shall embrace not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres; and in cases where the inhabitants of such town are more than two hundred and less than one thousand shall embrace not exceeding six hundred and forty acres; and where the number of inhabitants is one thousand

thousand shall embrace not exceeding twelve hundred and eighty. acres: Provided, That for each additional one thousand inhabitants, not exceeding five thousand in all, a further grant of three hundred and twenty acres shall be allowed: And provided further, That in any territories in which a land office may not have been established, declaratory statements, as herein before provided, may be filed with the SurveyorGeneral of the surveying district in which the lands are situate, who shall transmit said declaratory statement to the General Land Office: And provided further, That any act of said trustees not made in conformity to the rules and regulations herein alluded to shall be void; effect to be given to the foregoing provisions according to such regula tions as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior: And provided further, That the provisions of this act shall not apply to military or other reservations heretofore made by the United States, nor to lighthouses, custom houses, mints, or such other public purposes as the in- . terest of the United States may require, whether held under reservations through the Land Office by title derived through the crown of Spain or otherwise: And provided further, That no title shall be acquired under the provisions of this act to any mine of gold, silver, cinnabar, or copper.

REPAYMENT OF PURCHASE MONEY AND CHANGES OF

ENTRY.

To secure prompt action in this class of cases, the following. regulations must be complied with:

1st. The duplicate receipt must be surrendered, and accompany the papers in all cases of application for refunding money submitted by you for the action of this office. Where it has been lost or destroyed, the party applying must advertise it, and give notice of his intention to apply to have refunded the purchase money, which must be inserted weekly, for six weeks, in some paper of extensive circulation in the vicinage of the land. A copy of this must be filed with you, having attached the affidavit of the publisher that it was inserted the requisite number of times.

2d. The applicant must make affidavit that he has not transferred or otherwise encumbered the title to the land. This affidavit may be taken before either of you officially, before a Notary Public using a seal, or a Justice of the Peace; in the last case, a certificate of magistracy must accompany it.

3d. Where a patent has been issued and delivered to the patentee, a deed of relinquishment reconveying the title (conveyed by the patent) to the United States should be made. This deed of relinquishment should be recorded, and a certificate should also be produced from the officer having charge of the books in which conveyances are required to be recorded, showing that said deed is so recorded, and that the records of his office do not exhibit any other conveyance or encumbrance of the title to the land.

4th. In cases of a change of entry, as the purchaser will reasonably wish to hold some evidence of his title until the issuing of the patent, he must first designate the tract he desires to enter, and effect the change of entry, and then across the face of the receipt issued upon the original entry (which will be returned to you from this office when the case has been decided), the Receiver should note the facts of the case, to wit: that the entry has been changed from the tract paid for by said receipt to another, designating the latter, and the number of certificate

issued thereon. The receipt must then be delivered to the party, to be surrendered when the patent is delivered to him.

CHANGE OF ENTRY.

The following regulation is prescribed respecting the CHANGES OF ENTRY which may be ordered pursuant to the acts of Congress of 3d March, 1819, and 24th May, 1824, viz.:

"The Receiver will take a receipt from the purchaser for the purchase money of the tract erroneously entered, as if the same was refunded, which receipt will be a voucher to the Receiver's credit, to be introduced into the proper monthly and quarterly accounts," etc.

These acts, it will be observed, do not authorize an actual repayment, which, in fact, it is obvious, was never contemplated by the regulation itself, but merely require the application and transfer of the money which was paid on the wrong entry to the right one; the rule having been adopted as one of official convenience.

By an act of Congress, approved 3d March, 1849, all moneys receivable from customs, and from all other sources, are required to be paid immediately into the Treasury "without abatement or reduction," etc.

To avoid any apparent or real incompatibility in practice with that act, when a change of entry is ordered, pursuant to the acts aforesaid, the Register will issue, as in ordinary cases, his certificate of purchase, only adding to it a MARGINAL NOTE showing the transfer of the payment from the erroneous entry to the new one, referring to the date and number of the former, the date of the authority for the transfer, and making proper references to the proceedings on the books and plats of the local office.

No receipt in such a case is to be issued by the Receiver, unless the area of the new entry is greater than the old one; when, of course, such excess must be paid for, and receipts issued for the same.

The new entries must always be reported in the monthly returns, with an explanatory note showing, in each case, when fully paid for by the transfer of the payment from the old entry, and also when there is a further payment on account of excess; and

only the EXCESS PAID FOR is to be carried into the Receiver's QUARTERLY account.

Such changed entries must always appear at the foot of the monthly returns as ADDENDA, and must not affect the aggregate sales, either as to quantity or purchase money, further than the EXCESS in areas, and PURCHASE money for the same.

In any case which may be reported for repayment, and in which the department may decide that the party is legally entitled, such repayment will be made by warrant from the Treasury.

GRADUATED LANDS.

The act of August 4th, 1854, reducing and graduating the prices of the public land to actual settlers thereon, having been repealed by the act of June 2d, 1862, no further entries of land under the said act can be made; and it only remains to close up such entries as have been made and not perfected by the issue of patent. This may be done

1st. By proving actual settlement, residence, and cultivation, as required by the act of 1854; or

2d. By paying the difference between the graduated price paid at the date of entry, and the regular minimum price of the land at $1.25 per acre (or $2.50, should the tract fall upon a railroad reserved section); or

3d. By abandoning the land to the government, in which case it will become, after the cancellation of the graduated entry, subject to entry under the pre-emption or Homestead Laws; and after public notice of sale, subject to private entry as other public lands.

AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE SCRIP.

This class of land Scrip was authorized by the act of April 2d, 1862, granting aid to agricultural and mechanical colleges in the several States. The extent of the grant is 30,000 acres for each Senator and Representative to which the State is entitled in the Congress of the United States. States which contained a sufficient quantity of public land to satisfy the grant, must take the land within their own boundaries; but those having no United States lands within their limits, may demand Scrip.

Each piece of Scrip represents one quarter section of landequal to 160 acres.

It can be located only upon a technical quarter section. It will not take a part of two sections, nor a part of two quarters in the same section.

It must be located upon land subject to private entry at $1.25 per acre; that is, land which has been offered at public auction, and not sold, and which remains unoccupied and subject to sale at the price above named.

It cannot be located upon mineral lands, nor can it be received in payment of lands claimed by pre-emption or homestead-nor can more than one milllion of acres be located in any one State. The Scrip cannot be located by a State, but must be sold and located by the assignees.

There is no restriction as to the quantity which may be located in any Territory.

This Scrip cannot be located upon $2.50 or double minimum lands, although the States in which such lands are situated may select them, accepting half the quantity in satisfaction of their claim.

The fee of the local land officers is four dollars upon each piece of Scrip.

The States to which Scrip has been issued, or which are entitled to it under the law, are as follows:

Massachusetts.......... 360,000 | Maryland..

New Hampshire....... 150,000 N. Carolina......

......

210,000

270,000