(ACT of April 25, 1808.) for the use of the same, shall be offered for sale in that district within which such reserved sections may respectively lie, on the same terms, and under the same regulations, as other lands in the same district: Provided, That such sections shall previously be offered to the highest bidder, at public sales, to be held under the superintendence of the registers and receivers of public moneys of the land offices, respectively, to which they are attached on the same terms as have been provided by law for the public sales of the other lands of the United States, and on such day or days as shall, by a proclamation of the president of the United States, be designated for that purpose: And provided, also, That no such heretofore reserved section shall be sold either at public or private sale, at a less price than four dollars per acre. ACT of April 25, 1808. 4 Bioren, 185. An act supplemental to "An act regulating the grants of land in the territory of Michigan." 51. SEC. I. Every person claiming lands within that part of the Michigan territory to which the Indian title hath been extinguished, by virtue of any legal grant made by the French government prior to the treaty of Paris, of the tenth of February, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-three; or of any legal grant made by the British government subsequent to the said treaty, and prior to the treaty of peace between the United States and Great Britain, of the third of September, one thousand seven hundred and eightythree, or of the second section of the act to which this act is a supplement, shall be allowed until the first day of January next, to deliver to the register of the land office for the district of Detroit, a notice in writing, stating the nature and extent of his claims, together with a plat or plats of the tract or tracts claimed; and if such person shall fail to deliver such notice in writing, together with a plat of the tract claimed, all his right, so far as it may be derived from any act of congress, shall become void: And the commissioners appointed for the purpose of ascertaining and deciding the rights of persons claiming lands in the said district of Detroit, shall have the same powers, and perform the duties, in relation to the claims, notices of which shall be thus filed, as are provided by the act to which this act is a supplement, in relation to the claims therein described. SEC. II. Every person whose claim has been, or shall be, confirmed by the commissioners aforesaid, to a tract of land bordering on the river Detroit, and not exceeding, in depth, forty arpens, French measure, shall be entitled to a preference in becoming the purchaser of any vacant tract of land adjacent to, and back of, his own tract, not exceeding forty arpens, French measure, in depth, nor in quantity of land that which is contained in his own tract, at the same price, and on the same terms and conditions, as are provided by law for the other public lands in the said district. (ACT of April 25, 1808.) And the surveyor general shall be, and he is hereby authorised, as soon as may be, to cause to be surveyed the tracts claimed by virtue of this section; and in all cases where, by reason of bends in the said river, and of adjacent prior or pre-emption claims, each claimant cannot obtain a tract equal in quantity to the adjacent tract already owned by him, to divide the vacant land, applicable to that object, between the several claimants, in such manner as to him will appear most equitable. And every person entitled to the benefit of this section shall, on or before the first day of January next, deliver to the register of the land office for the district of Detroit, a notice in writing, stating the situation and extent of the tract of land he wishes to purchase, and deposit, at the same time, one-twentieth part of the purchase money; and shall also, within three months after the return of the survey to the office of the said register, produce to him a receipt from the receiver of public money for the said district, for one fourth part of the purchase money. And if any such person shall fail to deliver such notice, and make such deposit and payment, at the times above mentioned, his right of pre-emption shall cease and become void. SEC. III. Every person who, being the head of a family, did, prior to the twenty-sixth of March, one thousand eight hundred and four, and doth, at the time of the passage of this act, inhabit and cultivate a tract of land in the territory of Michigan, not claimed by virtue of a legal French or British grant, or by the second section of the act to which this act is a supplement, shall be entitled to a preference in becoming the purchaser from the United States of such tract of land, not exceeding one section, at the price at which the other public lands in the said territory are directed to be sold; and payment may be made therefor in the same manner, and under the same conditions, as are provided by law for such other public lands. And every person entitled to the benefit of this section shall, on or before the first day of January next, deliver to register of the land office, for the district aforesaid, a notice in writing, of the situation and extent of the tract of land he wishes to purchase. The commissioners aforesaid are hereby authorised to examine and decide the claims of every person claiming the benefit of this section, and whenever it shall appear to them that the claimant is entitled to a right of pre-emption, they shall give a certificate thereof, directed to the register of the land office; which certificate, together with a receipt from the receiver of public money, of at least one-fourth part of the purchase money, shall, on or before the first day of January next, be produced, by the claimant, to the register of the land office for the said district. And if any person shall fail to deliver such notice in writing, or produce such certificate and receipt, within the times above mentioned, his right of pre-emption shall cease and become void. (ACT of April 30, 1810.) 52. SEC. v. The lands to which the Indian title has been extinguished, by the treaty made at Detroit, on the seventeenth of November, one thousand eight hundred and seven, shall be attached to, and made a part of the district of Detroit, and be offered for sale at that place, under the same exceptions and regulations, at the same price, and on the same terms, as other lands lying in that district. ACT of February 15, 1809. 4 Bioren, 201. An act to revive, and continue for a further time, the authority of the commissioners of Kaskaskia. 53. SEC. 1. [The powers heretofore vested in the register and receiver of public money for the district of Kaskaskia revived and continued until January 1, 1810. Supra, 40.] ACT of April 30, 1810. 4 Bioren, 287. An act providing for the sale of certain lands in the Indiana territory, and for other purposes. 54. SEC. I. All that tract of land, to which the Indian title was extinguished by the treaty made at fort Wayne, on the thirtieth day of September, in the year one thousand eight hundred and nine, lying west, and adjoining to the boundary line established by the treaty of Greenville, shall be attached to, and made a part of, the district of Cincinnatti; and the residue of the lands to which the Indian title was extinguished by the said treaty, and other treaties made at Vincennes in the same year, shall be attached to, and made a part of, the district of Vincennes; and the said lands, with the exception of section number sixteen, which shall be reserved in each township for the use of schools within the same, shall be offered for sale to the highest bidder; under the direction of the register of the land office, and of the receiver of public moneys, at the places respectively where the land offices are kept, and on such day or days as shall, by proclamation of the president of the United States, be designated for that purpose; the sales `shall remain open at Cincinnatti one week, and at Vincennes three weeks, and no longer; the lands shall not be sold for less than two dollars an acre, and shall, in every other respect, be sold in tracts of the same size, and on the same terms and conditions, as have been, or may be, provided for lands sold in the same districts; all the lands in the said tracts, with the exception abovementioned, remaining unsold at the close of the said sales, may be disposed of at private sale, by the register 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 are, or may be, provided by law for the sale of lands in the same districts; and patents shall be obtained in the same manner, and on the same terms, as for other public lands sold in the same districts. (ACT of May 1, 1810.) SEC. 111. From and after the first day of June next, the second principal meridian, established by the surveyor general in the Indiana territory, shall be the boundary between the districts of Vincennes and Jeffersonville; and the lands included in the said districts, respectively, according to the boundaries abovementioned, shall become a part of the district in which they are included, and shall be sold at the same place, in the same manner, and on the same terms and conditions, as the other public lands lying in the same district. 55. SEC. IV. v. [Claimants who were minors at the time limited by law, [Supra, 27.] allowed until November 1810, to file their claims and the Register, &c. are to perform their duties of commissioners thereon. Infra, 65.] 56. SEC. VI. That a tract of land in the Illinois territory, at, and including, Shawneetown, on the Ohio river, shall, under the direction of the surveyor general, be laid off into town lots, streets, and avenues, and into outlots, in such manner, and of such dimensions, as he may judge proper: Provided, The tract so to be laid off shall not exceed the quantity of land contained in two entire sections, nor the town lots one-quarter of an acre each. When the survey of the lots shall be completed, a plat thereof shall be returned to the surveyor general, on which the town lots and outlots shall, respectively, be designated, by progressive numbers; who shall cause two copies to be made, one to be transmitted to the secretary of the treasury, and the other to the register of the land office; and the lots shall be offered to the highest bidder at public sale, at the same time and place, on the same terms and conditions, (except as to the quantity of land,) as have or may be provided for the sale of the other public lands in the said territory: Provided, That no town lot shall be sold for a less price than eight dollars, nor any outlot for less than at the rate of five dollars an acre. [Infra, 66.] ACT of May 1, 1810. 4 Bioren, 307. 57. SEC. 1. All the decisions made by the commissioners appointed for the purpose of examining the claims of persons claiming lands in the district of Kaskaskia, in favour of such claimants, as entered in the transcript of decisions bearing date the thirtyfirst day of December, eighteen hundred and nine, which have been transmitted by the said commissioners to the secretary of the treasury, according to law, are hereby confirmed. SEC. 11. The commissioners appointed by an act of the legislature of the Indiana territory, to fix on a proper site for the permanent seat of government for the said territory, are hereby authorised, and their successors in office, so soon as the surveys under the authority of the United States shall have been made of the lands which they shall select, and on producing a receipt from the receiver of public moneys, for at least one-twentieth part of (ACT of February 20, 1812.) the purchase money, to enter with the register of the land office for the district in which the land lies, any four quarter sections of land adjoining to each other, which have not been reserved by any former act of congress, and which the said commissioners may select and fix on as a site for the permanent seat of government for the said territory; and payment shall be made therefor at the same price, and on the same terms and conditions, as are provided in respect to the other public lands sold at private sale in the same district; and, on completing the payment of the purchase money, a patent shall be granted therefor, to the said commissioners and their successors in office, in trust, for the use of said territory, for the purpose aforesaid. ACT of February 25, 1811. 4 Bioren, 337. 58. SEC. 1. The president of the United States, is authorised to remove the land office established for the sale of the public lands ceded to the United States by the Cherokee and Chickasaw Indians, in the Mississippi territory, from Nashville, to such place, within the district for which it was established, as he may judge most proper; and to remove the land office from Canton, in the state of Ohio, to some suitable place within the district for which it was established. SEC. II. The public sales of the public lands, in the district east of Pearl river, in the Mississippi territory, and also in the district of Kaskaskia, in the Illinois territory, shall be conducted under the superintendence alone of the register and receiver of public moneys for the said districts, who are hereby authorised and empowered to superintend the same, in their respective districts, any law to the contrary notwithstanding; and they shall receive the compensation provided by law for the superintendents of public sales in the districts aforesaid. ACT of February 20, 1812. 4 Bioren, 376. An act for the revision of former confirmations, and for confirming certain claims to land in the district of Kaskaskia. 59. SEC. 1. [The register and receiver of the land office at Kaskaskia, with another person to be appointed, constituted commissioners to inquire into the validity of claims, derived from confirmations, made by the governors of the northwest and Indiana territory; to make report, &c. Infra, 67.] 60. SEC. III. The decisions made by the commissioners, heretofore appointed for the purpose of examining the claims of persons to lands in the district of Kaskaskia, in favour of such claimants, to town or village lots, outlots, or rights in common, to commons and common fields, as entered in the transcripts of decisions, bearing date the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hun |