Florida, Oregon,

SEC. 2211. The salary of each surveyor-general of Salaries of, in Florida, Oregon, and California shall be paid quarter- and California, yearly, and shall commence from the time he enters into what time paybond, as provided by law.

SEC. 2212. There shall be but one office of surveyorgeneral in each surveyor-general's district; and such office shall be located as the President, in view of the public convenience, may from time to time direct, except as provided in the following section.

how and from

able.

Offices, number and location of.

of, in Minnesota,

and Iowa.

SEC. 2213. The surveyor-general's office for Minnesota Offices, location district shall continue to be located at the city of Saint Idaho, Nebraska, Paul; that for Idaho Territory at Boise City; and that for the district of Nebraska and Iowa, at Plattsmouth, in Nebraska.

Residence

SEC. 2214. Every surveyor-general, while in the dis- surveyor-general. charge of the duties of his office, shall reside in the district for which he is appointed.

of

Bond of sur.

SEC. 2215. Every surveyor-general shall, before enter- veyor-general. ing on the duties of his office, execute and deliver to the Secretary of the Interior a bond, with good and sufficient security, for the penal sum of thirty thousand dollars, conditioned for the faithful disbursement, according to law, of all public money placed in his hands, and for the faithful performance of the duties of his office.

SEC. 2216. The President is authorized, whenever he New bond of may deem it expedient, to require any surveyor-general security. to give a new bond and additional security, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, for the faithful disbursement, according to law, of all money placed in his hands.

SEC. 2217. The commission of every surveyor-general now in office, and of every surveyor-general hereafter appointed, shall cease and expire, unless sooner vacated by death, resignation, or removal from office, in four years from the date of the commission. •

fice.

Duration of of

Completion of

surveys, delivery

SEC. 2218. The Secretary of the Interior shall take all the necessary measures for the completion of the surveys of field notes. in the several surveying-districts for which surveyorsgeneral have been, or may be, appointed, at the earliest periods compatible with the purposes contemplated by law; and whenever the surveys and records of any such district are completed, the surveyor-general thereof shall be required to deliver over to the secretary of state of the respective States, including such surveys, or to such other officer as may be authorized to receive them, all the fieldnotes, maps, records, and other papers appertaining to land titles within the same; and the office of surveyorgeneral in every such district shall thereafter cease and be discontinued.

of surveyor

SEC. 2219. In all cases where, as provided in the pre- Devolution ceding section, the field-notes, maps, records, and other general's powers papers appertaining to land-titles in any State are turned ioner of Land over to the authorities of such State, the same authority, Office.

upon Commis

Free access to field notes, etc.,

States.

powers, and duties in relation to the survey, resurvey, or subdivision of the lands therein, and all matters and things connected therewith, as previously exercised by the surveyor-general, whose district included such State. shall be vested in, and devolved upon, the Commissioner of the General Land Office.

SEC. 2220. Under the authority and direction of the delivered to Commissioner of the General Land Office any deputy surveyor or other agent of the United States shall have free access to any such field notes, maps, records, and other papers for the purpose of taking extracts therefrom or making copies thereof without charge of any kind.

Conditions of delivery of field

States.

SEC. 2221. The field-notes, maps, records, and other notes to the papers mentioned in section twenty-two hundred and nineteen, shall in no case be turned over to the authorities of any State, until such State has provided by law for the reception and safe-keeping of the same as public records, and for the allowance of free access to the same by the authorities of the United States.

Continuance of duties after expiration of commission.

General duties of surveyors-general.

SEC. 2222. Every surveyor-general, register, and receiver, except where the President sees cause otherwise to determine, is authorized to continue in the uninterrupted discharge of his regular official duties, after the day of expiration of his commission, and until a new commission is issued to him for the same office, or until the day when a successor enters upon the duties of such office; and the existing official bond of any officer so acting shall be deemed good and sufficient, and in force, until the date of the approval of a new bond to be given by him, if re-commissioned, or otherwise, for the additional time he may so continue officially to act, pursuant to the authority of this section.

SEC. 2223. Every surveyor-general shall engage a sufficient number of skillful surveyors as his deputies, to whom he is authorized to administer the necessary oaths upon their appointments. He shall have authority to frame regulations for their direction, not inconsistent with law or the instructions of the General Land Office, and to remove them for negligence or misconduct in office. Second. He shall cause to be surveyed, measured, and marked, without delay, all base and meridian lines through such points and perpetuated by such monuments, and such other correction parallels and meridians as may be prescribed by law or by instructions from the General Land Office in respect to the public lands within his surveying district, to which the Indian title has been or may be hereafter extinguished.

Third. He shall cause to be surveyed all private land .claims within his district, after they have been confirmed by authority of Congress, so far as may be necessary to complete the survey of the public lands.

Fourth. He shall transmit to the register of the respective land offices within his district general and particular plats of all lands surveyed by him for each land district; and he shall forward copies of such plats to the Commissioner of the General Land Office.

Fifth. He shall, so far as is compatible with the desk duties of his office, occasionally inspect the surveying operations while in progress in the field, sufficiently to satisfy himself of the fidelity of the execution of the work according to contract, and the actual and necessary expenses incurred by him while so engaged shall be allowed; and where it is incompatible with his other duties for a surveyor-general to devote the time necessary to make a personal inspection of the work in progress, then he is authorized to depute a confidential agent to make such examination, and the actual and necessary expenses of such person shall be allowed and paid for that service, and five dollars a day during the examination in the field; but such examination shall not be protracted beyond thirty days, and in no case longer than is actually necessary; and when a surveyor-general, or any person employed in his office at a regular salary, is engaged in such special service, he shall receive only his necessary expenses in addition to his regular salary.

veyors-general of

ana; transcripts

SEC. 2224. The official seals heretofore authorized to Seals of surbe provided for the offices of the surveyors-general of California, OreOregon, California, and Louisiana shall continue to be gon, and Louisiused; and any copy of or extract from the plats, field from records of. notes, records, or other papers on file in these offices, respectively, when authenticated by the seal and signature of the proper surveyor-general, shall be evidence in all cases in which the original would be evidence.

from records of

SEC. 2225. Any copy of a plat of survey, or transcript Transcripts from the records of the office of the surveyor-general of Louisiana. Louisiana, duly certified by him, shall be admitted as evidence in all the courts of the United States and the Territories thereof.

lowance of, to

SEC. 2226. There shall be allowed for the offices of the, Clerk hire, alseveral surveyors-general, for clerk hire therein, such surveyors-general. sums as may be appropriated for the purpose by Con

gress from year to year.

lowance of, to

SEC. 2227. There shall be allowed for office rent, fuel,, Office rent, albooks, stationery, and other incidental expenses of the surveyors-general. several offices of surveyors-general such sums as may be appropriated for the purpose by Congress, from year to year.

ister and receiver

SEC. 2228. The President is authorized, in any case Duties of reg. where he thinks the public interest may require it, to performed by surtransfer the duties of register and receiver in any dis- veyor-general. trict to the surveyor-general of the surveying district in which such land district is located.

in office of sur

SEC. 2229. All official books, papers, instruments of official papers writing, documents, archives, official seals, stamps, or veyor-general of dies, which have been heretofore authorized by law to be thereof.

California; copies

Rules of survey.

collected and deposited in the surveyor-general's office in California, shall be safely and securely kept by such surveyor-general in the archives of his office; and copies thereof, authenticated by the surveyor-general under his seal of office, shall be evidence in all cases where the originals would be evidence.

SEC. 2230. Every deputy surveyor shall enter into bond, with sufficient security, for the faithful performance of all surveying contracts confided to him; and the penalty of the bond in each case shall be double the estimated amount of money accruing under such contract, at the rate per mile stipulated to be paid therein. The sufficiency of the sureties to all such bonds shall be approved and certified by the proper surveyor-general.

SEC. 2231. The surveyors-general, in addition to the oath now authorized by law to be administered to deputies on their appointment to office, shall require each of their deputies, on the return of his surveys, to take and subscribe an oath that those surveys have been faithfully and correctly executed according to law and the instructions of the surveyor-general.

SEC. 2232. The district attorney of the United States, in whose district any false, erroneous, or fraudulent surveys have been executed, shall, upon the application of the proper surveyor-general, immediately institute suit upon the bond of such deputy, and the institution of such suit shall act as a lien upon any property owned or held by such deputy or his sureties at the time such suit was instituted.

SEC. 2233. In the event of the failure of a deputy in Louisiana to comply with the terms of his contract, unless such failure be satisfactorily shown by him to have arisen from causes beyond his control, he shall forfeit the penalty of his bond on due process of law, and ever afterwards be debarred from receiving a contract for surveying public lands.

SEC. 2395. The public lands shall be divided by north and south lines run according to the true meridian, and by others crossing them at right angles, so as to form townships of six miles square, unless where the line of an Indian reservation, or of tracts of land heretofore surveyed or patented, or the course of navigable rivers, may render this impracticable; and in that case this rule must be departed from no further than such particular circumstances require.

Second. The corners of the townships must be marked with progressive numbers from the beginning; each distance of a mile between such corners must be also distinctly marked with marks different from those of the

corners.

Third. The township shall be subdivided into sections, containing, as nearly as may be, six hundred and forty

acres each, by running through the same, each way, parallel lines at the end of every two miles; and by making a corner on each of such lines at the end of every mile. The sections shall be numbered, respectively, beginning with the number one in the northeast section, and proceeding west and east alternately through the township with progressive numbers till the thirty-six be completed.

Fourth. The deputy surveyors, respectively, shall cause to be marked on a tree near each corner established in the manner described, and within the section, the number of such section, and over it the number of the township within which such section may be; and the deputy surveyors shall carefully note, in their respective field-books, the names of the corner trees marked and the numbers so made.

Fifth. Where the exterior lines of the townships which may be subdivided into sections or half sections exceed, or do not extend six miles, the excess or deficiency shall be specially noted, and added to or deducted from the western and northern ranges of sections or half sections in such townships, according as the error may be in running the lines from east to west, or from north to south; the sections and half sections bounded on the northern and western lines of such townships shall be sold as containing only the quantity expressed in the returns and plats, respectively, and all others as containing the complete legal quantity.

Sixth. All lines shall be plainly marked upon trees, and measured with chains, containing two perches of sixteen and one-half feet each, subdivided into twenty-five equal links; and the chain shall be adjusted to a standard to be kept for that purpose.

Seventh. Every surveyor shall note in his field-book the true situations of all mines, salt licks, salt springs, and mill-seats which come to his knowledge; all water-courses over which the line he runs may pass; and also the quality of the lands.

Eighth. These field books shall be returned to the surveyor-general, who shall cause there from a description of the whole lands surveyed to be made out and transmitted to the officers who may superintend the sales. He shall also cause a fair plat to be made of the townships and fractional parts of townships contained in the lands, describing the subdivisions thereof, and the marks of the corners. This plat shall be recorded in books to be kept for that purpose; and a copy thereof shall be kept open at the surveyor-general's office for public information, and other copies shall be sent to the places of the sale and to the General Land Office.

and contents of

SEC. 2396. The boundaries and contents of the several Boundaries sections, half sections, and quarter sections of the public public lands, how lands shall be ascertained in conformity with the follow- ascertained. ing principles: