(ACT of February 21st, 1812.)

dred and nine, which have been transmitted by the said commissioners to the secretary of the treasury, according to law, shall be confirmed to all such rightful claimants, according to their respective rights thereto: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to confirm any particular decision heretofore made in favor of any individual, or to affect the right of any other individual claiming the same land, but such conflicting claims shall be decided, according to law, by the proper tribunal.

ACT of February 21, 1812. 4 Bioren, 380.

61. SEC. 1. So much of the public lands of the United States, heretofore included within the land district of Kaskaskia, as lies east of the third principal meridian established by the surveyor general, shall, together with the public lands lying between the Vincennes and Kaskaskia districts, and not heretofore attached to any district, form a new land district. For the disposal of the said lands, a land office shall be established at Shawneetown, under the direction of a register of the land office and receiver of public moneys, to be appointed for that purpose, who shall reside at the place, give security in the same manner, in the same sums, and whose compensation, emoluments, and duties, and authority, shall, in every respect, be the same in relation to the lands which shall be disposed at their office, as are, or may be, by law, provided in relation to the registers and receivers of public moneys in the several offices established for the disposal of the lands of the United States, northwest of the river Ohio.

SEC. II. The said lands shall be disposed of in the same manner, and on the same terms and conditions, as are, or may be, provided by law for the sale of public lands in the district of Kaskaskia: Provided, That no tracts of land excepted from the sales by virtue of any former act, shall be sold by virtue of this act: And provided also, That a tract of not less than six miles square shall be reserved by the president of the United States for the use and support of the public salt works on Saline creek.

SEC. III. So much of the lands attached to the district of Vincennes, by virtue of the first section of an act, entitled "An act providing for the sale of certain lands in the Indiana territory, and for other purposes," [Supra, 54.] passed on the thirtieth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and ten, as lies east of the second principal meridian established by the surveyor general, shall be attached to, and become a part of, the district of Jeffersonville, and shall be offered at public sale at the land office for the said district, under the superintendence of the register and receiver of public moneys for the said land office, and shall be sold in every other respect in the same manner, and on the same terms and conditions, as are provided by the abovementioned act, except

(ACT of April 23d,1812.)

that the public sales for the said lands shall remain open only for six days.

ACT of April 23, 1812. 4 Bioren, 112.

An act to authorize the granting of patents for land, according to the surveys that have been made, and to grant donation rights to certain claimants of land in the district of Detroit, and for other purposes.

62. SEC. I. Patents shall be granted to the persons whose claims to land have been confirmed in the district of Detroit, in conformity to the surveys which have been made under the direction of the surveyor general, and the general plat of which has been returned to the secretary of the treasury, notwithstanding the surveys shall not, in every respect, correspond with the description of the tracts as confirmed by the commissioners for adjusting land claims in the said district: Provided, That the confirmation of the commissioners, and certificate of the registers, shall, in every other respect, be conformable to law.

SEC. I. Every person whose claim has been confirmed by the commissioners aforesaid, to a tract of land bordering on the river Detroit, and whose tract, as confirmed, does not extend in depth eighty arpens, French measure, shall be entitled to a donation of any vacant tract of land adjacent to, and back of, the land confirmed to him as aforesaid: Provided, That such donation shall not exceed forty arpens, French measure, in depth, nor in quantity of land that contained in the tract already confirmed to him, nor shall, in any case, the tract confirmed as aforesaid, and that allowed as a donation, together, exceed eighty arpens, French measure, in depth; and in all cases where, by reason of bends in the said river and of adjacent prior clains, each claimant cannot ob tain a tract equal in quantity to the tract already confirmed to him, the vacant land applicable to the object shall be divided between the claimants in such manner as shall appear to the commission ers for adjusting the claims most equitable. And every person claiming a donation in virtue of this section shall, on or before the first day of December next, deliver to the register of the land of fice at Detroit a notice, in writing, of the situation and extent of his claim, which he shall file in his office on receiving twenty-five cents from the party or parties for each claim; and if such persons shall neglect to deliver such notice within the time limited, his right to a donation under this section, shall become void. And the commissioners for adjusting claims to land in the said district shall, as soon as may be after the first of December next, proceed to examine and decide, according to the provisions of this section, on the claims filed as aforesaid; and when it shall appear to the said commissioners that the claimant is entitled to a donation of land, they shall give a certificate, stating the circumstances of the case, and that the claimant is entitled to receive a patent for such

(ACT of July 6th, 1812.)

a tract of land by virtue of this section, which tract shall be surveyed in conformity with the decision of the commissioners, at the expense of the party, under the direction of the surveyor general, by such of his assistants residing in the said district as the said surveyor general shall appoint for that purpose. The expense of surveying shall be the same, and the plats of surveys and transcript of the decisions of the commissioners in favor of claimants shall be made and transmitted to the secretary of the treasury in the same manner; and the certificates granted by the commissioners shall be entered with the register of the land office, and certificates of the register be granted to the party or parties on payment of the same fees, and patents granted, in every respect, in the same manner, as is directed by the third section of an act, entitled “An act regulating the grants of land in the territory of Michigan," passed the third day of March, one thousand eight hundred and seven. [Revived and continued May 11, 1820. Infra, 94.]

ACT of April 23, 1812. 4 Bioren, 414.

An act giving further time to the purchasers of public lands northwest of the Ohio, to complete their payments.

63. [SEC. 1. Every person who, prior to the first day of April, one thousand eight hundred and eight, had purchased any tract or tracts of land of the United States, not exceeding, in the whole, six hundred and forty acres, at any of the land offices established for the disposal of the public lands northwest of the river Ohio, and whose lands have not already been actually sold or reverted to the United States for nonpayment of part of the purchase money shall be allowed the further time of three years from the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and thirteen, for the payment of the residue of the principal and interest due on account of such purchase, to be paid in four equal annual payments the first day of January 1813, &c.]

ACT of July 6, 1812. 4 Bioren, 476.

An act supplementary to the act, entitled "An act giving further time to the purchasers of public lands northwest of the river Ohio to complete their payments." [Supra, 63.]

SEC. 1. The provisions of the act to which this act is a supplement shall be, and they are hereby extended to the several purchasers of the fractional sections which were, by the direction of the secretary of the treasury, classed together for sale, according to the ninth section of an act, entitled "An act making provision for the disposal of the public lands in the Indiana territory, and for other purposes," [Supra, 39.] passed on the twenty-sixth of March, one thousand eight hundred and four, notwithstanding the

(ACT of February 5th, 1813.)

quantity of land contained in any one tract, composed of such fractional sections; so classed together, and purchased by a single contract, shall exceed six hundred and forty acres.

SEC. II. The assignee or assignees of any original purchaser of land from the United States, the lands being purchased prior to the first day of April, one thousand eight hundred and eight, shall be entitled to the benefit of the provisions of the act to which this act is a supplement, and the last preceding section, in every case where it shall appear to the satisfaction of the register and receiver of public moneys of the district within which the land may lie, that the assignment by which he or they so claim was bona fide made prior to the passing of the aforesaid act, that the whole lands claimed by virtue of such assignment does not exceed six hundred and forty acres, unless it comes within the provision of the preceding section, and that the lands, or some one tract thereof, is inhabited and cultivated by or for the use of the assignee or assig

nees.

SEC. 111. In every case where any tract or tracts of land, purchased prior to the first day of April, one thousand eight hundred and eight, not exceeding six hundred and forty acres, unless such tract shall come within the provision of the first section of this act, has, since the first day of April last reverted, or that may, before the first day of August next, revert, to the United States, for default of payment, the person or persons claiming such tract or tracts, whether as an assignee or an original purchaser, may again re-enter the same; and all moneys which such assignee or original purchaser may have paid shall be replaced to his credit, by the register and receiver of public moneys of the district in which the lands may lie; and such repurchaser or repurchasers shall be allowed the same benefit of the extension of the time of payment, provided by the act to which this is a supplement, as though no such reversion had occurred: Provided, Such assignee or assignees, original purchaser or purchasers, shall make, to the proper land officer, application for such reentry, on or before the first day of September next, and that the land so reentered shall not have been resold previous to such application.

ACT of February 5, 1813. 4 Bioren, 496.

An act giving the right of preemption in the purchase of lands to certain settlers in the Illinois territory.

64. SEC. 1. Every person, or legal representative of every person, who has actually inhabited and cultivated a tract of land, lying in either of the districts established for the sale of public lands in the Illinois territory, which tract is not rightfully claimed by any other person, and who shall not have removed from said territory; every such person, and his legal representatives, shall be entitled to a preference in becoming the purchaser from the United States of such tract of land, at private sale, at the same price, and on the

(ACT of February 13th, 1813.)

same terms and conditions, in every respect as are or may be provided by law for the sale of other lands sold at private sale in said territory, at the time of making such purchase: Provided, That no more than one quarter section of land shall be sold tò any one individual in virtue of this act, and the same shall be bounded by the sectional and divisional lines run, or to be run, under the direction of the surveyor general for the division of the public lands: Provided also, That no lands reserved from sale by former acts, or lands which have been directed to be sold in town lots, and out lots, shall be sold under this act.

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SEC. 11. Every person claiming a preference in becoming the purchaser of a tract of land in virtue of this act, shall make known his claim, by delivering a notice in writing to the register of the land office for the district in which the land may lie, wherein he shall particularly designate the quarter section he claims; which notice the register shall file in his office, on receiving twenty-five cents from the person delivering the same. And in every case where it shall appear, to the satisfaction of the register and receiver of public moneys of the land office, that any person, who has delivered his notice of claim, is entitled, according to the visions of this act, to a preference in becoming the purchaser of a quarter section of land, such person, so entitled, shall have a right to enter the same, with the register of the land office, on producing his receipt from the receiver of public moneys for at least one-twentieth part of the purchase money, as in case of other public lands sold at private sale: Provided, That all lands to be sold under this act shall be entered with the register, at least two weeks before the time of the commencement of the public sales in the district wherein the land lies; and every person having a right of preference in becoming the purchaser of a tract of land who shall fail so to make his entry with the register within the time prescribed, his right to the land shall be forfeited, and the land by him claimed shall be offered at public sale with the other public lands in the district to which it belongs. [Infra, 95.]

ACT of February 13, 1813. 4 Bioren, 499.

An act confirming certain claims to lands in the district of Vincennes.

65. SEC. 1. All the decisions of the register and receiver of public moneys for the district of Vincennes, made in favour of persons claiming donation lands in said district, as entered in a list of claims which, in the opinion of the said register and receiver, ought to be confirmed, in pursuance of the act, entitled "An act providing for the sale of certain lands in the Indiana territory, and for other purposes," passed on the thirtieth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and ten, which list is a part of their report to the secretary of the treasury, bearing date of the twenty