(ACT of June 1st, 1796.) ginia, and included in the terms of cession of the said state to the United States, shall, on producing the warrant, or a certified copy thereof, and a certificate under the seal of the office where the said warrants are legally kept, that the same, or a part thereof, remains unsatisfied, and on producing the survey, agreeably to the laws of Virginia, for the tract or tracts to which he or they may be entitled, as aforesaid, to the secretary of the department of war, such officer and soldier, his or their heirs, or assigns, shall be entitled to, and receive a patent for, the same from the president of the United States, any thing in any former law to the contrary notwithstanding: Provided, That no letters patent shall be issued for a greater quantity of land than shall appear to remain due on such warrant, and that before the seal of the United States shall be affixed to such letters patent, the secretary of the department of war shall have endorsed thereon, that the grantee therein named, or the person under whom he claims, was originally en titled to such bounty lands, and every such letters patent shall be countersigned by the secretary of state, and a minute of the date thereof, and the name of the grantee, shall be entered of record in his office, in a book to be specially provided for that purpose. ACT of June 1, 1796. 2 Bioren, 565. An act regulating the grants of land appropriated for military services, &c. 7. SEC. 1. The surveyor general is hereby required to be caused to be surveyed the tract of land beginning at the northwest corner of the seven ranges of townships, and running thence fifty miles due south along the western boundary of the said ranges; thence due west to the main branch of the Sciota river, thence up the main branch of the said river, to the place where the Indian boundary line crosses the same; thence along the said boundary line to the Tuscaroras branch of the Musksingum river, at the crossing-place above Fort Lawrence; thence up the said river to the point, where a line, run due west from the place of beginning, will intersect the said river; thence along the line so run to the place of beginning; and shall cause the said tracts to be divided into townships of five miles square, by running, marking and numbering the exterior lines of the said townships, and marking corners in the said lines, at the distance of two and one-half miles from each other, in the manner directed by the act, entitled, “An act providing for the sales of the lands of the United States in the terriritory northwest of the river Ohio, and above the mouth of Kentucky river;" and the lands above described, except the salt springs therein, and the same quantities of land adjacent thereto, as are directed to be reserved with the salt springs, in the said recited act, and such tracts within the boundaries of the same as have been heretofore appropriated by congress, are hereby set apart and reserved for the purposes hereinafter mentioned. (ACT of March 1st, 1800.) 8. SEC. 11. The said land shall be granted only in tracts containing a quarter of the township to which they belong, lying at the corners thereof; and the secretary of the treasury shall, for the space of nine months, after public notice in the several states and territories, register warrants for military services, to the amount of any one or more tracts, for any person or persons holding the same; and shall immediately after the expiration of the said time, proceed to determine, by lot, to be drawn in the presence of the secretaries of state and of war, the priority of location of the said registered warrants; and the person or persons holding the same, shall severally make their locations, after the lots shall be proclaimed, on a day to be previously fixed in the before-mentioned notice; in failure of which, they shall be postponed in locating such warrants, to all other persons holding registered warrants: And the patents for all lands located under the authority of this act, shall be granted in the manner directed by the before-mentioned act, without requiring any fee therefor. 9. SEc. I. After the time limited for making the locations, as aforesaid, any person or persons holding warrants, of the beforementioned description, sufficient to cover any one or more tracts, as aforesaid, shall be at liberty to make their locations, on any tract or tracts not before located. 10. SEc. vi. All navigable streams or rivers within the territory to be disposed of, by virtue of this act, shall be deemed to be and remain public highways. And in all cases, where the opposite banks of any stream not navigable shall belong to different persons, the stream and the bed thereof shall be common to both. ACT of February 11, 1800. 3 Bioren, 305. An act giving further time to the holders of military warrants to register and locate the same. 11. SEC. 1. The secretary of the treasury shall, for the space of fourteen days after the expiration of the nine months heretofore allowed for that purpose, by the act, entitled "An act regulating the grants of land appropriated for military services, and for the society of the united brethren for propagating the gospel among the heathen," [supra 7.] register warrants for military services, in the form and manner as is prescribed by the said recited act; and the priority of location of said warrants, and the warrants registered under the said recited act, shall be determined by lot, immediately after the expiration of the said fourteen days, and a day for the location shall be fixed by the secretary of the treasury, in a public notice given in one of the gazettes of the city of Philadelphia. ACT of March 1, 1800. 3 Bioren, 314. 12, SEC. I. The respective points of intersection of the lines ac (ACT of March 1st, 1800.) tually run, as the boundaries of the several townships surveyed by virtue of the act, entitled "An act regulating the grants of land appropriated for military services, and for the society of the united brethren for propagating the gospel among the heathen," accordingly as the said lines have been marked and ascertained at the time when the same were run, notwithstanding the same are not in conformity to the act aforesaid, or shall not appear to correspond with the plat of the survey which has been returned by the surveyor general, shall be considered, and they are hereby declared to be, the corners of the said townships: in regard to every such township as, by the plat and survey returned by the surveyor general, is stated to contain four thousand acres in each quarter thereof, the points on each of the boundary lines of such township, which are at an equal distance from those two corners of the same township which stand on the same boundary line, shall be considered, and they are hereby declared to be, corners of the respective quarters of such township; the other boundary lines of the said quarter townships shall be straight lines, run from each of the last mentioned corners of quarter townships to the corner of quarter townships on the opposite boundary line of the same township: and in regard to every such township as, by the said return, is stated to contain, in any of the quarters thereof, more or less than the quantity of four thousand acres, the corners marked in the boundary lines of such township, to designate the quarters thereof, shall be considered, and they are hereby declared to be, the corners of the quarter townships thereof, although the same may be found at unequal distances from the respective corners of such townships: And such townships shall be divided, by running lines through the same, from the corners of the quarter townships actually marked, whether the interior lines thus extended shall be parallel to the exterior lines of the said township or not; and each of the said quarter townships thus bounded, shall, in every proceeding to be had under the abovementioned, or this, act, be considered as containing the exact quantity expressed in the plat and survey thereof returned by the surveyor general. 21, 28, 30, 35, 43, 46. 13. SEC. n. It shall be lawful for the proprietors or holders of warrants for military services, which have been, or shall be, registered at the treasury, in pursuance of the act, entitled " An act regulating the grants of land appropriated for military services, and for the society of the united brethren for propagating the gospel among the heathen," during the time, in the manner, and according to the rights of priority which may be acquired in pursuance of said act, to locate the quantities of land mentioned in the warrants by them, respectively registered, as aforesaid, on any quarter township, or fractional part of a quarter township, in the general tract mentioned and described in said act: Provided always, That the fractional quarter townships upon the ri (ACT of March 1st, 1800.) ver Sciota and those upon the river Muskingum, adjoining the grant made to Ebenezer Zane, or the towns Salem, Gnadenhutten, or Shoenbrun, or the Indian boundary line, shall, in every case, be accepted and taken in full satisfaction for four thousand acres. 14. SEC. 11. Whenever locations shall be made on any quarter township, which, according to the actual survey and plat thereof, returned by the surveyor general, is stated to contain less than the quantity of four thousand acres, except in the case of fractions provided for in the preceding section, it shall be lawful for the secretary of the treasury to issue, or cause to be issued, certificates, expressing the number of acres remaining unsatisfied, of any registry of warrants, for the quantity of four thousand acres, made in pursuance of the act before recited, which certificates shall have the same validity and effect, and be liable to be barred in like manner, as warrants granted for military services; but no certificate shall be granted, nor any claim allowed, for less than fifty acres, nor for the navigable water contained within the limits of any quarter township or fractional quarter township. 15. SEC. IV. Whenever a location shall be made on any quarter township, which, according to the actual survey and plat thereof, returned by the surveyor general, is stated to exceed the quantity of four thousand acres, no patent shall be issued, in pursuance thereof, until the person making such location shall deposit, at the treasury, warrants for military services, or certificates issued by virtue of the preceding section, equal to the excess above four thousand acres, contained in such quarter township, or shall pay into the treasury of the United States two dollars per acre, in the certificates of the six per cent. funded debt of the Uninited States, or money, for each acre of the excess above four thousand acres, as aforesaid. 16. SEC. 5. After the priority of location shall have been determined, and after the proprietors or holders of warrants for military services shall have designated the tracts by them respectively elected, it shall be the duty of the secretary of the treasury to designate, by lot, in the presence of the secretay of war, fifty quarter townships, of the lands remaining unlocated, which quarter townships, together with the fractional parts of townships remaining unlocated, shall be reserved for satisfying warrants granted to individuals for their military services, in the manner hereafter provided. 17. SEC. vi. The land in each of the quarter townships designated as aforesaid, and in such of the fractional parts of quarter townships, as may then remain unlocated, shall be divided by the secretary of the treasury, upon the respective plats thereof, as returned by the surveyor general, into as many lots, of one hundred acres each, as shall be equal, as nearly as may be, to the quantity such quarter township or fraction is stated to contain; each of which lots shall be included, where practicable, between parallel (ACT of March 1st, 1800.) lines, one hundred and sixty perches in length, and one hundred perches in width, and shall be designated by progressive numbers, upon the plat or survey of every such quarter township and frac tion, respectively. 18. SEC. VII. From and after the sixteenth day of March next, it shall be lawful for the holder of any warrant granted for mili tary services, to locate, at any time before the first day of Janua ry one thousand eight hundred and two, the number of hundred acres expressed in such warrant, on any lot or lots, from time to time, remaining unlocated within the tracts reserved as aforesaid; and upon surrendering such warrant to the treasury, the holder thereof shall be entitled to receive a patent, in the manner, and upon the conditions, heretofore prescribed by law; which patent shall, in every case, express the range, township, quarter township, or fraction, and number of the lot located as aforesaid: But no location shall be allowed, nor shall any patent be issued, for any lot or lots of one hundred acres, except in the name of the person originally entitled to such warrant, or the heir or heirs of the person so entitled; nor shall any land, so located and patented, to a person originally entitled to such warrant, be considered as in trust for any purchaser, or be subject to any contract made before the date of such patent; and the title to lands, acquired in consequence of patents issued as aforesaid, shall and may be alienated in pursuance of the laws which have been, or shall be, passed in the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio, for regulating the transfer of real property, and not otherwise. [The limitation of time contained in this section has been successively enlarged by acts of April 26, 1802. 3 Bioren, 478. March 3, 1803. ib. 554. March 19, 1804, ib. 588. March 2, 1805, ib. 657. April 15, 1806, 4 Bioren, 34. March 21, 1808, ib. 155. December 19, 1809, 1b. 243. July 5, 1813, ib. 542. April 16, 1816, March 9, 1818, and February 24, 1819. infra 49.] 19. SEC. VIII. In all cases, after the sixteenth of March next, where more than one application is made for the same tract, at the same time, under this act, or under the act to which this is in addition, the secretary of the treasury shall determine the pri ority of location by lot. 20. SEC. 1x. It shall be the duty of the secretary of the trea sury to advertise the tracts which may be reserved for location, in lots of one hundred acres, in one newspaper in each of the states, and in the territory aforesaid, for and during the term of three months. 21. SEC. x. The actual plat and survey, returned by the surveyor general, of quarter townships, and fractional parts of quarter townships, contained in the tract mentioned and described in the act to which this is a supplement, shall be considered as final and conclusive so far as relates to the quantity of land supposed to be contained in the quarter townships, and fractions, so that no claim shall |