lots, to be selected by the superintendents of the sale, for the use of and to be vested in the town when it shall become corporate, and also of the lots reserved by the seventeenth article of the aforesaid treaty, to remain for the uses therein provided for, be offered at public sale at the time the other lands in the tract are offered, and are to be subject to entry at private sale thereafter: Provided however, That no town lot shall be sold for less than twenty dollars, nor any out lot for less than at the rate of fifteen dollars per acre. *SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That, in executing, the surveys of the lands in the tract aforesaid, the surveyor general shall cause the improved lands to be designated on the general plat, and the position, extent, and quality of each improvement to be carefully noted; and the Commissioner of the General Land Office shall cause the superintendents of the sales to be furnished with a copy of the schedule of the appraised value of improvements ascertained, pursuant to the fifth article of the said treaty; and in any case, where the lines for subdivision of sections shall divide and injuriously affect the value of an improvement, the superintendents of the sale shall be authorized, under instruction of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, to offer, at public and private sale, an entire quarter section, or half-quarter section, and to attach together halves of two adjacent quarter sections, so as to preserve, as far as practicable, the improvements on a tract entire; and if, in offering at public sale any tract on which improvements exist, the real value of the same, according to the estimate of the superintendents, shall not be bidden, it shall be their duty to withdraw the tract from sale, and the tracts thus withdrawn from sale shall again be offered at public sale, due public notice first being given, when directed by the Commissioner of the General Land Office. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That all the lands in the Wyandot reserve, on both sides of the river Huron in the State of Michigan, ceded to the United States by the aforesaid treaty, shall be attached to and made a part of the district of lands subject to sale at Detroit; and shall be offered for sale at the land office, in the same manner, both as to public and private sale, as is directed for the sale of the lands of the reserve in the State of Ohio by this act: Provided, That the land shall not be sold for less than two dollars per acre. Approved, March 3, 1843. No. 75.-An Act in relation to the exemplifications of the records of land patents and other evidences of title, and amendatory of the entitled "An act to reorganize the General Land Office. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That literal exemplifications of any such records which have been or may be granted in virtue of the provisions of the seventh section of the act, approved on the fourth day of July, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, entitled "An act to reorganize the General Land Office," shall be deemed and held to be of the same validity in all proceedings whether at law, or in equity, wherein such exemplifications are adduced in evidence, as if the names of the officers signing and countersigning the same, had been fully inserted in such record. * Part of 5th section repealed. See No. 200. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That exemplifications granted in pursuance of the aforesaid section of the act aforesaid, of any warrant survey, assignment, and other evidences comprising the entire muniments of title, whereon any patent has been based for lands granted by the United States in the aforesaid Virginia military land district or elsewhere, shall be, and are hereby, declared and held as of equal validity with the original patent, warrant survey, assignment, or other evidence of title, on file in said office. Approved, March 3, 1843. No. 76.-An Act for the relief of the Stockbridge tribe of Indians, in the Territory of Wiskonsan.* Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the township of land containing twenty-three thousand and forty acres, (or whatever quantity now remains to them,) lying on the east side of Winnebago lake, in the Territory of Wisconsin, which, by the proviso of a treaty made with the Menomonie Indians on the seventeenth day of February, in the year eighteen hundred and thirty-one, and ratified on the ninth day of July, eighteen hundred and thirty-two, was reserved for the use of the Stockbridge tribe of Indians, and which, by a subsequent treaty with the Menomonie tribe, bearing date twenty-seventh October, eighteen hundred and thirty-two, and ratified thirteenth March, eighteen hundred and thirty-three, was further secured to the said Stockbridge tribe of Indians, may be partitioned and divided among the different individuals composing said tribe of Stockbridge Indians, and may be held by them, separately and severally, in fee simple, after such division shall have been made in the manner hereinafter mentioned. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That, for the purpose of making partition and division of said lands among the individuals of said tribe of Stockbridge Indians, a board of commissioners shall be constituted, to consist of five of the principal or head men of said tribe, a majority of whom shall constitute a quorum to do business, whose duty it shall be to make a just and fair partition and division of said lands among the members of said tribe, or among such of them as, by the laws and customs and regulations of said tribe, are entitled to the same, and in such proportions and in such manner as shall be consistent with equity and justice, and in accordance with the existing laws, customs, usages, or agreements of said tribe. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That, for the purpose of electing or choosing said board of commissioners, a meeting of said tribe shall be held at their church or principal public place, on the reservation of land aforesaid, on the first Monday in April, eighteen hundred and forty-three, at which all the male members of said tribe over the age of twenty-one years shall be allowed to vote for such commissioners; and the said five commissioners shall then and there be elected or chosen by the said tribe, by a majority of the whole number of such voters then present. And the judge of the district in which said lands are situated, (or, in his absence, the register of the land office at Green Bay, or the commanding officer of the United States troops at Fort Howard) shall attend at the time and place * Repealed 6th of August, 1846. See No. 112. aforesaid, and preside at said meeting, superintend the said election, and see that the proceedings are fairly conducted. And the said presiding officer may, in his discretion, prescribe whether the said election shall be by ballot or viva voce, and shall, in other respects, cause the proceedings to be conducted in such a manner as to ensure a fair and proper choice or election; and after the said commissioners shall have been so chosen or elected, the said presiding officer shall immediately certify that fact, setting forth the names of the commissioners who shall be elected, and shall make two copies of said certificate, one of which he shall file in the office of the register of the land district at Green Bay, and the other he shall transmit by mail to the President of the United States. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That after the said commissioner shall have been elected or chosen as above prescribed, and as soon thereafter as conveniently may be, they shall proceed to make partition and division of all the lands aforesaid, among the individual members of said tribe, or among such of them as, by the laws, customs, usages, or agreements of said tribe, are justly entitled to the same, and in such way and manner, and upon such principles, and in such proportions, as shall be agreeable to equity and justice, and consistent with the laws, usages, customs, and agreements of said tribe: Provided however, That the buildings and improvements, and the farms on which the same are situated, which are now held or possessed in severalty by the members of said tribe, shall, so far as the same can consistently be done, be allotted or apportioned to the present occupants; and that no person or individual of said tribe shall be dispossessed or deprived of the improvements or land which they now occupy, unless if shall be found by the said commissioners that such person or persons are in possession of and occupying more land than they are justly entitled to, and then the overplus may be apportioned to others. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That after the said commissioners shall have made such partition and division as aforesaid, they shall make, or cause to be made, a full report of their proceedings in the premises, setting forth the name of each person to whom they have apportioned any part of said land, the quantity apportioned or allotted to each, with the metes and bounds, or other definite description of each several piece or parcel of land; and they shall accompany the said report with a fair and accurate map of the whole, showing the divisions and partitions aforesaid; which report and map, or a true copy thereof, shall be deposited with the town clerk of said tribe, on or before the first day of July, eighteen hundred and forty-three, and shall remain open for inspection to all for the space of twenty days thereafter; and if any member or members of said tribe shall object to the partition or division so made by the said commissioners, or shall deem himself or themselves aggrieved thereby, he or they may, within ten days thereafter, give notice thereof to the said commissioners, who shall within twenty days thereafter meet to hear and determine such grievances, and take testimony, if necessary, and, after such hearing, shall have power to alter or modify such partition, if, in their judgment, any alteration or modification is necessary, in order to do equal and exact justice to all parties interested. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That, after the said report shall be finally completed, the commissioners shall cause three fair copies of the said report, and of the map accompanying the same, as finally agreed upon and settled, to be made and signed by said commissioners, one copy of which shall be deposited in the office of the Secretary of said Territory, one copy in the office of the clerk of the county within which said lands are situated, and the other shall be transmitted to the President of the United States, who shall thereupon cause patents to be issued to the several individuals named in said report, for the lands so apportioned to them respectively, by which the said persons shall be authorized to hold the said lands in fee simple, to themselves and their heirs and assigns. SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the said report and map shall be filed with the Secretary of said Territory, and in the clerk's office of said county, and shall also be transmitted to the President, on or before the first day of January, eighteen hundred and forty-four; and, after the same shall have been filed and transmitted to the President as aforesaid, the said Stockbridge tribe. of Indians, and each and every of them, shall then be deemed to be, and from that time forth are hereby declared to be, citizens of the United States, to all intents and purposes, and shall be entitled to all the rights, privileges, and immunities of such citizens, and shall, in all respects, be subject to the laws of the United States and of the Territory of Wisconsin, in the same manner as other citizens of said Territory; and the jurisdiction of the United States and of said Territory shall be extended over the said township or reservation now held by them, in the same manner as over other parts of said Territory; and their rights as a tribe or nation, and their power of making or executing their own laws, usages, or customs, as such tribe, shall cease and determine: Provided however, That nothing in this act contained shall be so construed as to deprive them of the right to any annuity now due them from the State of New York or the United States, but they shall be entitled to receive any such annuity, in the same manner as though this act had not been passed. Approved, March 3, 1843. No. 77.-Joint Resolution directing certain papers relating to titles to land in Louisiana, to be returned to the General Land Office. Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives be, and they are hereby, instructed to furnish to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, the original reports from the several Land Offices in the State of Louisiana, made under the provisions of an act entitled "An act for the final adjustment of claims to land in the State of Louisiana," approved, February sixth, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five; also, the title papers and evidence relating to claims in said reports, confirmed by an act entitled "An act confirming certain land claims in Louisiana, approved July sixth, one thousand eight hundred and forty-two: Provided, That olaimants shall be entitled to withdraw their original title-papers after fair copies shall have been taken by the Commissioner of the General Land Office. Approved, March 3, 1843. No. 78.-Joint Resolution relating to patents for bounty lands. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in all cases where an officer or soldier of the revolutionary war, or a soldier of the last war, was entitled to bounty land, has died before obtaining a patent for the land, and where application is made by a part only of the heirs of such deceased officer or soldier for such bounty land, it shall be the duty of the proper officers of the War Department to issue the warrant or patent in the name of the heirs of such deceased officer or soldier, without specifying each; and the patent so issued in the name of the heirs, generally, shall inure to the benefit of the whole, in such portions as they are severally entitled to by the laws of descent in the State or Territory where the officer or soldier belonged at the time of his death. Approved, March 3, 1843. No. 79.-An Act for the relief of the citizens of towns upon the lands of the United States, under certain circumstances. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That whenever any portion of the surveyed public lands has been or shall be settled upon and occupied as a town site, and therefore not subject to entry under the existing pre-emption laws, it shall be lawful, in case such town or place shall be incorporated, for the corporate authorities thereof, and, if not incorporated, for the judges 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 sales 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 is situated: Provided, That the entry of the land intended by this act be made prior to the commencement of the public sale of the body of land in which it is included, and that the entry shall include only such land as is actually occupied by the town, and be made in conformity to the legal subdivisions of the public lands authorized by the act of twentyfourth April, one thousand eight hundred and twenty, and shall not in the whole exceed three hundred and twenty acres: And provided also, That any act of said trustees, not made in conformity to the rules and regulations herein alluded to, shall be void and of none effect: And provided also, That the corporate authorities of the town of Weston in the county of Platte, State of Missouri, or the county court of Platte county, in said State, shall be allowed twelve months, from and after the passage of this act, to enter at the proper land office, the lands upon which said town is situate. Approved, May 23, 1844. No. 80.-An Act to amend an act entitled "An act to reorganize the General Land Office."* Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the passing *See No. 32. |