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GRANTS OF LAND.

STATUTES OF THE UNITED STATES RELATIVE TO
GRANTS OF LAND BY THE UNITED

STATES TO THE STATE

OF NEVADA.

SECTION.

16. Grants for internal improvements, 1841.

17. Authorizing settlers to pre-empt, 1859.

18. Grants for colleges, 1862.

21. Grants for schools and public buildings, 1864.

24. Grant of 500,000 acres, 1866.

30. An Act giving effect to various grants, 1868.

32. An Act continuing in force the college grant, 1872.

33. An Act to grant lieu lands, 1880.

An Act to appropriate the proceeds of the sale of the public lands and to grant pre-emption rights.

Approved September 4, 1841.

to states for

Proviso.

16. SECTION 8. And be it further enacted, That there shall Grant of land be granted to each state specified in the first section of this internal imAct five hundred thousand acres of land for purposes of internal provements. improvement; provided, that to each of the said states which has already received grants for said purpose, there is hereby granted no more than a quantity of land which shall, together with the amount such state has already received as aforesaid, make five hundred thousand acres, the selections in all of the said states to be made within their limits respectively in such manner as the legislatures thereof shall direct, and located in parcels conformably to sectional divisions and subdivisions, of not less than three hundred and twenty acres in any one location, on any public land except such as is or may be reserved from sale by any law of Congress or proclamation of the President of the United States, which said locations may be made at any time after the lands of the United States in said states

states that

shall here

mitted.

respectively shall have been surveyed according to existing Grant to new laws. And there shall be and hereby is granted to each new state that shall be hereafter admitted into the Union, upon such after be ad- admission, so much land as, including such quantity as may have been granted to such state before its admission and while under a territorial government, for purposes of internal improvement, as aforesaid, as shall make five hundred thousand acres of land, to be selected and located as aforesaid.-U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 5, 455.

The other sections of this Act are not applicable to grants of land

to this state.

Settlers upon sections 16 and 36 may pre-empt

ments when

survey and

with a view to pre-em}tion; and

other lands

may be appriated in

lien thereof

and for deficiencies in

An Act to authorize settlers upon sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections, who settled before the surveys of the public iands, to pre-empt

their settlements.

Approved February 26, 1859.

17. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That where settlements, with a view to pre-emption, have been made before their settle the survey of the lands in the field which shall be found to have made before been made on sections sixteen or thirty-six, said sections shall be subject to the pre-emption claim of such settler; and if they, or either of them, shall have been or shall be reserved or pledged for the use of schools or colleges in the state or territory in which the lands lie, other lands of like quantity are hereby appropriated in lieu of such as may be patented by preemptors; and other lands are also hereby appropriated to compensate deficiencies for school purposes, where said sections sixteen or thirty-six are fractional in quantity, or where one or both are wanting by reason of the township being fractional, or Proviso made from any natural cause whatever; provided, that the lands by of selection this section appropriated shall be selected and appropriated in accordance with the principles of adjustment and the provisions of the Act of Congress of May twentieth, eighteen hundred and twenty-six, entitled "An Act to appropriate lands for the support of schools in certain townships and fractional townships not before provided for.”— U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 11, 385.

fractional sections.

and appro

priation.

Public lands,

An Act donating public lands to the several states and territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts.

Approved July 2, 1862.

18. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives not mineral, of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there to each state. be granted to the several states, for the purposes hereinafter mentioned, an amount of public land, to be apportioned to each

to be given

state a quantity equal to thirty thousand acres for each Senator and Representative in Congress to which the states are respectively entitled by the apportionment under the census of eighteen hundred and sixty; provided, that no mineral lands shall be selected or purchased under the provisions of this Act.

Sections 2 and 3 of this Act are omitted, as they do not seem to be

of general interest to the people of this state.

such lands to

fund.

19. SECTION 4. And be it further enacted, That all moneys Moneys from derived from the sale of the lands aforesaid by the states to the sales of which the lands are apportioned, and from the sales of land be invested. scrip herein before provided for, shall be invested in stocks of the United States, or of the states, or some other safe stocks, yielding not less than five percentum upon the par value of said stocks; and that the moneys so invested shall constitute a per- Perpetual petual fund, the capital of which shall remain forever undiminished, (except so far as may be provided in section fifth of this Act), and the interest of which shall be inviolably appropriated, Interest to be by each state which may take and claim the benefit of this Act, applied to to the endowment, support, and maintenance of at least one support one college, where the leading object shall be, without excluding agriculture other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the legislatures of the states may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life.

college for

and the me

chanic arts.

this grant.

20. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the grant of land Conditions of and land scrip hereby authorized shall be made on the following conditions, to which, as well as to the provisions hereinbefore contained, the previous assent of the several states shall be signified by legislative Acts:

Assent of

states.

inution.

First. If any portion of the fund invested, as provided by the foregoing section, or any portion of the interest thereon, shall, by any action or contingency, be diminished or lost, it shall be replaced by the state to which it belongs, so that the capital of the fund shall remain forever undiminished; and the Without dimannual interest shall be regularly applied, without diminution, to the purposes mentioned in the fourth section of this Act, except that a sum not exceeding ten percentum upon the amount received by any state under the provisions of this Act may be expended for the purchase of lands for sites, or experimental farms, whenever authorized by the respective legislatures of said states.

Second. No portion of said fund, nor the interest thereon, Buildings. shall be applied, directly or indirectly, under any pretense whatever, to the purchase, erection, preservation, or repair of any building or buildings.

years.

Third. Any state which may take and claim the benefit of Within five the provisions of this Act shall provide, within five years, at least not less than one college, as described in the fourth section of this Act, or the grant to such state shall cease; and said state

Annual report of col

lege.

Double minimum lands.

States in rebellion.

Assent of state.

shall be bound to pay the United States the amount received of any lands previously sold, and that the title to purchasers under the state shall be valid.

Fourth. An annual report shall be made regarding the progress of each college, recording any improvements and experiments made, with their cost and results, and such other matters, including state industrial and economical statistics, as may be supposed useful; one copy of which shall be transmitted by mail free, by each, to all the other colleges which may be endowed under the provisions of this Act, and also one copy to the Secretary of the Interior.

Fifth. When lands shall be selected from those which have been raised to double the minimum price, in consequence of railroad grants, they shall be computed to the states at the maximum price, and the number of acres proportionally diminished. Sixth. No state while in a condition of rebellion or insurrection against the government of the United States shall be entitled to the benefit of this Act.

Seventh. No state shall be entitled to the benefits of this Act unless it shall express its acceptance thereof by its legislature within two years from the date of its approval by the President.-U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 12, 503.

Sections 6, 7 and 8 do not seem to be of general interest and are omitted.

An Act to enable the people of Nevada to form a constitution and state government, and for the admission of such state into the Union on an equal footing with the original states.

Approved March 21, 1864.

School lands. 21. SECTION 7. And be it further enacted, That sections numbers sixteen and thirty-six, in every township, and where such sections have been sold or otherwise disposed of by any Act of Congress, other lands equivalent thereto in legal subdivisions of not less than one quarter-section, and as contiguous as may be, shall be, and are hereby granted to said state for the support of common schools.

Lands for public buildings.

22. SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That provided the State of Nevada shall be admitted into the Union, in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this Act, that twenty entire sections of the unappropriated public lands within said state, to be selected and located by direction of the legislature thereof, on or before the first day of January, anno Domini eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, shall be, and they are hereby, granted in legal subdivisions of not less than one hundred and sixty acres, to said state, for the purpose of erecting public buildings at the capital of said state, for legislative and judicial purFor peniten- poses, in such manner as the legislature shall prescribe.

tiary build

ings.

23. SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That twenty other

entire sections of land, as aforesaid, to be selected and located,
as aforesaid, in legal subdivisions, as aforesaid, shall be, and
they are hereby, granted to said state for the purpose of erect-
ing a suitable building for a penitentiary or state prison in the
manner aforesaid.-U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 13, 32.

The other sections of this Act do not pertain to land grants.
See section 33 post for land lieu Act.

An Act concerning certain lands granted to the State of Nevada.

Approved July 4, 1866.

tion by Ne

tional pur

24. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives Appropriaof the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the vada of land appropriation by the constitution of the State of Nevada to for educa educational purposes of the five hundred thousand acres of land granted to said state by the law of September fourth, firmed. eighteen hundred and forty-one, for purposes of internal improvement, is hereby approved and confirmed.

poses con

ed for a uni

23. SECTION 2. And be it further enacted, That land equal in Lands grantamount to seventy-two entire sections, for the establishment versity. and maintenance of a university in said state, is hereby granted to the State of Nevada.

cultural col

26. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the grant made For an agriby law of the second day of July, eighteen hundred and sixty-lege. two, to each state, of land equal to thirty thousand acres for each of its Senators and Representatives in Congress, is extended to the State of Nevada, and the diversion of the proceeds of these lands in Nevada from the teaching of agriculture and mechanic Theory and arts to that of the theory and practice of mining is allowed and practice of authorized without causing a forfeiture of said grant.

mining may be taught.

General for

27. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Surveyor Senate, shall be, and he is hereby authorized to appoint a Sur-Nevada. veyor-General for Nevada, who shall locate his office at such place Location of as the Secretary of the Interior shall from time to time direct, office. whose compensation shall be three thousand dollars per annum, and whose duties, powers, obligations, responsibilities, and Pay, duties, allowances for clerk hire, office rent, fuel and incidental expenses shall be the same as those of the Surveyor-General of Allowances. Oregon, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, and such instructions as he may from time to time deem it advisable to give him.

etc.

divisions may

gular.

recian

28. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That in extending Lines of subthe surveys of the public lands in the State of Nevada, the Sec-be changed retary of the Interior may, in his discretion, vary the lines of from the subdivisions from a rectangular form, to suit the circumstances of the country; but in all cases lands valuable for mines

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