Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 2.djvu/112



registers of the land offices respectively, to receive and enter on books kept for that purpose only, and on which no blank leaves or space shall be left between the different entries, the applications of any person or persons who may apply for the purchase of any section or half section, and who shall pay him the fee hereafter mentioned, and produce a receipt from the treasurer of the United States, or from the receiver of public monies appointed for that purpose, for three dollars for each half section such person or persons may apply for, and for at least one twentieth part of the purchase money, stating carefully in each entry the date of the application, the date of the receipt to him produced, the amount of monies specified in the said receipt, and the number of the section of half section, township and range applied for. If two or more persons shall apply at the same time for the same tract, the register shall immediately determine by lot, in the presence of the parties, which of them shall have preference. He shall file the receipt for monies produced by the party, and give him a copy of his entry, and if required, a copy of the description of the tract, and a copy of the plat of the same, or either of them; and it shall be his duty to inform the party applying for any one tract, whether the same has already been entered, purchased, or paid for, and at his request to give him a copy of the entry or entries concerning the same. He shall, three months after the date of each application, if the party shall not have, within that time, produced to him a receipt of the payment of one fourth part of the purchase money, including the twentieth part above mentioned, enter under its proper date, in the said book of entries, that the payment has not been made, and that the land has reverted to the United States, and he shall make a note of the same in the margin of the book opposite to the original entry. And if the party shall, either at the time of making the original entry, or at any time within three months thereafter, produce a receipt to him, for the fourth part of the purchase money, including the twentieth part aforesaid, he shall file the receipt, make an entry of the same, under its proper date, in the said book of entries, make a note of the same in the margin of the book, opposite to the original entry, and give to the party a certificate, describing the land sold, the sum paid on account, the balance remaining due, the time and times when such balance shall become due, and that if it shall be duly discharged, the purchaser or his assignee or other legal representative, shall be entitled to a patent for the said lands; he shall also, upon any subsequent payment being made, and a receipt from the receiver being produced to him, file the original receipt, give a receipt for the same to the party, and enter the same to the credit of the party, in a book kept for that purpose, in which he shall open an account in the name of each purchaser, for each section or half section that may be sold either at public or private sale, and in which he shall charge the party for the whole purchase money, and give him credit for all his payments; making the proper charges and allowances for interest or discount, as the case may be, according to the provisions of the fourth section of this act; and upon the payment being completed and the account finally settled, he shall give certificate of the same to the party; and on producing to the Secretary of the Treasury, the same final certificate, the President of the United States is hereby authorized to grant a patent for the lands to the said purchaser, his heirs or assigns; and all patents shall be countersigned by the Secretary of State, and recorded in his office.

. And be it further enacted, That the registers of the land offices respectively, shall also note on the book of surveys, or original plats transmitted to them, every tract which may be sold, by inserting the letter A on the day when the same is applied for, and the letter P on the day when a receipt for one fourth part of the purchase money is produced to them, and by crossing the said letter A on the day when the land shall