Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 2.djvu/701



an entire township in the territory of Louisiana, for the support of a seminary of learning within the said territory.

. And be it further enacted, That the surveyor-general shall cause such of the public lands in the territory of Louisiana, as the President of the United States shall direct, to be surveyed and divided in the same manner and under the same regulations and limitation as to expenses, as is provided by law in relation to the lands of the United States, northwest of the river Ohio and above the mouth of Kentucky river.

. And be it further enacted, That for the disposal of the lands of the United States lying in the territory of Louisiana, a land-office shall be established, which shall be kept at such place as the President of the United States may direct; and a register and receiver of public monies shall be appointed for said office, who shall give security in the same manner, in the same sums, and whose compensations, emoluments, duties and authority, shall in every respect be the same, in relation to the lands which shall be disposed of at their office, as are or may be provided for by law in relation to the register and receiver of public monies in the several offices established for the disposal of the lands of the United States, northwest of the river Ohio, and above the mouth of Kentucky river.

. And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby authorized, whenever he shall think proper, to direct so much of the public lands lying in the territory of Louisiana, as shall have been surveyed in conformity with the eighth section of this act, to be offered for sale. All such lands shall, with the exception of the section “number sixteen,” which shall be reserved in each township for the support of schools within the same, with the exception also of a tract reserved for the support of a seminary of learning, as provided for by the seventh section of this act, and with the exception also of the salt springs and lead mines, and lands contiguous thereto; which, by the direction of the President of the United States, may be reserved for the future disposal of the said states, shall be offered for sale to the highest bidder, under the direction of the register of the land-office and the receiver of public monies and of the principal deputy surveyor, and on such day or days as shall, by public proclamation of the President of the United States, be designated for that purpose. The sales shall remain open for three weeks and no longer. The lands shall be sold for a price not less than that which has been or may be fixed by law for the public lands, northwest of the river Ohio, and above the mouth of Kentucky river. And shall in every other respect be sold in tracts of the same size, on the same terms and conditions, as have been or may be by law provided for the lands sold in the state of Ohio. The superintendents of the said public sales shall each receive six dollars for each day’s attendance on the said sales. All the lands which have been thus offered for sale, at public sale, remaining unsold at the closing of the public sales, may be disposed of at private sale by the register of the land-office, for the same price which is or may be prescribed by law for the sale of public lands in the state of Ohio: Provided however, that till after the decision of Congress thereon, no tract of land shall be offered for sale, the claim to which has been in due time and according to law presented to the recorder of land titles in the district of Louisiana and filed in his office, for the purpose of being investigated by the commissioners appointed for ascertaining the rights of persons claiming lands in the territory of Louisiana. And patents shall be obtained for all lands sold in the territory of Louisiana, in the same manner and on the same terms as is or may be provided by law for land sold in the state of Ohio.

. And be it further enacted, That the claim of the corporation of the city of New Orleans, to the common adjacent thereto, and within six hundred yards from the fortifications of the same, as confirmed by