Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 2.djvu/787



been returned to the said recorder’s office, it shall be his duty to issue for each tract to be confirmed, as aforesaid, to the person entitled thereto, a certificate in favour of the party, which shall be transmitted to the commissioner of the general land-office; and if it shall appear to the satisfaction of the said commissioner that such certificate has been fairly obtained, according to the true intent and meaning of this act, then, in that case, according to the true intent and meaning of this act, then, in that case, patents shall be granted in like manner as is provided by law for the other lands of the United States.

. And be it further enacted, That the principal deputy surveyor shall survey, or cause to be surveyed, under the direction of the surveyor general, so much of the lands in the said territory, to which the Indian title has been extinguished, as the President of the United States may direct, into townships of six miles square, by lines running due north and south, and others crossing these at right angles; and also the lands, the claims to which are directed to be confirmed, by the third section of this act; and the lands, the claims to which have been confirmed by the board of commissioners, where the same has not already been surveyed under the authority of the United States. And the said principal deputy surveyor shall make out a general and connected plat of all the surveys directed by this act to be made, or which have already been made under the authority of the United States, which he shall transmit to the surveyor general, who shall transmit copies of the said plat or plats to the recorder of land titles and the commissioner of the general land-office. The expense of surveying shall be paid by the United States: Provided, the same shall not in the whole exceed three dollars a mile for every mile that shall be actually surveyed and marked.

. And be it further enacted, That in all cases where by reason of the indefinite description of the local situation and boundaries of any tract, the claim to which has been confirmed by the commissioners, the same cannot be ascertained by the principal deputy surveyor, it shall be the duty of the recorder of land titles, on the application of the said principal deputy, to furnish such precise description thereof, as can be obtained from the records in his office, and the books of the said board of commissioners; and for the purpose of the more correctly ascertaining the locality and boundaries of any such tracts, the said principal deputy, shall have free access at all seasonable hours to the books and papers in the recorder’s office, relating to land claims, and be permitted to take copies or such extracts therefrom, or any of them, as he may think proper and necessary for the discharge of his duty in executing such surveys. And the said recorder shall be allowed twenty-five cents for the description of each tract which he shall furnish to the principal deputy surveyor as aforesaid.

. And be it further enacted, That every person or persons claiming lands in the territory of Missouri, who are actual settlers on the lands which they claim, and whose claims have not been heretofore filed with the recorder of land titles for the said territory, shall not be allowed until the first day of December next, to deliver notices in writing, and the written evidences of their claims to the said recorder; and the notices and evidences so delivered within the time limited by this act, shall be recorded in the same manner, and on payment of the same fees as if the same had been delivered before the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and eight; but the rights of such persons as shall neglect so doing within the time limited by this act, shall, so far as they are derived from, or founded on any act of Congress, ever after be barred and become void, and the evidences of their claims never after admitted as evidence in any court of the United States, against any grant derived from the United States.

. And be it further enacted, That the said recorder of land titles, shall have the same powers, and perform the same duties in