Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 25.djvu/896

 FIFTIETH CONGRESS. Sess. II. Ch. 377. 1889. 851 thereof by the Department of the Interior were unauthorized and illegal: T erefore,. _Be it enacted by the_Senate and House of Representatives of the Lnzfed States of Aanereca 2n Congress assembled, That it is hereby oregon. made the duty of the Attorney-General, within six months after the ,§§’§,§}j{§ °f “`“g°“' passage_of this act, to cause suit or suits to be brought, in the name l of the United States, in the United States circuit court for the district of Oregon, against all persons, firms, and corporations claiming to own or to have an interest in the lands granted to the State of Oregon by the following enumerated acts of Con ess, to wit: ` "An act granting lands to the State ofgOregon to aid in the con- VOL13,p.H. struction o a military road from Eugene City to the eastern boundary of said State," approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-four; "An act granting lands to the State of Oregon to aid in the con- vo1.i4,p.so. struction o a military road from Albany, Oregon, to the eastern housndary of said State/’ approved July fifth, eighteen hundred and six y-six; ‘ "An act granting lands to the State of Oregon to aid in the con- Vol.14,p.409. struction o a military wagon-road from Dalles City, on the Columbia River, to Fort Boise, on the Snake River," approved February twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven; To etermine the questions of the seasonable and proper comple· suuwbetmugmm tion of said roads in accordance with the terms of the granting acts, §‘f,",f",'§,‘.§,‘f,?S‘;);,”c§;§’e‘j; either in whole or in part, the legal effect of the several certificates time of the governors of the State of Oregon of the completion of said roads, and the right of resumption of such granted lands by the United States, and to obtain judgments, which the court is hereby authorized to render, declaring forfeited to the United States all of such lands as are coterminous with the part or parts of either of said wagon-roads which were not constructe in accordance with requirements of the granting acts, and setting aside patents which have issued for any such lands, saving and preserving the rights of all mg; of umm me bona fide purchasers of either of said grants or of any portion of said pm "“· grants for a valuable consideration, if any such there be. Said suit Proceedings. or suits shall be tried and adjudicated in like manner and by the same principles and rules of jurisprudence as other suits in equity are therein tried, with right to writ of error or appeal by either or any party as in other cases; and if any person, firm, or corporation having or claiming an interest in any of said lands shall be made defendant in such suit or suits, and in the judgment of the said court be a necessary or pro er party defendant, and shall not be an inhabitant of or found within the said district. and shall not voluntarily appear thereto, it shall be lawful for the court to make an order directing said absent defendant or defendants to appear, plead, answer, Absent defendants. or demur by a day certain to be designated, w iich order shall be served upon such absent defendant or defendants in the manner provided by section eight of an act entitled "An act to determine the V0l.18,p.472. jurisdiction of circuit courts of the United States, and to regulate the removal of causes from state courts, and for other purposes," apiroved March third, eighteen hundred and seventv-five: Provided, 1=»·m-im. That in the said circuit court, said suit or suits shall be advanced to ‘““`“”°°= hearing in preference to all other civil cases on the dockets: And proricledfurther, That no right of appeal shall exist after six months Appealfrom the entering of a finalfdpcree in said circuit court. t Sec. 2. That t1G State 0 )I’9 OD, 3H Huy p€l'SO11 O1' corpora ion Oregouandpurtyinclaiming any interest under or through the grants aforesaid in the $$,',,‘§’f°d """' h""" lands to be affected by said suit or suits, and whether made a party thereto or not, may intervene therein by sworn petition to defend his interest therein, as a ainst the United States, or against each other, and affecting the said question of forfeiture, and may, upon such petition for intervention, also put in issue and have adjudicated and