Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 28.djvu/426

 FIFTY-THIRD CONGRESS. Sess. II. Ch. 301. 1894. 397 and assigns, who, being duly qualified thereunto, have, under the homestead, pre-emption, or other public land laws, entered or filed upon lands included in the grant made by an Act entitled “An Act granting vo1. s, p. 77. certain lands to the Territory of Iowa to aid in the improvements of the navigation of the Des Moines River, in said Territory, ” approved August eighth, eighteen hundred and forty-six, and by the °‘ Joint vor12,p.2s1. Resolution to quiet title to lands in the State of Iowa, " approved March second, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, whose title thereto from the United States has failed. Said commissioner shall find the reaso11- able sum due, if anything, to the respective claimants, and the measure of damages of said claimants shall be the amount heretofore expended nnnoogo nno. by them to purchase the paramount title to said lands, or in case they have not heretofore purchased the outstanding paramount title, the measure of their damages shall be the reasonable value of such paramount title, if they are still in possession, or the reasonable value of same at time of eviction, in cases of eviction. Said commissioner, in making such examination, shall find and determine: First. The amount of the just claims of persons, their heirs or assigns, _ Continuous nomholding patents or other written evidences of title from the United "’g°”‘ Staites, who are now and who have been in continuous possession thereun er. Second. The claims of persons, their heirs or assigns, holding written mmm claimants. ‘ evidences of title from the United States, who have been evicted from said lands by process of court at the suit of the Des Moines River Navigation Company or its assigns. Third. The claims of persons, their heirs or their assigns, for a valu- rnnobuoun able consideration, whose chain of title runs back to the person making the original entry of said lands, and who have heretofore purchased the paramount title: Provided, That if the amount herein appropriated Prmm. is not sufficient to settle all the claims hereinbefore described and ,,,,];,‘j’,§’,{’°’ °‘ °'**"“ included in Schedule E of special report submitted to Congress by the Secretary of the Interior May fifteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety- four, bein g Senate Executive Document Numbered Ninety- seven, present session, those remaining unpaid shall be submitted to Congress by the Secretary of the Interior, giving the amount of each claim, and such payments shall not include any claim of any pre-emptor or homesteader who had actual notice of the adverse claim of the Des Moines River Navigation Company at the time of making such pre-emption or homestead claim and only paid the necessary fees to the land officers, and who made no valuable improvements on the land so pre-empted or homesteaded. All such claims shall be reported to Congress, and all the facts in regard to any claim of pre-emption and homestead entry, in such cases, shall be reported to Congress: Provided further, That P¤ym¤¤t¤. said claims, except those hereinbefore indicated, shall be paid in the order of their approval by the Secretary of the Interior, and no money shall be paid hereunder, in any case, until the findings of the commissioner, in such case, are approved by the Secretary of the Interior, who shall have full authority to control all proceedings authorized by this paragraph. To pay the expenses arising under the preceding para- Expenses. graph, in addition to the appropriation to pay said claims, twelve thou sand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary. That all soldiers’ additional homestead certificates heretofore issued zglgiaipigsrnfhqaw under the rules and regulations of the General Land Office under sec- ”°R‘S_,,,,c_23o`§,p_,22_ tion twenty-three hundred and six of the Revised Statutes of the United States, or in pursuance of the decisions or instructions of the Secretary of the Interior, of date March tenth, eighteen hundred and seventy seven. or any subsequent decisions or instructions of the Secretary of the Interior or the Commissioner of the General Land Odlce, shall be, and are hereby, declared to be valid, notwithstanding any attempted sale or transfer thereof; and where such certificates have been or may hereafter be sold or transferred, such sale or transfer shall