Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 4.djvu/539



Tennessee, or the principal deputy surveyors in the said state; and that from and after the first day of May next, the office of principal deputy surveyors, as created by the ninth section of the act of Congress of the twenty-first day of April, eighteen hundred and six, entitled “,’” be, and the same are hereby, abolished; and it shall be the duty of said principal deputy surveyors to surrender to the surveyor general of Louisiana, or to such person or persons as he may appoint to receive the same, all the maps, books, records, field notes, documents and articles of every description, appertaining or in anywise belonging to their offices respectively.

. And be it further enacted, That the principal deputy surveyor for the district east of the island of New Orleans be, and he hereby is, required to separate and arrange the papers in his office; and all the maps, records, papers and documents of every description which refer to lands in the state of Louisiana, shall be delivered to the order of the surveyor general for that state; and such of them as refer to lands in the state of Alabama shall be delivered to the surveyor for the state of Alabama; and such of them as refer to lands in the state of Mississippi, together with such maps, papers, records and documents in the office of said principal deputy surveyor, as are not hereby required to be delivered to the surveyor general of the state of Louisiana, or to the surveyor for the stat of Alabama, shall be delivered to the order of the surveyor of the lands of the United States south of the state of Tennessee; and the office of said principal deputy shall be, and the same is hereby, abolished from and after the first day of May next; and the powers and duties now exercised and performed by the said principal deputy surveyor shall be vested in and performed by the aforesaid surveyors, within their respective states.

. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the surveyor south of the state of Tennessee to deliver to the surveyor general of the state of Louisiana all the maps, papers, records, and documents relating to the public lands, and private claims in Louisiana, which may be in his office; and in every case where it shall be impracticable to make a separation of such maps, papers, records and documents, without injury to the portion of them relating to lands in Mississippi, it shall be his duty to cause copies thereof certified by him to be furnished to the surveyor general of Louisiana, and which copies of the same validity as the originals.

. And be it further enacted, That the surveyor general of Louisiana shall appoint a sufficient number of skilful and experienced surveyors as his deputies, who, with one or more good and sufficient sureties to be approved by said surveyor general, shall enter into bond for the faithful performance of all surveying contracts confided to them in the penalty of double the amount of money accruing under the said contracts at the rate per mile stipulated to be paid therein, and who, before entering on the performance of their duties, shall take an oath, or make affirmation, truly, faithfully, and impartially, to the utmost of their skill and ability, to execute the trust confided to them; and in event of the failure of a deputy to comply with the terms of his contract, unless such failure shall be satisfactorily shown by him to have arisen from causes beyond his control, he shall forfeit the penalty of his bond on due process of law, and ever afterwards be debarred from receiving a contract for surveying public lands in Louisiana or elsewhere.

. And be it further enacted, That the surveyor general to be appointed in pursuance of this act shall establish his office at such place as the President of the United States may deem most expedient for the public service; and that he shall be allowed an annual salary of two thousand dollars, and that he be authorized to employ one skilful