Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 5.djvu/323



Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all that part of the State of Mississippi north of the point where the range line strikes the Mississippi river, between townships thirteen and fourteen, of the Washington land district, is hereby created a collection district, to be called the Vicksburg district, whereof Vicksburg shall be the port of entry, subject to all the regulations and duties prescribed in regard to the district of Mississippi, by an act passed the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and thirty-four, entitled “;” and that Grand Gulf shall be a port of delivery within said district of which Natchez is the port of entry.

, July 7, 1838.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That for the disposal of that portion of the lands belonging to the United States in the State of Louisiana, within the following boundaries, to wit: beginning at the point on the Sabine river, where the base line or thirty-first degree of north latitude strikes the same; thence up said river to the point where the boundary line between the United States of Mexico and the aforesaid State of Louisiana shall leave the same; thence with said boundary, when the same shall be finally fixed, to the northern boundary of the State; thence east with said northern boundary to the dividing line between ranges three and four west; thence with said dividing line south to the base line or thirty-first degree of north latitude; thence with said line to the beginning: a land office shall be established and kept in the town of Natchitoches, to be known as the office for the Northwestern land district in the State of Louisiana.

. And be it further enacted, That a register and receiver of public moneys shall be appointed for said land district in the manner required by law, who shall reside in the town of Natchitoches; they shall give bond and security in the same manner and in the same sums, as other registers and receivers in said State; and their salaries, emoluments, duties and authority shall in every respect be the same, in relation to the lands in the aforesaid district as are now given or granted to the registers and receivers in the other land offices in said State.

. And be it further enacted, That during the continuance of the act entitled “,” approved June twenty-second, in the year eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, the register and receiver of the aforesaid land district shall attend at least once in two months if necessary at Shreeveport in said district for the purpose of receiving proof of and acting on such claims for pre-emption rights, as may be presented to them under said act, and remain at said place as long as may be necessary not exceeding two weeks at a time, and said register and receiver shall give public notice for at least two weeks of the time they will attend at said place.

. And be it further enacted, That the Commissioner of the General Land Office is hereby invested with authority to direct in what manner and on what conditions the said land office shall be supplied with plats and copies of plats and surveys from the offices now