Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 69.djvu/583

 69 S T A T. ]

541

PUBLIC LAW 259-AUG. 9, 1955

of New Mexico by deeds dated December 3, 1951, and recorded in book 142 at pa<2:es 547 to 556. inclusive, records of Otero County, New Mexico, in exchange for lands of the United States pursuant to the Act of June 28, 1984 (48 Stat. 1269; 43 U.S.C. 315^), as amended, are hereby made parts of said Lincoln National Forest and hereafter shall be subject to all laws, rules, and regulations applicable to that national forest. Approved August 9, 1955,

Public Law 258

CHAPTER 618

AN ACT To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to issue patents for certain lands in Florida borderinj^ upon Indian River. Be it enacted by the Senate and Rou^e of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Interior shall issue patents for the public lands erroneously omitted from the survey which are situated between the position of the record meander line represented on the plat approved March 10, 1845, and the actual shoreline of the Indian River in sections 11, 13, 14, 23, 24, 25, and 36, township 27 south, range 37 east, Tallahassee Meridian, Florida, to persons who hold such public lands in good faith and in peaceful adverse possession, if they or their predecessors in interest have been issued patents, prior to January 1, 1954, for the upland tracts adjoining such erroneously omitted lands. Payment to the Ignited States shall be made for lands so patented at the same price per acre as that at which the land included in the original patent was purchased, but in no case less than $1.25 per acre. No patent shall issue for any tract unless application for tile tract is made by a qualified person within one year from the date of enactment of this Act. The Secretary shall issue no patents until the conclusion of such period. The Secretary may, by public sale at not less than the appraised value or under any appropriate public land law, dispose of any tract of public land subject to this Act which is not applied for by a qualified person within the one-year period. SEC. 2. Upon the filing of a plat of resurvey under section 1 of this Act, the Secretary shall give such notice as he finds appropriate by newspaper publication or otherwise of the opening of the lands to purchase under this Act. SEC. 3. Nothing in this Act shall affect valid existing rights. Approved August 9, 1955. Public Law 259

August 9, 1955 [S. 464]

Florida. Land patents.

CHAPTER 619

AN ACT To authorize the issuance of commemorative medals to certain societies of which Benjamin Franklin was a member, founder, or sponsor in observance of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of his birth. Be it enacted by the Senate and Hoii^ne of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled. That, in commemoration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the birth of Benjamin Franklin occurring on January 17, 1956, and in connection with the observance and celebration of that event, the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to have struck seventy-one bronze medals of an appropriate design and inscription and to provide for

August 9, 1955 [S. 463]

Benjamin Franklin s o c i e t i e s. C o m memorative medals.

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