128 FORTY-FOURTH CONGRESS. Sess. I. UH. 259. 1876. or she has in good faith made lasting and valuable improvement thereon, shall be, and hereby is declared to be entitled to purchase said Quantity and lands, not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres. to include his or her · PFM- improvements, on the same terms and conditions that actual settlers ` are authorized by this act to purchase said lands; that the rights of the said purchasers from said railroad companies shall attach at the date of the payment aioresaid made to said railroads or either of them: P¤>vi¤¤- Provided, That the said improvements are made before the date last · 1>mvis¤. aloresaid : And provided further, That said claimant actually resides ou the land at the time of completing his or her entry thereof at the proper Proviso. _ land office: Provided further, That the heirs of any deceased purchaser irom said railroads shall have the same right to purchase the said lands _ so purchased from the said railroads as the original purchaser would U have had, had he lived. h19"“‘° °f P “ " ’ Sec. That the parties desiring to make entries under the provisions ° “°°` of this act who will, within twelve months after the passage of the same Price. make payment at the rate of one dollar and twenty-ve cents per acre, ior the land claimed by said purchaser, under such rules and regulations as the Commissioner of the General Land Oihce may prescribe, as fol- Terms or p a y- lows, that is to say; said purchaser shall pay for the land he or she is ¤¤<>¤¤- entitled to purchase one-fourth of the price of the land at the time the entry is made, and the remainder in three annual payments, drawing interest at the rate of five per centum per annum, which payment shall ` be secured by notes of said purchaser, payable to the United States; and Title after lust the Secretary of the Interior shall withhold title until the last payment P¤Sm°¤*· is made; and the Secretary of the Interior shall cause patents to issue to all parties who shall complete their purchases under the provisions _ of this act; and if any claimant fails to complete his or her entry at the {,‘ ¥°ff*;;*‘:;’ lx; proper land-office within twelve months from the passage of this act, l;f:_;L‘;“_° P he or she shall forfeit all right to the land-by him or her so claimed, Proviso. except in cases where the land is in contest: Provided further, That i nothing in this act shall be construed to prevent any purchaser of said land from making payment at any time of the whole or any portion of _ _ the purchase money. . ‘·**“'¤“} ’°l*m3“ S1u0.4. That the laws of the United States in relation to the pre-
- Y“5%
- J;f;Q?(;2ggg emption of towirsites shall apply to the tract of land first above de-
];,,,(q,,_ scribed, except that the declaratory statement provided by existing laws in such eases shall be tiled with the register of the proper landoffice within sixty days after the passage of this act, and the occupants sm of town. of town-sites shall not be allowed to purchase more than three hundred sim. and twenty acres actually occupied as a town-site, except in case where town-site companies have purchased all claim of title of the original settlers, and all titles claimed by any railroad company, in which case said town-site company, by its proper agent, shall have the same right to enter said lands that the original settlers would have had, not exceeding in amount eight hundred acres, and shall pay therefor the sum of Pricoper acre. one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, in the same manner as actual occupants are required to pay. prior lawful cu. Sec. 5. That all lawful entries heretofore made of any of said lands, tries reinstatecl. and set aside or cancelled by the Secretary of the Interior, on the ground that the said railroads had a prior grant of said lands, be reinstated by the said Secretary of the Interior, subject to any valid adverse _ elaim that may have accrul d before or since such sale or cancellation. D °°1*T¤ *327 SEO. 6. That all declaratory statements made by persons desiring to
°" purchase any portion of said land under the provisions of this {wt,
' Jshall be filed-with the register of the proper land ohice within sixty Promo. days after the passage of the same: Provided, however, That those who may settle on said land after the passage of this act shall nle their declaratory statement within twenty days after settlement, and complete their purehase under the provisions of this act within one year? thereafter. `
