THIRTY·-FIRST CONGRESS. Sess. I. Ch. 76. 1850. 497 retary of the Interior or other Department having charge of the surveys of the public lands, and that said geodetic surveys shall be followed by topographical surveys, as Congress may from time to time authorize and direct; but if the present mode of survey be adhered to, then it shall be the duty of said surveyor to cause a base line, and meridian to be surveyed, marked, and established, in the usual manner, at or near the mouth of the Willamette River ; and he shall also cause to be urveyed, in townships and sections, in the usual manner, and in accordance with the laws of the United States, which may be in force, the district of country lying between the summit of the Cascade Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, and south and north of the Columbia River: Provided, however, That none other than township lines Proviso. shall be run where the land is deemed untit for cultivation. That no deputy surveyor shall charge for any line except such as may be actually run and marked, nor for any line not necessary to be run; and that the whole cost of surveying shall not exceed the rate of eight dollars per mile, for every mile and part of mile actually surveyed and marked. Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That there shall be, and hereby Grantofpublic is, granted to every white settler or occupant of the public lands, *° American haltibreed Indians included, above the age of eighteen years, sims is years of being a citizen of the United States, or having made a declaration ac- 98¢»Wl¤L¤¤; gi cording to law, of his intention to become a citizen, or who shall :,°’Q,l;,f°t 1;,, ,1,; make such declaration on or before the tirst day of December, eighteen clared his intenhundred and fifty-one, now residing in said Territory, or who shall g';‘é°;:hQ:;,.g; become a resident thereof on or before the first day of December, pm 1, 1g5g_ eighteen hundred and fifty, and who shall have resided upon and cultivated the same for four consecutive years, and shall otherwise conform to the provisions of this act, the quantity of one half section, or three Half s ggctigu hundred and twenty acres of land, if a single man, and if a married to ¤ Single ¥¤¤¤» man, or if he shall become married within one year from the tirst day gg towaggjfsj of December, eighteen hundred and fifty, the quantity of one section, mm. or six hundred and forty acres, one half to himself and the other half to his wife, to be held by her in her own right; and the surveyor-general shall designate the part enuring to the husband and that to the wife, and enter the same on the records of his office; and in all cases when married where such married persons have complied with the provisions of this P<·>¤¤<>{1iSd bvs act, so as to entitle them to the grant as above provided, whether under :;:;,,;,,,;,,:2:,, the late provisional government of Oregon, or since, and either shall this act, and have died before patent issues, the survivor and children or heirs of the g;2,°',;§z}_;hQK; deceased shall be entitled to the share or interest of the deceased in patent issues, equal proportions, except where the deceased shall otherwise dispose tlgslsuwivmxvd of it by testament duly and properly executed according to the laws gfltdgudgzeaigg of Oregon: Provided, That no alien shall be entitled to a. patent to entitled to his land, granted by this act, until he shall produce to the surveyor-gen- ful:;' sl‘I‘:`:·0‘:f eral of Oregon, record evidence that his naturalization as a citizen of signs, P the United States has been completed; but if any alien, having made P¤>Yi¤<>· his declaration of intention to become a citizen of the United States, alter the passage of this act, shall die before his naturalization shall be completed, the possessory right acquired by him under the provisions of this act shall descend to his heirs at law, or pass to his devisees, to whom, as the case may be, the patent shall issue: Provided, further, Further proviso. That in all cases provided for in this section, the donation shall embrace the land actually occupied and cultivated by the settler thereon: Provided, further, That all future contracts by any person or persons Further proviso. entitled to the benefit of this act, for the sale of the land to which he or they may be entitled under this act before he or they have received a patent therefor, shall be void: Provided, further, however, That this Further proviso. section shall not be so construed as to allow those claiming rights VOL. IX. PUn.—63
