United States Statutes at Large/Volume 4/21st Congress/2nd Session/Chapter 116
Chap. CXVI.—An Act to create the office of surveyor of the public lands for the state of Louisiana.
Surveyor general created.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That a surveyor general for the state of Louisiana shall be appointed, who shall have the same authority, and perform the same duties, respecting the public lands and private land claims in the state of Louisiana, as are now vested in, and required of the surveyor of the lands of the United States, south of the state of 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, entitledApril 21, 1806, ch. 36. “An act supplementary to an act, entitled ‘An act for ascertaining and adjusting the titles and claims to lands within the territory of Orleans and district of Louisiana,’” 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.
Disposition of certain documents.Sec. 2. 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.
Other documents.Sec. 3. 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.
Deputy surveyors to be appointed.Sec. 4. 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.
Location of office of surveyor general.
Salary, &c.Sec. 5. 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 droughtsman and recording clerk whose aggregate compensation shall not exceed one thousand five hundred dollars per annum; and that the fees heretofore authorized by law for examining and recording surveys be, and the same are hereby, abolished; and any copy of a plat of survey, or transcript from the records of the office of the said surveyor general, shall be admitted as evidence in any of the courts of the United States or territories thereof; and for every copy of a plat of survey, there shall be paid twenty-five cents, and for any transcript from the records of said office, there shall be paid at the rate of twenty-five cents for every hundred words by the individuals requiring the same.
Settlement of conflicting claims.Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That in relation to all such confirmed claims as may conflict, or in any manner interfere with each other, the register of the land office and receiver of public moneys for the proper land district, are hereby authorized to decide between the parties, and shall in their decision be governed by such conditional lines or boundaries as have been or may be agreed upon between the parties interested, either verbally or in writing; and in case no lines or boundaries be agreed upon between the parties interested, then the said register and receiver are hereby authorized to decide between the parties in such manner as may be consistent with the principles of justice; and it shall be the duty of the surveyor general of the said state to have those claims surveyed and platted in accordance with the decisions of the register and receiver:Proviso. Provided, That the said decisions and surveys, and the patents which may be issued in conformity thereto, shall not in any wise be considered as precluding a legal investigation and decision by the proper judicial tribunal between the parties to any such interfering claims, but shall only operate as a relinquishment on the part of the United States of all title to the land in question.
Survey of certain lands.Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That all the lands to which the Indian title has been extinguished lying north of the northern boundary of the state of Illinois, west of Lake Michigan, and east of the Mississippi river, shall be surveyed in the same manner and under the same regulations, provisions, restrictions and reservations as the other public lands are surveyed.
School lands in Missouri.Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That the legislature of the state of Missouri be, and is hereby authorized to sell and convey in fee simple all or any part of the lands heretofore reserved and appropriated by Congress for the use of a seminary of learning in said state, and to invest the money arising from the sale thereof in some productive fund, the proceeds of which shall be for ever applied by the legislature of said state, solely to the use of such seminary, and for no other use or purpose whatsoever.Salt springs. And that the legislature of said state of Missouri shall be, and is hereby authorized to sell and convey in fee simple all or any part of the salt springs not exceeding twelve in number, and six sections of land adjoining to each, granted to said state by the United States for the use thereof, and selected by the legislature of said state, on or before the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-five, and to invest the money arising from the sale thereof in some productive fund, the proceeds of which shall be for ever applied under the direction of said legislature, for the purpose of education in said state, and for no other use or purpose whatsoever.
Approved, March 3, 1831.