Chapter XCVII. to provide for the Disposal of certain Lands therein named
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Chap. XCVII.— An Act to provide for the Disposal of certain Lands therein named.March 3, 1863. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* ThatFort Howard Military Reserve to be surveyed and subdivided into lots. the commissioner of the general land-office shall, as soon as may be, cause that portion of the public domain known as the Fort Howard Military Reserve, including the site of the fort, containing three acres and four-hundredths of an acre, which is situated in the county of Brown and State of Wisconsin, between Fox River and Beaver Dam Run, and which is not included in the confirmations to Talbot C.
Dousman and Daniel Whitney, nor in the grant to the State of Wisconsin under the resolution of Congress approved April twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, entitled “A resolutionResolution number 30.1856, ch. 43.Vol. xi. p. 20. explanatory of, and in addition to, the act of June third, eighteen hundred and fifty-six, granting public lands to the State of Wisconsin to aid in the construction of railroads in said State,” as heretofore surveyed under the direction of the surveyor-general of Wisconsin and Iowa, to be surveyed and subdivided into lots of such form and of such size, not less than one fourth of an acre, and not more than forty acres, as he may deem expedient, dedicating such portions of the same to the use of the public for streets and highways as he may think the public interest and convenienceStreets.Plats to be certified and recorded.Lots to be sold separately at public auction. may require; and shall cause a plat thereof to be duly and properly certified by such surveyor-general, and recorded in the office of the register of deeds for said county of Brown; and when so surveyed, platted, and recorded, he shall cause each and all said lots to be sold separately at public auction, giving not less than two months’ notice of the time and place of such sale by advertising the same in such newspapers and for such period of time as he may deem best.
Every such lot shall be sold to the highest bidder for cash, and when not paid for within twenty-four hours from the time of purchase, it shall be liable to be resold under theSale not binding unless approved. older of the commissioner of the general land-office aforesaid, but no sale shall be binding until approved by the Secretary of the Interior. Sec. 2. *And be it further enacted,* ThatPatents. it shall be the duty of the President to cause patents to be issued in due form of law for each and every such lot as soon as may be after the purchase of and payment for the same.
Sec. 3. *And be it further enacted,* ThatPortion of the public domain adjacent to Fort Howard Military Reserve to be surveyed into lots, it shall also be the duty of the commissioner of the land-office to cause so much of the public domain adjacent to said reserve as lies between said Beaver Dam Run and Duck Creek to be resurveyed into lots, the lines of which shall conform as772THIRTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS. Sess. III. Ch. 97, 98. 1863. near as may be to the lines of the survey formerly made by Albert G.
Ellis, and shall cause certified plats thereof to be returned as is provided by law in the case of other surveys of the public domain; and he shall thereuponand disposed of. proceed to dispose of the same as other public lands are disposed of, saving to every person who upon the passage of this act may be in possessionRights of persons in possession, who have made improvements. of any part of said lands, and shall have made improvements thereon, as provided under the preemption laws of the United States, the right to purchase any lots so improved, lying contiguous to each other, and not exceeding in the aggregate eighty acres, upon making proof of such possession and improvements, and paying for such lots the sum of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, within six months after public notice shall be given of the time and place for making such proof and payment.
Sec. 4. *And be it further enacted,* ThatMilitary reserve of Fort Crawford to be surveyed and disposed of. the commissioner of the general land-office shall cause the military reserve of Fort Crawford, in the county of Crawford, in the same State, to be surveyed and disposed of in the manner prescribed in the first and second sections of this act for the disposition of the Fort Howard Reserve. Approved, March 3, 1863.