Chapter CCV. for the Disposal of Coal Lands and of Town Property in the Public Domain
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Chap. CCV.— An Act for the Disposal of Coal Lands and of Town Property in the Public Domain.July 1, 1864. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* That1865, ch. 107.*Post*, p. 529.Disposal of coal lands and town property.1841, ch. 16.Vol. v. p. 453. where any tracts embracing coal-beds or coalfields, constituting portions of the public domain, and which, as “mines,” are excluded from the preëmption act of eighteen hundred and forty-one, and which under past legislation are not liable to ordinary private entry, it shall and may be lawful for the President to cause such tracts, in suitable legal subdivisions, to be offered at public eale to the highest bidder, after public notice of not less than three months, at a minimum price of twenty dollars per acre; and any lands not thus disposed of shall thereafter be liable to private entry at said minimum.
Sec. 2. *And be it further enacted,* ThatTown or city sites in public lands. in any case in which parties have already founded, or may hereafter desire to found, a city or town on the public lands, it shall and may be lawful for them to cause to be filed with the recorder for the county in which the same is situated, a plat thereof, for not exceeding six hundred and forty acres, describing its exterior boundaries according to the lines of the public surveys, where such surveys have been executed; also giving the name of such city or town, and exhibiting the streets, squares, blocks, lots, and alleys, the size of the same, with measurements and area of each municipal subdivision, the lots in which shall each not exceed four thousand two hundred square feet, with a statement of the extent and general character of the improvements; the said map and statement to be verified under oath by the party acting for, and in behalf, of the persons proposing to establish such city or town; and within one month after such filing there shall be transmitted to the general land-office a verified transcript of such map and statement, accompanied by the testimony of two witnesses that such city or town has been established in good faith, and when the premises are within the limits of an organized land district, a similar map and statement shall be filed with the register and receiver, and at any time after the filing of such map, statement, and testimony in the general land-office, it shall and may be lawful for the President to cause the lots embraced within the limits of such city or town to be offered at public sale to the344THIRTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS.
Sess. I. Ch. 205, 209, 210. 1864. highestCity and town lots. bidder, subject to a minimum of ten dollars for each lot; and such lots as may not be disposed of at public sale, shall thereafter be liable to private entry at said minimum, or at such reasonable increase or diminution thereafter as the Secretary of the Interior may order from time to time, after at least three months’ notice, in view of the increase or decrease in the value of the municipal property:Actual settlers. *Provided,* That any actual settler upon any one lot, as aforesaid, and upon any additional lot in which he may have substantial improvements, shall be entitled to prove up and purchase the same as a preëmption, at said minimum, at any time before the day fixed for the public sole.
Sec. 3. *And be it further enacted,* ThatWhen established upon unsurveyed lands, extension limits how adjusted.Patents to issue. when such cities or towns are established upon unsurveyed lands, it shall and may be lawful, after the extension thereto of the public surveys, to adjust the extension limits of the premises according to those lines, where it can be done without interference with rights which may be vested by sale; and patents for all lots so disposed of at public or private sale shall issue as in ordinary cases.
Sec. 4. *And be it further enacted,* ThatIf maps, &c., are not died in twelve months, surveys, &c., may be made, and lots disposed of. if within twelve months from the establishment of a city or town, as aforesaid, in the public domain, the parties interested shall refuse or fail to file in the general land-office transcript map with the statement and testimony called for by the provisions of the second section of this act, it shall and may be lawful for the Secretary of the Interior to cause a survey and plat to be made of such city or town, and thereafter the lots in the same shall be disposed of as required by said provisions, with this exception, that they shall each be at an increase of fifty per centum on the aforesaid minimum of ten dollars per lot.
Sec. 5. *And be it further enacted,* ThatRegulations to carry act into effect.Repeal of act. of 1844, ch. 17.Vol. v. p. 657. effect shall be given to the foregoing act, according to such regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior. The act entitled “An act for the relief of the citizens of towns upon the lands of the United States, under certain circumstances,” approved May twenty-three, anno Domini eighteen hundred and forty-four, and all other acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act, be, and the same are hereby, repealed.
Approved, July 1, 1864.