Chapter 382.
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CHAP. 382.— An act for the relief of settlers upon certain lands in the States of North Dakota and South Dakota.August 5, 1892. Whereas under the rulings of the General Land Office the extension intoPreamble. Dakota Territory, now States of North Dakota and South Dakota, of the limits of the grants of land made by Congress to aid in the construction of the several lines of railroad now owned by the Saint Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway Company was denied, and in consequence of said rulings lands within the limits of the said grants in the said States have been claimed, settled upon, occupied, and improved by numerous persons in good faith under color of title or of right to do so derived from the various laws of the United States relating to the public domain, and are now claimed by them, their heirs, or assigns, and many of said lands have actually been patented to such occupants or to their grantors; and Whereas under recent construction of said grants the said occupants, improvers, or purchasers, are liable to be evicted from their holdings:
Now, therefore, for the purpose of relieving the said occupants, improvers, and purchasers of the said granted lands from the hardship of being now deprived of the same under the circumstances aforesaid. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Saint Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba railway Company. List of land claimed by purchasers on grants to be furnished. That the Secretary of the Interior shall, as soon as conveniently may be done, cause to be prepared and delivered to the said railway company a list of the several tracts which have been purchased, claimed, occupied, and improved, as stated in section two of this act, and are now claimed by such purchasers or occupants, their heirs or assigns, according to the smallest Government subdivisions.
Within a reasonable time after the receipt by the said Release by company of its title.railway company of the said list, it shall execute under its corporate seal and deliver to the Secretary of the Interior its deed of conveyance 391 releasing to the United States all its claims upon the lands described in said list, and shall also procure and cause to be released to the United States all liens and claims to said lands derived through or under said company, whereupon all right, title, and interest of the said railway company to each of such tracts shall revert to the United States, and such tracts shall be treated, under the laws thereof, in the same manner as if no rights thereto had ever vested in the said rail way company, and all qualified persons who have occupied and made improvements on said lands, as herein provided, or who have purchasedSettlers to perfect titles. said lands in good faith, their heirs and assigns, shall be permitted to perfect their titles to said lands according to law as if said grants bad never been made.
Sec. 2. That the said railway company is hereby permitted to select,Selections in lieu of lands released. in lieu of any lands forming odd-numbered sections or parts thereof situated in the State of North Dakota or in the State of South Dakota, within the ten-mile limits of a grant of lands made to the Territory of Minnesota by act of Congress, entitled “An act making a grant of land to the Territory ofVol. 11, p. 195. Minnesota, in alternate sections, to aid in the construction of certain railroads in said Territory, and granting public lands, in alternate sections, to the State of Alabama, to aid in the construction of a certain railroad in said State,”approved March third, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, as amended by an act of Congress,Vol. 13, p. 526. entitled “An act extending the time for the completion of certain laud grant railroads in the States of Minnesota and Iowa, and for other purposes.” approved March third, eighteen hundred and sixty five-, and of a grant made by act of Congress entitled “An act authorizingVol. 16, p. 588. the Saint Paul and Pacific Railroad Company to change its line in consideration of a relinquishment of lands,” approved March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-one, opposite to and coterminous with such portion of said railroad as was constructed and completed within the time required by the said grant and the acts amendatory thereof for the construction and completion of the whole of said railroad, which, prior to January first, anno Domini eighteen hundred and ninety-one, any person had purchased or occupied or improved, in good faith, under color of title or right to do so, derived from any law of the United States relating to the public domain, but not including anyLands excluded.
Vol. 16, p. 558. lands within the limits of the grant, to aid in the construction of the Saint Vincent branch of said road, as located under the act of March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-one, upon which any person or persons had, in good faith, settled and made or acquired valuable improvements thereon prior to March, eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, an equal quantity of non mineral public lands, so classified as non mineral at the time of actual Government survey which has been or shall be made, of the United States not reserved and to which no adverse right or claim shall have attached or have been initiated at the time of the making of such selection lying within any State into or through which the railway owned by said railway company runs, to the extent of the lands so relinquished and released:
Provided, That*Provisos*. the lands to be released by said company, and in lieu of which said company shall be entitled to select other kinds of equal area, shall onlyLands released to include only lands subject to no prior ownership. include lands to which, at the date of the definite location of the lines of railroad in aid of which said land grants were made, no paramount grant, sale, preemption, or homestead right had attached, this proviso not to be considered as in any way extending the limitation as to eighteen hundred and seventy-seven herein above provided: *And provided further*, That the tracts of land so by said company to be selected in any one body under the authority of this act shall not exceed six hundredSelection of new tracts. and forty acres, and such selections shall not exceed in the aggregate sixty-five thousand acres.
But said company shall not be required to relinquish any greater amount of land than it is permitted by this act to select. 392 Sec. 3. That upon the filing by the said railroad company, at thePatents to issue for lands selected. local land office of the land district in which any tract of land selected in pursuance of this act shall lie, a list describing the tract or tracts selected, and the payment of the fees prescribed by law in analogous cases, and the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, he shall cause to be executed, in due form of law. and deliver to said company, a Description of unsurveyed lands.patent of the United States, conveying to it the lands so selected.
In case the tract so selected shall at the time of selection be unsurveyed, the list filed by the company at the local land office shall describe such tract in such manner as to designate the same with a reasonable degree of certainty, and within the period of three months after the lands including such tract shall have been surveyed, and the plats thereof tiled in the local land office, a new selection list shall be filed by said company, describing such tract according to such survey; and in case such Correction of description on survey.tract as originally selected and described in the lists filed in the local land office shall not precisely conform with the lines of the official survey, the said company shall be permitted to describe such tract anew, so as to produce such conformity.
Sec. 4. That this act shall take effect and be in force from and afterAcceptance to be in ninety days. the time of its acceptance by the said railway company, which must be within ninety days from the approval of this act. Approved, August 5, 1892.