be forthwith reduced to writing, signed by the parties, and filed and recorded in the office of said commissioner, and thence, during the continuance of such contract, it shall be lawful for such purchaser or his assignee at any time to pay [162] the principal and interest due upon such contract and receive a certificate of purchase, as mentioned in the preceding section.

SEC. 8. 500,000 acres, how selected-settler to notify commissioneramount duty of commissioner-of superintendent-contract-terms-interest. That the manner of selecting the five [hundred] thousand acres of land, mentioned in the second section of the tenth article of the constitution, and the disposition thereof, for the support of schools, shall be as follows, to wit: Any person capable of contracting, having settled upon public lands, the quality whereof and the improvements thereon will, in the opinion of the fund commissioner of the county, render the selection a safe and profitable one, may in writing signify to said fund commissioner of the county wherein the land is situated, his or her desire to have the same recognized as school land, and thereupon the the same, not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres, shall be returned by said fund commissioner, with the date of their selection, to the superintendent of public instruction, to be by him registered as lands selected by the state under the grant from congress referred to. After which the said fund commissioner shall proceed to contract with such settler for a sale thereof upon the following terms, to wit: One fifth of the purchase money in advance, or within three months from the day of making the contracts, (as the said fund commissioner may think best,) and the balance on a credit of not more than ten years, at the discretion of the purchaser, bearing interest at the rate of ten per cent. per annum, payable annually at the office of said fund commissioner.

SEC. 9. Interest, pay day. In order that the day of paying interest may be uniform, all contracts therefor shall make the first day of January following the date of the contract, the day of the first payment, and annually thereafter upon the same day.

SEC. 10. Failure to pay-contract forfeited-new sale. If any person shall fail to pay the interest due upon any contract, as herein before mentioned, it shall be lawful for the fund commissioner in his discretion, either to consider the contract as forfeited and proceed to sell the land anew, upon the terms prescribed in the fifth section of this act, or to collect the same by suit.

SEC. 11. Waste. All contracts for the purchase of lands under the provisions of this act, shall be subject to such regulations to prevent waste as may, from time to time, be prescribed by law.

SEC. 12. Money to be paid in advance or security. That when it shall appear to the satisfaction of the fund commissioner that any lands by him about to be offered for sale, are of such a description that a sale thereof upon a partial credit would be wholly incompatible with the interest of the school fund, and the preservation thereof from waste, and especially in the case of timbered lands, or lands the value whereof consists chiefly in the timber growing thereon, the fund commissioner may, in his discretion, exact the whole [163] of the purchase money in advance, or if he shall sell such lands upon a partial credit, as hereinbefore prescribed, it shall be his duty to require good collateral security for the payment of the residue of the purchase money, upon the terms agreed upon.

SEC. 13. Waste-injunction-trial-order-costs—proviso. When the fund commissioner shall be satisfied that waste is being committed upon school lands, sold or unsold, it shall be lawful for him to apply, by petition, to the district court, or any judge thereof, for an injunction to stay waste, and the same, if granted, shall be without bond, and shall stand for trial first in order upon the court docket. The said bill shall be tried in a summary way, upon which

the fund commissioner shall be a competent witness; the court may make such order in the premises as may be equitable and calculated to secure the school lands from waste or destruction, and may adjudge the party to the fund commissioner damages for the injury done; the costs shall abide the event of the injunction provided, such damages may be assessed by a jury.

SEC. 14. Five per cent. on sales. The five per centum upon the net proceeds of the sales of the public lands granted by the United States to this state, shall be paid into the hands of the superintendent of public instruction, to be disposed of according to law.

SEC. 15. Intestate estates. The proceeds of the sales of intestate estates, to which there may be no heir, shall be paid into the general school fund, and be disposed of according to law.

SEC. 16. Fund commissioner's security-citation-order-neglect-removal. When in the opinion of the board of commissioners of any county, the security of the fund commissioner of their county may be insufficient, the said board may cite the said fund commissioner to appear before them at some specified time, to show cause why he shall not enlarge his bond, or give additional security, or both, as the case may be; and upon the return of the process served, the board may make such order in the premises as they think proper. If the fund commissioner neglect or refuse to comply therewith, the board may remove him from office and fill the vacancy.

SEC. 17. Duty of superintendent as to 500,000 acres―notice. The superintendent of public instruction shall report, from time to time, all selections made under the eighth section of this act, to the secretary of the treasury of the United States and to the proper land office, and as soon as the five hundred thousand acres shall have been selected, he shall give notice to the several fund commissioners, who shall thereafter stop receiving selections of land as afore

said.

SEC. 18. When selected. If more than five hundred thousand acres are selected, those shall be rejected which were made by the fund commissioner last in point of time; and it shall be the duty of the several fund commission[164]-ers, upon being informed thereof by the superintendent of public instruction to notify the persons whose selections are rejected of that fact.

SEC. 19. Taxation. All lands contracted for under the provisions of this act shall be subject to taxation from the day of making the contract of purchase, to be paid by the person contracting therefor or by the occupant Approved, February 25th, 1847.

CHAPTER 112.

STATE SEAL.

AN ACT authorizing the secretary of state to procure a state seal.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Iowa:

SECTION 1. Seal-device-motto. That the secretary of state be, and he is, hereby authorized to procure a seal which shall be the great seal of the state of Iowa, two inches in diameter, upon which shall be engraved the following device, surrounded by the words, "The Great Seal of the State of Iowa" -a sheaf and field of standing wheat, with a sickle and other farming utensils. on the left side near the bottom; a lead furnace and pile of pig lead on the right side; the citizen soldier, with a plow in his rear, supporting the American flag and liberty cap with his right hand, and his gun with his left, in the center and

near the bottom; the Mississippi river in the rear of the whole, with the steamer Iowa under way; an eagle near the upper edge, holding in his beak a scroll, with the following inscription upon it: Our liberties we prize, and our rights we will maintain.

SEC. 2. Appropriation. The sum of forty dollars shall be, and is hereby appropriated for the purchase of the seal aforesaid, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.

SEC. 3. To take effect. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its publication in the weekly newspapers in Iowa City.

Approved, February 25th, 1847.

Published in the Reporter and Standard March 3d, 1847.

[165] CHAPTER 113.

PUBLIC WORKS.

AN ACT creating a board of public works, and providing for the improvement of the Des Moines river.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Iowa:

SECTION 1. Board of public works-when elected-oath. That, for the improvement of the Des Moines river, there shall be established a board, to be called the "board of public works," which shall consist of a president, secretary and treasurer, who shall be elected by the qualified electors of this state on the first Monday of August next, and every two years thereafter, and shall remain in office until their successors are elected and qualified; and before entering upon the discharge of their duties, they shall take and subscribe (before some person qualified to administer the same) an oath or affirmation for the faithful and impartial performance of the duties required of them by law, which shall be deposited with the secretary of state.

SEC. 2. Vacancy. In case of a vacancy, occasioned otherwise than by expiration of the term of service, the governor shall have power to appoint a successor, who shall serve until the place is regularly filled by election, in the manner prescribed in the first section of this act.

SEC. 3. Salaries. The president shall receive one thousand dollars, and the secretary and treasurer each eight hundred dollars, per annum, payable quarterly. The president shall be the active agent of said board; shall superintend said work, and make report of the progress of contractors every month or oftener, as the board may direct; and said board shall hold its regular sessions monthly-but the president may call them together whenever he may deem it expedient.

SEC. 4. Expenses, how paid. Such payments, as well as all the other expenses attending the prosecution of the work, shall be paid from the fund resulting from the sale of the donated lands.

SEC. 5. In case of inability of the president to discharge the duties of his office, he may appoint either of the other members of the board to act in his stead.

SEC. 6. Chief engineer. The board shall have power to procure a chief engineer and such assistants as may be necessary, and to take all other steps for the effectual prosecution of the work, and for the preservation and care thereof, as fast as it shall be completed.

SEC. 7. Quorum. They shall have the general supervision and control of said work, and any two of said board shall constitute a quorum: provided,

they shall all have been notified to attend, or if for any reason the attendance of the third member shall be impracticable.

[166] SEC. 8. Treasurer to give bond-president and secretarys' bonds. The treasurer shall give bond in the penalty of fifty thousand dollars, with securities to be aproved by the governor, conditioned that he will faithfully perform the duties of his office-account for and pay over all moneys that shall come into his hands in his official capacity. The president and secretary shall each give bond, with security to be approved in like manner, in the sum of ten thousand dollars, conditioned that they will faithfully perform the duties required of them by law, which bonds shall be filed in the office of [the] secretary of state.

SEC. 9. Report. The board shall make report to the governor, on or before the first day of every regular session of the legislature, giving a full statement of all their doings, and recommending such legislative action as they may deem expedient.

SEC. 10. Extra allowance. No extra allowance shall be made to any contractor or other person, except under circumstances wherein the law would have compelled such allowance by a private individual. In all such cases full statements thereof, and the reasons therefor, shall be made out and filed in the office of the board.

SEC. 11. The board may sue and be sued in their legal name-service of process upon any member of the board shall be sufficient.

SEC. 12. Office. The board shall establish an office at some suitable place, which they may remove from time to time, so as to be as convenient as practicable to the land to be sold and the improvements to be made.

SEC. 13. Nature of improvement. The general nature of the said improvement shall be [a] system of slack water navigation, by means of dams and locks; but if, at any particular part of said river, such mode of improvement shall be found improper, such other mode may be adopted as the board may deem best.

SEC. 14. Where to commence-mill dams. As far as compatible with the advantageous prosecution of the work, the improvement of the river shall commence at either the mouth of the Dead Slough, or the mouth of the Massau Slough, on the Mississippi river-thence up the slough to the Des Moines river -unless the board find the improvement of either of said sloughs not best calculated to advance the interest of the state. They shall then be authorized to select such other point for the commencement of the work as they shall deem expedient; and said improvement shall progress regularly up said Des Moines river; and said board may require the proprietors of any mill dam in said river to place a sufficient lock therein within a reasonable time, or otherwise, they may proceed to cause such dam to be removed, or to take such other steps as they may deem proper to render the river navigable.

SEC. 15. Locks. The board shall fix upon [such] dimensions for the locks as, after full inquiry and investigation, they shall deem best adapted to the purpose for which they are intended.

[167] SEC. 16. Dams and mills-power of board. The dams shall be located, as far as practicable, so as to accommodate the mills and machinery now begun or erected on said river; and the board shall have power to make such arrangements with the proprietors thereof in relation to the water power as may be just and proper. If no satisfactory arrangement can be made, the board shall have power to proceed with the work, and the fact shall be reported as early as practicable to the governor, to be laid before the legislature.

SEC. 17. Adjacent land. The board shall also have power to make arrange. ments with the proprietors of the land adjacent to the dams, on either side of

said river, where no mill or machinery shall have been begun or erected, for the purpose of procuring for the state a tract of land sufficient to make the water power thereby created fully available; if no such satisfactory arrangement can be made, the sheriff of the county shall summon eighteen disinterested and qualified jurors, of whom each party shall strike off six, and the remaining six shall proceed to mark off such tract of land not exceeding ten acres, and to fix the fair value of the same; and upon the payment of that amount the board shall have power, by a bill in chancery, to compel the proprietors to execute a deed therefor to the state: provided, in the opinion of the court such conveyance is necessary to render the water power available. SEC. 18. Water power-contracts for. The board shall have power to lease out any water power that may be created by said improvement, for a period of not more than fifty years. They may also make contracts of like duration with individuals, granting them the water power created by any dam: provided, they will erect the same, and the necessary appendages, and keep them in repair, upon such conditions, and with such securities for the faithful performance of such contracts, as they shall deem proper.

SEC. 19. Removal of rocks, etc.-dams. The board may, also, as soon as they shall deem it expedient, cause the removal of rocks and other obstructions to the navigation of any part of said river, below the Racoon Forks; and may, after the survey of the river and the location of the dams, cause such dams to be built at certain points out of their regular order, whenever they think the public interest requires it.

SEC. 20. To prevent waste. The board shall have power to take all the necessary steps to prevent waste upon the public lands granted for the improvement of the river, and may bring suit to recover damages therefor.

SEC. 21. May purchase lands. They shall have power to purchase any tract of land which may be found necessary to promote the prosperity of the work, or to accomplish the object contemplated by this act, which tract shall be held and used for the public benefit.

SEC. 22. Dam charters vacated—dams to be altered, etc.—may pay proprietors. All charters granted by the legislature of the territory [168] of Iowa for building dams across said river, are hereby declared to be vacated, unless the proprietors thereof will construct dams and locks in accordance with the direction of the board. The board shall require the proprietors, or any person whe may have obtained a charter to build one, to build or alter the same so as to correspond with the general character of the improvement of the river-and unless they will comply with such requirement, their charters shall be deemed to be vacated-and the board are authorized to proceed to construct the dams or locks themselves; and nothing herein contained shall prevent the board from paying the proprietors of such dams whatever they may deem reasonable, in addition to the privileges authorized by this act.

SEC. 23. Work to be done by contract-lowest bid. As far as practicable, the work shall be done and the materials furnished by contracts, which shall be given to the lowest responsible bidders, after full public notice shall have been given. When the lowest bid shall not be accepted, the reasons therefor shall be stated and filed in the office of the board, and be subject to public inspection. SEC. 24. Contracts. All contracts shall be made in writing, signed by the president of the board and the contractor, and a duplicate thereof filed in the office of the board previous to the commencement of the work; and no contract shall be entered into between the board and either of its members.

SEC. 25. Record. The board shall keep a record of all the proceedings, which, together with all papers filed in their office, shall at all times be subject to the inspection of such presons as the legislature may appoint for that purpose.