SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That no lands shall be sold by virtue of this act, at either public or private sale, for less than two dollars per acre, and payment may be made for the same by all purchasers, either in specie, or in evidences of the public debt of the United States, at the rates prescribed by the act intituled "An act to authorize the receipt of evidences of the public debt in payment for the lands of the United States," and shall be made in the following manner, and under the following conditions, to wit:

1. At the time of purchase, every purchaser shall, exclusively of the fees hereafter mentioned, pay six dollars for every section and three dollars for every half section he may have purchased, for surveying expenses, and deposit one-twentieth part of the amount of purchase-money, to be forfeited if within forty days one-fourth part of the purchase-money, including the said twentieth part, is not paid.

2. One-fourth part of the purchase-money shall be paid within forty days after the day of sale as aforesaid: another fourth part shall be paid within two years; another fourth part within three years; and another fourth part within four years, after the day of sale.

3. Interest, at the rate of six per cent. a year, from the day of sale, shall be charged upon each of the three last payments, payable as they respectively become due.

4. A discount, at the rate of eight per cent. a year, shall be allowed on any of the three last payments, which shall be paid before the same shall become due, reckoning this discount always upon the sum which would have been demandable by the United States on the day appointed for such payment.

5. If the first payment of one-fourth part of the purchase-money shall not be made within forty days after the sale, the deposit, payment, and fees, paid and made by the purchaser, shall be forfeited, and the lands shall and may, from and after the day when the payment of one-fourth part of the purchase-money should have been made, be disposed of at private sale, on the same terms and conditions, and in the same manner, as the other lands directed by this act to be disposed of at private sale: Provided, That the lands which shall have been sold at public sale, and which shall, on account of such failure of payment, revert to the United States, shall not be sold at private sale for a price less than the price that shall have been offered for the same at public sale.

6. If any tract shall not be completely paid for within one year after the date of the last payment, the tract shall be advertised for sale by the register of the land office within whose district it may lie, in at least five of the most public places in the said district, for at least thirty days before the time of sale. And he shall sell the same at public vendue, during the sitting of the court of quarter sessions of the county in which the land office is kept, for a price not less than the whole arrears due thereon, with the expenses of sale; the surplus, if any, shall be returned to the original purchaser, or to his legal representative; but if the sum due, with interest, be not bidden and paid, then the land shall revert to the United States. All moneys paid therefor shall be forfeited, and the register of the land office may proceed to dispose of the same to any purchaser, as in case of other lands, at private sale.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That all and every the payments to be made by virtue of the preceding section shall be made either to the Treasurer of the United States, or to such person or officer as shall be appointed by the President of the United States, with the advice and consent of the Senate, receiver of public moneys for lands of the United States,

at each of the places, respectively, where the public and private sales of the said lands are to be made; and the said receiver of public moneys shall, before he enters upon the duties of his office, give bond, with approved security, in the sum of ten thousand dollars, for the faithful discharge of his trust; and it shall be the duty of the said Treasurer and receiver of public moneys to give receipts for the moneys by them received, to the persons respectively paying the same; to transmit, within thirty days in case of public sale, and quarterly in case of private sale, an account of all the public moneys by them received, specifying the amount received from each person, and distinguishing the sums received for surveying expenses and those received for purchase-money, to the Secretary of the Treasury, and to the registers of the land office, as the case may be. The said receivers of public moneys shall, within three months after receiving the same, transmit the moneys by them received to the Treasurer of the United States; and the receivers of public moneys for the said sales, and, also the receivers of public moneys for the sales which have taken place at Pittsburg, under the act intituled "An act providing for the sale of the lands of the United States in the Territory northwest of the Ohio, and above the mouth of Kentucky river," shall receive one per cent. on the money received, as a compensation for clerk hire, receiving, safe keeping, and transmitting it to the Treasury of the United States.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the registers of the land offices, respectively, to receive and enter, on books kept. for that purpose only, and on which no blank leaves or space shall be left between the different entries, the applications of any person or persons who may apply for the purchase of any section or half section, and who shall pay him the fee hereafter mentioned, and produce a receipt from the Treasurer of the United States, or from the receiver of public moneys appointed for that purpose, for three dollars for each half section such person or persons may apply for, and for at least one-twentieth part of the purchase-money, stating, carefully, in each entry, the date of the application, the date of the receipt to him produced, the amount of money specified in the said receipt, and the number of the section or half section, township, and range, applied for. If two or more persons shall apply at the same time for the same tract, the register shall immediately determine by lot, in presence of the parties, which of them shall have preference. He shall file the receipt for moneys produced by the party, and give him a copy of his entry, and, if required, a copy of the description of the tract, and a copy of the plat of the same, or either of them; and it shall be his duty to inform the party applying for any one tract, whether the same has already been entered, purchased, or paid for, and, at his request, to give him a copy of the entry or entries concerning the same. He shall, three months after the date of each application, if the party shall not have, within that time, produced to him a receipt of the payment of one-fourth part of the purchase-money, including the twentieth part above mentioned, enter, under its proper date, in the said book of entries, that the payment has not been made, and that the land has reverted to the United States, and he shall make a note of the same in the margin of the book, opposite to the original entry. And if the party shall, either at the time of making the original entry, or at any time within three months thereafter, produce a receipt to him for the fourth part of the purchase-money, including the twentieth part aforesaid, he shall file the receipt, make an entry of the same, under its proper date, in the said book of entries, make a note of the same in the margin of the book, opposite to the original entry, and give to the party a certificate, describing the land sold, the sum paid on account,

the balance remaining due, the time and times when such balance shall become due, and that if it shall be duly discharged, the purchaser, or hist assignee, or other legal representative, shall be entitled to a patent for the said lands; he shall, also, upon any subsequent payment being made, and a receipt from the receiver being produced to him, file the original receipt, give a receipt for the same to the party, and enter the same, to the credit of the party, in a book kept for that purpose, in which he shall open an account, in the name of each purchaser, for each section or half section that may be sold, either at public or private sale, and in which he shall charge the party for the whole purchase-money, and give him credit for all his payments; making the proper charges and allowances for interest or discount, as the case may be, according to the provisions of the fourth section of this act; and upon the payment being completed and the account finally settled, he shall give a certificate of the same to the party; and on producing to the Secretary of the Treasury the same final certificate, the President of the United States is hereby authorized to grant a patent for the lands to the said purchaser, his heirs or assigns; and all patents shall be countersigned by the Secretary of State, and recorded in his office.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That the registers of the land offices, respectively, shall also note, on the book of surveys or original plat transmitted to them, every tract which may be sold, by inserting the letter A on the day when the same is applied for, and the letter P on the day when a receipt for one-fourth part of the purchase-money is produced to them, and by crossing the said letter A on the day when the land shall revert to the United States, on failure of the payment of one-fourth part of the purchase-money within three months after the date of application. And the said book of surveys, or original plat, shall be open, at all times, in presence of the register, for the inspection of any individual applying for the same and paying the proper fee.

SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the registers of the land offices to transmit, quarterly, to the Secretary of the Treasury, and to the surveyor general, an account of the several tracts applied for, of the several tracts for which the payment of one-fourth part of the purchase-money has been made, of the several tracts which have reverted to the United States on failure of the said payment; and, also, an account of all the payments of moneys by them entered, according to the receipts produced to them, specifying the sums of money, the names of the persons paying the same, the names of the officers who have received the same, and the tracts for which the same have been paid.

SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That the registers aforesaid shall be precluded from entering on their books any application for lands in their own name, and in the name of any other person in trust for them; and if any register shall wish to purchase any tract of land, he may do it by application in writing to the surveyor general, who shall enter the same on books kept for that purpose by him, who shall proceed in respect to such applications, and to any payments made for the same, in the same manner which the registers by this act are directed to follow, in respect to applications made to them for lands by other persons. The registers shall, nevertheless, note on the book of surveys or original plat, the applications and payments thus by them made, and their right to the pre-emption of any tract shall bear date from the day when their application for the same shall have been entered by the surveyor general in his own book. And if any person applying for any tract shall, notwithstanding he shall have received information from the register that the same has already been applied for by the

said register, or by any other person, insist to make the application, it shall be the duty of the register to enter the same, noting in the margin that the same tract is already purchased; but upon application of the party, made in writing, and which he shall file, he may and shall, at any future time, enter under its proper date, that the party withdraws his former application, and applies in lieu thereof for any other tract: Provided always, That the party shall never be allowed thus to withdraw his former application, and to apply in lieu thereof for another tract, except when the tract described in his former application shall have been applied for previous to the date of that in his former application.

SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury shall and may prescribe such further regulations, in the manner of keeping books and accounts, by the several officers in this act mentioned, as to him may appear necessary and proper, in order fully to carry into effect the provisions of this act.

SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That the registers of the land offices, respectively, shall be entitled to receive from the Treasury of the United States one-half per cent. on all the moneys expressed in the receipts by them filed and entered, and of which they shall have transmitted an account to the Secretary of the Treasury, as directed by this act; and they shall further be entitled to receive, for their own use, from the respective parties, the following fees for services rendered, that is to say: for every original application for land, and a copy of the same, for a section three dollars, for a half section two dollars; for every certificate stating that the first fourth part of the purchase-money is paid, twenty-five cents; for every subsequent receipt for moneys paid, twenty-five cents; for the final settlement of account, and giving the final certificate of the same, one dollar; for every copy, either of an application or of the description of any section or half section, or of the plat of the same, or of any entry made on their books, or of any certificate heretofore given by them, twenty-five cents for each; and for any general inspection of the book of surveys, or general plat, made in their presence, twenty-five cents.

SEC. 13. And be it further enacted, That the superintendents of the public sales to be made by virtue of this act, and the superintendents. of the sales which have taken place by virtue of the act intituled "An act providing for the sale of the lands of the United States in the Territory northwest of the river Ohio, and above the mouth of Kentucky river," shall receive five dollars a day for every day whilst engaged in that business; and the accounting officers of the Treasury are hereby authorized to allow a reasonable compensation for books, stationery, and clerk hire, in settling the accounts of the said superintendents.

SEC. 14. And be it further enacted, That the fee to be paid for each patent, for half a section, shall be four dollars, and for every section five dollars, to be accounted for by the receiver of the same.

SEC. 15. And be it further enacted, That the lands of the United States reserved for future disposition may be let upon leases by the surveyor general, in sections or half sections, for terms not exceeding seven years, on condition of making such improvements as he shall deem reasonable.

SEC. 16. And be it further enacted, That each person who, before the passing of this act, shall have erected, or begun to erect, a grist mill or saw mill upon any of the lands herein directed to be sold, shall be entitled to the pre-emption of the section including such mill, at the rate of two dollars per acre: Provided, The person, or his heirs, claiming such right of pre-emption, shall produce to the register of the land office satisfactory evidence that he or they are entitled thereto, and shall be subject to and

comply with the regulations and provisions by this act prescribed for other purchasers.

SEC. 17. And be it further enacted, That so much of the "act providing for the sale of the lands of the United States in the Territory northwest of the river Ohio, and above the mouth of Kentucky river," as comes within the purview of this act, be, and the same is hereby, repealed. Approved, May 10, 1800.

No. 3.-An Act concerning the mode of surveying the public lands of the United States.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the surveyor general shall cause all those lands north of the river Ohio, which, by virtue of the act intituled "An act providing for the sale of the lands of the United States in the Territory northwest of the river Ohio, and above the mouth of the Kentucky river," were subdivided, by running through the townships parallel lines, each way, at the end of every two miles, and by marking a corner on each of the said lines, at the end of every mile, to be subdivided into sections, by running straight lines from the mile corners thus marked to the opposite corresponding corners, and by marking on each of the said lines intermediate corners, as nearly as possible equidistant from the corners of the sections on the same. And the said surveyor general sball also cause the boundaries of all the half sections which had been purchased previous to the first day of July last, and on which the surveying fees had been paid according to law by the purchaser, to be surveyed and marked, by running straight lines from the half-mile corners heretofore marked to the opposite corresponding corners; and intermediate corners shall, at the same time, be marked on each of the said dividing lines, as nearly as possible equidistant from the corners of the half section on the same line: Provided, That the whole expense of surveying and marking the lines shall not exceed three dollars for every mile which has not yet been surveyed, and which shall be actually run, surveyed, and marked, by virtue of this section. And the expense of making the subdivisions directed by this section shall be defrayed out of the moneys appropriated, or which may be hereafter appropriated, for completing the surveys of the public lands of the United States.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the boundaries and contents of the several sections, half sections, and quarter sections, of the public lands of the United States, shall be ascertained in conformity with the following principles, any act or acts to the contrary notwithstanding:

1. All the corners marked in the surveys, returned by the surveyor general, or by the surveyor of the land south of the State of Tennessee, respectively, shall be established as the proper corners of sections, or subdivisions of sections, which they were intended to designate; and the corners of half and quarter sections, not marked on the said surveys, shall be placed, as nearly as possible, equidistant from those two corners which stand on the same line.

2. The boundary lines, actually run and marked in the surveys returned by the surveyor general, or by the surveyor of the land south of the State of Tennessee, respectively, shall be established as the proper boundary lines.