SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the President be, and he is hereby, authorized to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, or during the recess thereof, and until the end of the next session of Congress after such appointment, a register and a receiver for each land district hereby created, who shall be required to reside at the site of their offices, have the same powers, responsibilities, and emoluments, and be subject to the same acts and penalties, which are or may be prescribed by law in relation to other land officers of the United States. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the President is hereby authorized to cause the public lands in said districts, with the exception of such as may have been or may be reserved for other purposes, to be exposed to sale in the same manner and upon the same terms and conditions as other public lands of the United States: Provided, That all sales and locations made at Omaha city, of lands situated within the limits of the new districts hereby created, which shall be valid and right in other respects up to the day on which the new offices shall respectively go into operation, be and the same are hereby confirmed. Approved, March 3, 1857. No. 310.-An Act to establish three additional land districts in the Territory of Kansas. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all that portion of the "Pawnee land district," in the Territory of Kansas, created by the thirteenth section of the act approved twenty-second July, eighteen hundred and fifty-four, entitled "An act to establish the offices of surveyor-general of New Mexico, Kansas, and Nebraska, to grant donations to actual settlers therein, and for other purposes,' "* which is situated north of the north or left bank of the Kansas River, and east of the line which divides ranges eight and nine east, shall constitute a separate district, to be called the “Delaware land district," all that portion of said Pawnee district which is situated south of the nearest township line to the parallel of thirty-eight degrees of north latitude, to be hereafter determined by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, shall constitute an additional district, to be called the "Osage land district," and all that portion of said Pawnee district which lies west of the line dividing ranges eight and nine east and north of the nearest township line to the parallel of thirty-eight degrees of north latitude, shall constitute a district to be called the "Western District,' land district," the location of the offices for which shall be designated by the President of the United States, and shall by him, from time to time, be changed as the public interests may seem to require. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the President be, and he is hereby, authorized, whenever the public interests shall require, to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, or during the recess thereof, and until the end of the next session of Congress after such appointment, a register and a receiver for each or either of the districts hereby created, who shall respectively be required to reside at the site of their offices, have the same powers, responsibilities, and emoluments, and be subject to the same acts and penalties, which are or may be prescribed by law in relation to other land officers of the United States. * See No. 245. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the President is hereby authorised to cause the public lands in the districts created by this act, with the exception of such as may have been or may be reserved for other purposes, to be exposed to sale in the same manner, and upon the same terms and conditions as other public lands of the United States: Provided, That all sales and locations made at the office of the old district of lands situated within the limits of the new districts, which shall be valid and right in other respects, up to the day on which the new offices shall go into operation, be and the same are hereby confirmed. Approved, March 3, 1857. No. 311.-An Act making appropriations for the service of the post-office department during the fiscal year ending the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following sums be, and the same are hereby, appropriated for the Post-Office department for the year ending the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight, out of any moneys in the treasury arising from the revenues of the said department, in conformity to the act of the second of July, eighteen hundred and thirty-six : * * * * * * * SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That the Postmaster-General be, and he is hereby, authorized to contract for the conveyance of the entire letter mail from such point on the Mississippi River, as the contractors may select, to San Francisco, in the State of California, for six years, at a cost not exceeding three hundred thousand dollars per annum for semimonthly, four hundred and fifty thousand dollars for weekly, or six hundred thousand dollars for semi-weekly service; to be performed semi-monthly, weekly, or semi-weekly, at the option of the Postmaster-General. SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That the contract shall require the service to be performed with good four-horse coaches, or spring wagons, suitable for the conveyance of passengers, as well as the safety and security of the mails. SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That the contractors shall have the right of pre-emption to three hundred and twenty acres of any land not then disposed of or reserved, at each point necessary for a station, not to be nearer than ten miles from each other; and provided that no mineral land shall be thus pre-empted. * * * Approved, March 3, 1857. * * * * No. 312.-An Act making a grant of land to the Territory of 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. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there be and is hereby granted to the Territory of Minnesota, for the purpose of aiding in the construction of railroads, from Stillwater, by way of Saint Paul and Saint Anthony, to a point between the foot of Big Stone Lake and the mouth of Sioux Wood River, with a branch via Saint Cloud and Crow Wing, to the navigable waters of the Red River of the north, at such point as the Legislature of said Territory may determine; from St. Paul and from Saint Anthony, via Minneapolis, to a convenient point of junction west of the Mississippi, to the southern boundary of the Territory in the direction of the mouth of the Big Sioux River, with a branch, via Faribault, to the north line of the State of Iowa, west of range sixteen; from Winona, via Saint Peters, to a point on the Big Sioux River, south of the forty-fifth parallel of north latitude; also from La Crescent, via Target Lake, up the valley of Root River, to a point of junction with the last mentioned road, east of range seventeen, every alternate section of land, designated by odd numbers, for six sections in width on each side of each of said roads and branches; but in case it shall appear that the United States have, when the lines or routes of said roads and branches are definitely fixed, sold any sections, or any parts thereof, granted as aforesaid, or that the right of preemption has attached to the same, then it shall be lawful for any agent, or agents, to be appointed by the Governor of said Territory or future State to select, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, from the lands of the United States nearest to the tiers of sections above specified, so much land, in alternate sections, or parts of sections, as shall be equal to such lands as the United States have sold, or otherwise appropriated, or to which the rights of pre-emption have attached, as aforesaid; which lands (thus selected in lieu of those sold, and to which pre-emption rights have attached as aforesaid, together with the sections and parts of sections designated by odd numbers as aforesaid, and appropriated as aforesaid) shall be held by the Territory or future State of Minnesota for the use and purpose aforesaid: Provided, That the land to be so located shall, in no case, be further than fifteen miles from the lines of said roads or branches, and selected for and on account of each of said roads or branches: Provided, further, That the lands hereby granted for and on account of said roads and branches, severally, shall be exclusively applied in the construction of that road for and on account of which such lands are hereby granted, and shall be disposed of only as the work progresses, and the same shall be applied to no other purpose whatsoever: And provided, further, That any and all lands heretofore reserved to the United States, by any act of Congress, or in any other manner by competent authority, for the purpose of aiding in any object of internal improvement, or for any other purpose whatsoever, be, and the same are hereby reserved to the United States from the operation of this act, except so far as it may be found necessary to locate the routes of said railroads and branches through such reserved lands, in which case the right of way only shall be granted, subject to the approval of the President of the United States. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the sections and parts of sections of land which by such grant shall remain to the United States, within six miles on each side of said roads and branches, shall not be sold for less than double the minimum price of the public lands when sold; nor shall any of said lands become subject to private entry until the same shall have been first offered at public sale at the increased price. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the said lands hereby granted to the said Territory or future State shall be subject to the future disposal of the Legislature thereof for the purposes herein expressed and no other; and the said railroads and branches shall be and remain public highways for the use of the Government of the United States, free from toll or other charge upon the transportation of any property or troops of the United States. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the lands hereby granted to said Territory or future State shall be disposed of by said Territory or future State only in the manner following, that is to say: That a quantity of land not exceeding one hundred and twenty sections for each of said roads and branches, and included within a continuous length of twenty miles of each of said roads and branches, may be sold; and when the Governor of said Territory or future State shall certify to the Secretary of the Interior that any twenty continuous miles of any of said roads or branches is completed, then another quantity of land hereby granted, not to exceed one hundred and twenty sections for each of said roads and branches having twenty continuous miles completed as aforesaid, and included within a continuous length of twenty miles of each of such roads or branches, may be sold; and so from time to time until said roads and branches are completed; and if any of said roads or branches is not completed within ten years no further sale shall be made, and the lands unsold shall revert to the United States. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the United States Mail shall be transported over said roads and branches, under the direction of the Post-Office Department, at such price as Congress may by law direct: Provided, That until such price is fixed by law, the Postmaster-General shall have the power to determine the same. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That in case any lands on the line of said roads or branches are within any Indian territory no title to the same shall accrue, nor shall the same be entered upon by the authority of said Territory or State until the Indian title to the same shall have been extinguished. SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That there be and is hereby granted to the State of Alabama, for the purpose of aiding in the construction of a railroad "from the line of Georgia, on the Chattahoochee River, to the city of Mobile, Alabama," "through the counties of Henry, Dale, Coffee, Covington, Conecuh, Baldwin and Mobile," and a branch railroad "from Eufaula to Montgomery," "through the counties of Barbour, Pike, Macon and Montgomery," chartered by the State of Alabama by an act entitled "An act to authorize the Savannah and Albany Railroad Company to extend their railroad from the line of Georgia, on the Chattahoochee River, to the city of Mobile, Alabama, and to extend a branch road from Eufaula to Montgomery," approved December twentieth, eighteen hundred and fifty-three, alternate sections of the public lands to the same extent and in the same manner, and upon the same limitations and restrictions in every respect, as was granted to aid in the construction of other railroads under an act of Congress entitled "An act granting public lands in alternate sections to the State of Alabama to aid in the construction of certain railroads in said State," approved June three, eighteen hundred and fifty-six. Approved, March 3, 1857. No. 313.-An Act to amend "An act granting public lands in alternate sections to the State of Alabama to aid in the construction of certain railroads in said State." Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the sixth section of an act, granting public lands in alternate sections to the State of Alabama, to aid in the construction of certain railroads in said State, approved second day of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-six, be and the same is hereby so amended, that in lieu of the words "Central Railroad from Montgomery to some point on the Alabama and Tennessee State line in the direction to Nashville, Tennessee," the words "Tennessee and Alabama Central Railroad" be and they are hereby substituted.* Approved, March 3, 1857. No. 314.-An Act to settle certain accounts between the United States and the State of Mississippi, and other States. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Commissioner of the General Land-Office be and he is hereby required to state an account between the United States and the State of Mississippi, for the purpose of ascertaining what sum or sums of money are due to said State, heretofore unsettled, on account of the public lands in said State, and upon the same principles of allowance and settlement as prescribed in the "Act to settle certain accounts between the United States and the State of Alabama,"+ approved the second March, eighteen hundred and fifty-five; and that he be required to include in said account the several reservations under the various treaties with the Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians within the limits of Mississippi, and allow and pay to the said State five per centum thereon, as in case of other sales, estimating the lands at the value of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the said commissioner shall also state an account between the United States and each of the other States upon the same principles, and shall allow and pay to each State such amount as shall thus be found duè, estimating all lands and permanent reservations at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. Approved, March 3, 1857. No. 315.-An Act making appropriations for the support of the army for the year ending the thirtieth June, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following sums be and the same are hereby appropriated, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the support of the army for the year ending the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight. * * * * * * SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the provisions of the act approved March third, eighteen hundred and nineteen, entitled "An act authorizing the sale of certain military sites," be and they are hereby extended to * See No. 290. † See No. 272. Said act reads as follows:-CHAP. 88. An Act authorizing the sale of certain mili |