man and recording clerk whose aggregate compensation shall not exceed one thousand five hundred dollars per annum; and that the fees heretofore authorized by law for examining and recording surveys be, and the same are hereby, abolished; and any copy of a plat of survey, or transcript from the records of the office of the said surveyor general, shall be admitted as evidence in any of the courts of the United States or territories thereof; and for every copy of a plat of survey, there shall be paid twenty-five cents, and for any transcript from the records of said office, there shall be paid at the rate of twenty-five cents for every hundred words by the individuals requiring the same.
Settlement of conflicting claims.Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That in relation to all such confirmed claims as may conflict, or in any manner interfere with each other, the register of the land office and receiver of public moneys for the proper land district, are hereby authorized to decide between the parties, and shall in their decision be governed by such conditional lines or boundaries as have been or may be agreed upon between the parties interested, either verbally or in writing; and in case no lines or boundaries be agreed upon between the parties interested, then the said register and receiver are hereby authorized to decide between the parties in such manner as may be consistent with the principles of justice; and it shall be the duty of the surveyor general of the said state to have those claims surveyed and platted in accordance with the decisions of the register and receiver:Proviso. Provided, That the said decisions and surveys, and the patents which may be issued in conformity thereto, shall not in any wise be considered as precluding a legal investigation and decision by the proper judicial tribunal between the parties to any such interfering claims, but shall only operate as a relinquishment on the part of the United States of all title to the land in question.
Survey of certain lands.Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That all the lands to which the Indian title has been extinguished lying north of the northern boundary of the state of Illinois, west of Lake Michigan, and east of the Mississippi river, shall be surveyed in the same manner and under the same regulations, provisions, restrictions and reservations as the other public lands are surveyed.
School lands in Missouri.Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That the legislature of the state of Missouri be, and is hereby authorized to sell and convey in fee simple all or any part of the lands heretofore reserved and appropriated by Congress for the use of a seminary of learning in said state, and to invest the money arising from the sale thereof in some productive fund, the proceeds of which shall be for ever applied by the legislature of said state, solely to the use of such seminary, and for no other use or purpose whatsoever.Salt springs. And that the legislature of said state of Missouri shall be, and is hereby authorized to sell and convey in fee simple all or any part of the salt springs not exceeding twelve in number, and six sections of land adjoining to each, granted to said state by the United States for the use thereof, and selected by the legislature of said state, on or before the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-five, and to invest the money arising from the sale thereof in some productive fund, the proceeds of which shall be for ever applied under the direction of said legislature, for the purpose of education in said state, and for no other use or purpose whatsoever.
Approved, March 3, 1831.
