United States Statutes at Large/Volume 3/13th Congress/3rd Session/Chapter 88
Chap. LXXXVIII.—An Act to provide for ascertaining and surveying of the boundary lines fixed by the treaty with the Creek Indians, and for other purposes.
Act of March 3, 1817, ch. 88.
Boundary line of the Creeks to be ascertained and surveyed.
Commissioners to be appointed.
Their compensation.
Surveyors, &c., to be employed.
Their allowance.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby authorized to cause to be ascertained and surveyed the boundary line designated by the treaty with the Creek nation of Indians, concluded on the ninth day of August, one thousand eight hundred and fourteen, and that the same be distinctly marked, in all such places except where water courses are described as the boundary by the said treaty; and for this purpose the President of the United States shall have power to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, three commissioners, whose compensation shall not exceed, exclusive of travelling expenses, the rate of eight dollars per day, during the time of actual service of such commissioner, in ascertaining and surveying the said boundary line; they shall have power to employ a skillful surveyor, who shall be allowed five dollars per day, and to chainmen and a marker, who shall each be allowed two dollars per day, in full for their services.
Three plats to be made out.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the said commissioners, on completing the ascertainment and survey aforesaid, shall make out three accurate plats of the survey of the said boundary line, one of which they shall transmit to the Secretary of State, one to the surveyor of the lands south of the state of Tennessee, and the other to the chiefs of the Creek nation of Indians.
Public lands where the Indian title is extinct to be formed into a land district.
A land office to be established, &c.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That all the public lands of the United States, to which the Indian title was extinguished by the aforesaid treaty, shall be, and are hereby formed into a land district; and for the disposal thereof, a land office shall be established, which shall be kept at such convenient place as the President of the United States may direct; and for the said land office, a register and receiver of public moneys shall be appointed, who shall give security in the same manner, in the same sums, and whose compensation, emoluments, duties, and authority, shall, in every respect, be the same in relation to the lands which shall be disposed of at their office, as are or may be provided by law in relation to the registers and receivers of public moneys in the several land offices established for the disposal of the other public lands of the United States.
Powers and compensation of the surveyor, same as other public lands in the Mississippi territory.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the powers vested by law in the surveyor of the lands of the United States, south of the state of Tennessee, shall extend over all the public lands of the United States to which the Indian title was extinguished by the aforesaid treaty, and the same shall be surveyed in the manner and for the same compensation as other public lands in the Mississippi territory.
Sale of the lands authorized, with certain exceptions.Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States is hereby authorized, whenever he shall think it proper, to direct so much of the public lands, lying in the said district, as shall have been surveyed in conformity to this act, to be offered for sale. All such lands shall, with the exception of the section numbered sixteen, which shall be reserved in each township for the support of schools within the same, with exception also, of one entire township, to be located by the Secretary of the Treasury, for the use of a seminary of learning, and with the exception of any tracts of land reserved to the Indians by the said treaty, shall be offered to the highest bidder, under the direction of the register and receiver of public moneys of the said land office, on such day or days as shall, by a public proclamation of the President of the United States, be designated for that purpose. The publicSales to remain open three weeks; their conditions, &c.
Unsold lands may be disposed of at private sale. sales shall remain open for three weeks and no longer; and the lands shall be sold for a price not less than that which has been or may be fixed by law, for the public lands in the Mississippi territory; and shall, in every other respect, be sold in tracts of the same size, on the same terms and conditions, as have been or may be by law provided, for the other public lands in the Mississippi territory. The superintendents of the said public sales shall receive six dollars each, for each day’s attendance on the said sales. All lands other than those reserved as aforesaid, and excepted as above-mentioned, remaining unsold at the closing of the public sales, and which had been offered at the said sales, may be disposed of at private sale, by the register of the land office, in the same manner, under the same regulations, for the same price, and on the same terms and conditions, as are or may be provided by law for the sale of the other public lands of the United States in the Mississippi territory.Patents obtained in the usual manner. And patents shall be obtained for the lands sold in the said district, in the same manner, and on the same terms, as for other public lands sold in the Mississippi territory.
Appointment of commissioners.Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States shall have power to appoint any or all of the aforesaid commissioners, during the recess of the Senate.
Appropriation for defraying expenses.Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That a sum not exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars, be, and the same is hereby appropriated, to be paid out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated for the purpose of carrying this act into effect.
Approved, March 3, 1815.