faction of the commissioner of the general land office, to include only vacant unoccupied lands of the United States, not settled upon or used for municipal purposes, nor devoted to any public use of such town, said entries, if regular in all respects, are hereby confirmed and may be carried into patent; provided, that this confirmation shall not operate to restrict the entry of any town site to a smaller area than the maximum quantity of land which, by reason of present population, it may be entitled to enter under section 2389 R. S.

19 Stat. 392.

§ 312.

Where Town Site Exceeds Maximum, Authorities to Select Lands to be Retained, or Commissioner may Take Testimony and Restrict Limits.-Whenever the corporate limits of any town upon the public domain are shown or alleged to include lands in excess of the maximum area specified in section 310 of this book, the commissioner of the general land office may require the authorities of such town, and it shall be lawful for them, to elect what portion of said lands, in compact form and embracing the actual site of the municipal occupation and improvement, shall be withheld from pre-emption and homestead entry; and thereafter the residue of such lands shall be open to disposal under the homestead and pre-emption laws. Upon default of said town authorities to make such selection within sixty days after notification by the commissioner, he may direct testimony respecting the actual location and extent of said improvements, to be taken by the register and receiver of the district in which such town may be situated; and, upon receipt of the same, he may determine and set off the proper site according to section 310 of this book, and declare the remaining lands open to settlement and entry under the homestead and pre-emption laws; and it shall be the duty of the secretary of each of the territories of the United States to furnish the surveyor general of the territory, for the use of the United States, a copy, duly certified, of every act of the legislature of the territory incorporating any city or town, the same to be forwarded by such secretary to the surveyor general within one month from date of its approval. 19 Stat. 392.

§ 313. Certain Acts of Trustees to be Void.-Any act of the trustees not made in conformity to the regulations alluded to in section 2387 R. S. shall be void.

14 Stat. 541; 18 Id. 254; R. S., 2391.

§314. Pre-emptions by Counties for Seals of Justice.-There

shall be granted to the several counties or parishes of each state and territory, where there are public lands, at the minimum price for which public lands of the United States are sold, the right of pre-emption to one quarter-section of land, in each of the counties or parishes, in trust for such counties or parishes, respectively, for the establishment of seats of justice therein; but the proceeds of the sale of each of such quartersections shall be appropriated for the purpose of erecting public buildings in the county or parish for which it is located, after deducting therefrom the amount originally paid for the And the seat of justice for such counties or parishes, respectively, shall be fixed previously to a sale of the adjoining lands within the county or parish for which the same is located. 4 Stat. 50; R. S. 2286.

same.

§ 315. No Title Acquired to Gold Mines, etc., or to Mining Claim, etc.-No title shall be acquired, under the foregoing provisions of this chapter, to any mine of gold, silver, cinnabar, or copper, or to any valid mining claim or possession held under existing laws.

14 Stat. 541; 15 Id. 67; 18 Id. 254; R. S. 2392.

§ 316. Military or Other Reservations, etc.—The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to military or other reservations heretofore made by the United States, nor to reservations for light-houses, custom-houses, mints, or such other public purposes as the interests of the United States may require, whether held under reservations through the land office by title derived from the crown of Spain, or otherwise.

14 Stat. 541; 19 Id. 264; R. S. 2393.

§ 317. Inhabitants of Towns on Public Lands, Right of, to Enter. The inhabitants of any town located on the public lands may avail themselves, if the town authorities choose to do so, of the provisions of sections 2387, 2388, and 2389; and, in addition to the minimum price of the lands embracing any town site so entered, there shall be paid by the parties availing themselves of such provisions all costs of surveying and platting any such town site, and expenses incident thereto incurred by the United States, before any patent issues therefor; but nothing contained in the sections herein cited shall prevent the issuance of patents to persons who have made or may hereafter make entries, and elect to proceed under other laws relative to town sites in this chapter set forth.

15 Stat. 67; 18 Id. 254; R. S. 2394.

§ 332.

Provisions for the Benefit of Soldiers and Sailors of the Late War.

§ 334. Provisions for the Benefit of Indians.

§ 318. Who are Entitled. The war with Mexico was proclaimed on the thirteenth of May, 1846, and on the eleventh of February, 1847, an act was passed giving bounties for military service.

It ordered that non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates who served in the war with Mexico, in the volunteer army of the United States for twelve months, or who should be discharged for wounds or sickness prior to that time, or in case of his death while in the service, then his heirs, should receive a certificate or warrant from the war department for the quantity of 160 acres of land, the same to be entered at any district land office on lands open to private entry, the certificate to be returned to the general land office, and patent to issue therefor.

There was in this act a provision for acceptance by applicant of a treasury scrip for $100 at six per cent. interest in lieu of 160 acres of land.

Those who served less than twelve months on like terms as to death or discharge from wounds were to receive each a warrant for 40 acres of land or scrip for $25 if preferred.

The privileges of bounty lands were extended by the act of September 28, 1850, granting an 80-acre warrant, and relating to services in all the Indian wars since 1790, the war of 1812,

and to the commissioned officers in the war with Mexico; by act March 22, 1852, making land warrants assignable, and extending the provisions of the act of September 28, 1850, and by the act of March 3, 1855.

The last act made 120-acre, 100-acre, 60-acre, and 10-acre warrants, and extended the bounty land privilege so as to make the entire classes receiving the same, some thirty-two in number, in the army, navy, and elsewhere. It was a comprehensive act, embracing almost all the wars the United States had participated in. It granted to all officers and soldiers who had served in any war in which our country had been engaged from the revolution to the third of March, 1855, 160 acres each, or so much, with what had been previously allowed, as would make up that quantity. It extended the concession to a service of only fourteen days, or an engagement in a single battle, and in case of death, to the widow and minor children.

$319. The Secretary must Locate.-And it is made the duty of the commissioner of the general land office, under the direction of the secretary of the interior, to cause to be located free of expense any warrant which the holder may transmit to the general land office for that purpose, in such state or land district as the holder or warrantee may designate, and upon good farming-land, so far as the same can be ascertained from the maps, plats, and field-notes of the surveyor, or from any other information in the possession of the local office, and upon the location being made, the secretary shall cause a patent to be transmitted to such warrantee or holder.

R. S. 2437.

§ 320. Land Warrants for Bounty Lands are Real Estate; and where parties first entitled have died, they must, in general, issue to their heirs or devisees, and not to the administrator with the will annexed.

2 Opinions of Attorney General, p. 506; but see § 328.

In a certain case where there was a will and administrator, and there were no conflicting interests, and where the issuing of the warrant to the heirs would embarrass the administrator, the warrant was issued to the administrator in trust for the purposes mentioned in the will.

2 Opinions of Attorney General, p. 506.

Only one warrant can issue to the same party for the same claim; but warrants and patents for bounty lands should issue to the applicant really entitled to them, notwithstanding war

rants and patents may have erroneously issued to others through imposition or fraud.

2 Opinions of Attorney General, p. 501.

Minor children born after the date of the act of September 28, 1850, are included within the provisions of the act.

9 Opinions of Attorney General, p. 427.

§ 321. Porterfield Scrip.-Porterfield scrip can be located on unoffered surveyed lands, and appropriation de facto with valuable improvements does not prevent the location of this scrip. Lands within the limits of an incorporated town may sometimes be located with it.

Valentine scrip is locatable only on unoccupied and unappropriated lands; Porterfield, on lands not legally appropriated. City of Seattle v. Bywater, Copp's L. L., p. 1014.

Even a reservation made after the location of Porterfield scrip is invalid, and the locator is entitled to the land.

Copp's L. L., p. 1016.

§ 322.

Valentine Scrip.-This scrip can be located on either surveyed or unsurveyed lands, but it can not be located on an unconfirmed private land claim prior to a decree confirming dr rejecting the same.

.

See the Chicago cases, Copp's L. L., pp. 1022-1031.

§323. Sioux Scrip.-The instructions of February 22, 1864 (2 Lester, 369), prescribe that within three months after the filing of the plat of survey the scrip locator on unsurveyed lands shall repair to the district land office, file his scrip with his affidavit, designating specifically in compact legal subdivisions the tracts embracing his improvements, and should state in his affidavit the character and extent of his improvements and file testimony of competent witnesses corroborative of his statement.

The circular also instructs district officers that no mineral or reserved lands can be taken by this scrip, nor can it be located upon the even-numbered double-minimum reserved sections. In the claims of the Illinois Central R. R. Co. and others (Copp's L. L., 1882, p. 311), the department held, "that although these pieces of scrip [Sioux half-breed scrip] were filed for location on unsurveyed lands, and were each accompanied by an affidavit of one Reynolds, who sets forth his personal acquaintance with the land, and that there are no improvements thereon, save those by or for the scrip locator, or his attorney, there is no evidence that any improvements have