SEC. 2. The Board of Trustees of any school district in this State, where a public school has been kept for the period of four consecutive months or more, in the school year, and when there is not sufficient money in the county treasury to the credit of the school fund of said district, to defray one-half of the expenses of another term of said school, of four months' duration, may, when in their judgment the same shall be advisable, call an election, and submit to the qualified electors of said district, the question whether they will be taxed to pay the expense of an additional term of said school. * * SEC. 4. The voting at said election shall be by ballot, on which ballot shall be written or printed the words, "Tax-Yes," or "Tax-No;" and if a majority of the votes polled at such election shall be in favor of such tax, the Board of Trustees shall be empowered, and it is hereby made their duty, to levy and cause to be collected, a special tax, at the rate specified in their notice, on all the real and personal property in said district subject to taxation, which fund so raised shall be paid into the County Treasury to the credit of said School District, and shall be applied to the payment of the expenses of said additional term, and to no other purpose whatever; provided, however, that in case there should be a surplus remaining after the expenses of said term have been paid, the amount of said surplus shall be subject to the order of the Board of Trustees, as in other cases; and, provided further, that any deficiency in said fund shall be raised by ratio bill from those sending children to said school. SEC. 6. The Board of Trustees of any school district, which is not provided with a suitable school house, and where one may be necessary, shall have power to call an election, after due notice, as provided for in section three; at which election, the question, whether or no they will be taxed for the purpose of building a school house, shall be submitted to the qualified electors of said district. Before calling said election, the Trustees shall cause to be made, and shall decide upon, some plan for said school house, with estimates of the expense necessary to be incurred in building [the] same, and shall, in their notice of said election, state the amount of money required, the rate of tax necessary to be levied, and shall also state where the plan and specifications can be seen, which shall be in the most convenient and central place in said district. * * * * SCHOOL DISTRICTS. SEC. 20. Until otherwise determined and established by the proper authorities, each city and each town or township in this State shall constitute one school district. SEC. 21. Upon [a] petition being presented to the Board of Supervisors, such Board shall, except in incorporated cities and towns which have made provisions for schools within their respective limits, have the power to constitute and establish school districts, and to define and to alter the boundaries thereof, in accordance with the wishes of the qualified electors in the respective precincts, and as the best judgment of the said Board may direct. SCHOOL MARSHALS. SEC. 18. The Marshals selected and designated by the Trustees under the provisions of this Act, shall, in the month of October, annually, take a specific census of all the white children within their respective precincts, between the ages of four and eighteen years, specifying the names of the children, of the parents or guardians of such children, and the town, city and school district within which they reside, and make full report thereof in writing, under oath, to the County Superintendent of Common Schools, and to deliver a true copy thereof to the Trustees in their respective school districts by the tenth day of November next, thereafter. 4. TABLE, Exhibiting the Census of the Children of the State, the number of Schools and Teachers, and Apportionment of the School Fund for the years 1856 and 1857. Totals....... 313 367 4174 8030,019 35,722 18,592 17,230 8,352 9,717 83,104 86 58,520 88 No returns from Fresno, Klamath, San Luis Obispo; estimated number of children in these counties, five hundred. Total number in the State, thirtysix thousand two hundred and twenty-two. In the year 1853 there were 53 schools and 56 teachers: "From this it will be seen the number of schools has increased, in four years, from fifty-three to three hundred and sixty-seven-nearly seven-fold. The number of teachers, from fifty to four hundred and eighty-six-nearly ten-fold. The number of children reported by census, from eleven thousand two hundred and forty-two to thirty-six thousand two hundred and twenty-two-more than three-fold; whilst the semi-annual contribution from the State has dwindled from $53,511 11, to $28,342 16-or nearly one-half; and the average paid each teacher, from $955 to $58 32-that is to say, to less than one-sixteenth of the average under the first apportionment." Amount of semi-annual apportionment, June, 1858, is $23,366 10; number of children where schools have been maintained, thirty-two thousand nine hundred and ten; average, seventy-one cents each. Apportionment, Dec. 1857, average, eighty-eight cents. VI.-PUBLIC LANDS. The office of the United States Surveyor-General* was organized July 1, 1851, under Samuel D. King, who was succeeded by John C. Hays, in July, 1853. James W. Mandeville, the present Surveyor-General, entered upon the duties of his office, Sept. 9, 1857. The following statement will exhibit the operations of this office up to April 1, 1858. The number of miles of surveys, the lines of which have been actually run and measured, is as follows: Base and Meridian Lines.. Standard Lines.... Township Exterior Lines. Meander and Traverse Lines. Sectional Lines.. Total.... Miles. 1,077 3,372 .16,293 2,190 .58,737 .81,669 Plats of these lines, together with the field-notes of the same, have been made out, and copies of which have been sent to the General Land Office at Washington, viz: Plats of standard and township exterior lines, one hundred and eighty-five-(185); plats of whole and fractional township subdivisions, one thousand, three hundred and twenty-one-(1,321). The number of contracts that have been let to deputy surveyors, is one hundred and forty-nine. There has also been forwarded to the different land districts, copies of the township subdivisional plats, as follows: To Marysville, one hundred and twenty-six—(126); to San Francisco, three hundred and thirty-four—(334); to Los Angeles, four hundred and sixty-two-(462). The number of acres surveyed and ready to be offered for sale, is twentythree million, five hundred thousand-(23,500,000); the average cost of their survey, including all office expenses, being five cents per acre. The total area of the State, including lakes, bays, and precipitous mountains, is carefully estimated at ninety-nine millions, four hundred and sixty-three thousand, six hundred and eighty-(99,463,680) acres. A large portion of the best lands is covered by private grants, the actual number of acres of which can not be approximated with any degree of accuracy, as many of the claims are not finally acted upon. * For List of Clerks, see p. 55. The following tabular statement will exhibit the whole number of claims filed before the Board of U. S. Land Commissioners, and their estimated area in the aggregate; together with the number of grants finally confirmed and surveyed; the number in process of survey, and the number pending and undetermined, together with their aggregate area. It may be added, in this connection, that an additional number of private grants have been finally confirmed, the official evidence of which confirmation has not yet been filed in this office. TABULAR STATEMENT. Grants of Ranchos, etc., claimed before Land Commission. Grants pending and undetermined.. The number of patents received and delivered to the owners is twenty-one. The old Spanish and Mexican archives, belonging to California, are placed in the Surveyor-General's office for safe keeping and for reference; also, the documents and papers belonging to the office of the late Board of Land Commissioners. A large collection of the old Spanish and Mexican archives has been recently obtained from Sacramento, Benicia, San José, Monterey, San Diego and other localities; all of which, together with those previously on file in this office, have been classified, arranged and substantially bound. number of these volumes will probably reach four or five hundred. The An accurate index of contents will be prepared and attached to each volume, to facilitate reference thereto. The work of the complete classification and preservation in bound volumes, of these archives, was projected and is progressing to completion, under the direction of the U. S. Law Agent, Hon. Edwin M. Stanton. STATE LANDS. Of the total area of the State, one-eighteenth, or the sixteenth and thirtysixth sections, have been granted by the United States to the State for school purposes. The Surveyor-General of the State, in his report for 1858, estimates these lands as follows: Off the 500,000 acres of School Lands, there have been sold 237,440, leaving a balance of 262,560 acres yet unsold. For the purpose of ascertaining, protecting and managing the title and claim of the State to any lands within its limits, derived by grants from the United States, or in any other manner, the Legislature of the State, by Act of April 10, 1858, established at Sacramento an office, to be known and designated as the State Land Office. The Surveyor-General of the State to be ex officio the chief officer thereof, and to be known as the Register of the State Land Office, SWAMP AND OVERFLOWED LANDS. The Act of the Legislature of April 21, 1858, authorizes the sale and reclamation of the swamp and overflowed lands,* in quantities not to exceed three hundred and twenty acres to each purchaser, at one dollar per acre, the proceeds from the sales thereof to be paid into the State Treasury and appropriated for the reclamation of said lands, as the Legislature of the State may hereafter direct. SCHOOL AND SEMINARY LANDS. To provide for the sale and location of the school and seminary lands donated by Congress to this State, the Legislature, by Act of April 23, 1858, authorized the Governor of the State to appoint a Locating Agent for each of the United States land districts of this State, whose duty it shall be to locate the unsold portion of said lands. These lands to be disposed of in tracts, not to exceed three hundred and twenty acres to each purchaser, at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. The proceeds from the sales thereof to be invested in the Civil Bonds of the State, which shall be deposited with the State Treasurer as the property of the School and Seminary Fund of the State. The Act of the Legislature of April 26, 1858, provides for the sale of the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections of land donated to the State for school purposes, or such land as may be selected in lieu thereof, at public auction under the direction of the sheriff of the county in which said lands offered for sale are situated, at a price not less than two dollars per acre. No sale to be made unless a majority of the householders in the district where the land is situated petition therefor. Public notice of the sale to be made, and the parcels thereof are not to exceed one hundred and sixty, or be less than forty acres. All moneys arising from the sales of lands under the provisions of this Act, shall be set apart as a permanent School Fund, and the interest thereof only appropriated to the support and maintenance of common schools in the township to which the land belonged. * Lands within the limits of any incorporated city, or town, and certain other described tracts, are exempted from the provisions of this Act.-See Abstract of Law 235, Part V. +For List of Agents, see p. 89. |