382
Statute I.
June 1, 1840.
Act of June22, 1838, ch.119.
In cases of re-sidence on onequarter section,and cultivationof land on an-other.
In cases ofimprovementsmade by oneperson, andleased or rentedto another.
Certain landsnot surveyed,&c.
Persons whosettled on anypublic land be-fore its selectionby any Statefor a seminaryof learning.
The act of 22dJune 1838, ch.119, continuedtill 22d June1842.
Right of pre-emption ex-tended.
1838, ch. 119.
Chap. XXXII.— in Act supplemental to the act entitled “ An act to grant pre-emp-tion rights to settlers on the public lands,” approved June twenty-second, eighteen
hundred and thirty-eight, (o)
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of theUnited States of America in Congress assembled, That in all caseswhere a settler on the public lands may reside, or have his dwelling-house upon one quarter section, and cultivate land on another and dif-ferent quarter section, such settler may make his election under the actto which this is a supplement, to enter either of said quarter sections,or legal subdivisions of each, so as not to exceed one quarter sectionin all.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That in all cases where an in-dividual may have made an improvement on the public land, and hadafterward leased or rented such improvement to another person, whowas in possession of the same on the twenty-second of June, eighteenhundred and thirty-eight, and for the period of four months next pre-ceding, or when the lessor and lessee, together, occupied such improve-ment during said four months, the person who made such improvement,and so rented or leased the same, shall be entitled to the right of pre-emption, notwithstanding he may have been out of possession of hisimprovement during said four months, or any part thereof.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That every settler on the publiclands, which were not surveyed at the passage of the act to which thisis a supplement, and who, since the survey of such public lands hasbeen ascertained to have resided at the date of said act, and for fourmonths preceding, on a sixteenth section, set apart for the support ofschools in any township, shall be entitled to enter at the minimum priceany other quarter section of the public lands lying in the same land dis-trict, to which no other person has the right of pre-emption, on makingsatisfactory proof of his or her residence as aforesaid on such sixteenthsection, before the register and receiver of the land office of said dis-trict.
Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That every person who may havebeen a settler, within the meaning of the act to which this is a supple-ment, on any public land before its selection by any State for the pur-poses of a seminary of learning, under any act of Congress authorizingsuch selection, on satisfactory proof of the facts before the register andreceiver of the district in which his improvements were situated, shallbe permitted to enter at the minimum price, any other quarter sectionlying in the same land district, to which no other person has the rightof pre-emption.
Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the “ Act to grant pre-emption rights to settlers on the public lands,” approved, June twenty-second, eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, be, and the same is hereby,continued in full force till the twenty-second day of .Tune, eighteen hun-dred and forty-two; and the right of pre-emption, under its provisions,shall be, and hereby is, extended to all settlers on the public lands atthe date of this act, with the same exceptions, whether general or special,and subject to all the limitations and conditions contained in the above-recited act, and with the explanatory provisions of the preceding sec-tions of this act; and nothing in the last proviso of the act of the twenty-second of June, eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, shall be so construedas to defeat any right of pre-emption accruing under said act, or underthis act, or under any preceding act of Congress , nor shall said pre-emption claims be defeated by any contingent Choctaw location.
Approved, June 1, 1840.
(a) See notes of the acts which have been passed relative to pre-emptions of public lands; act of May29, 1830, chap. 208.