STATUTE II. CHAP. CXIV.—An Act to grant a quantity of land to the Territory of Wisconsin, June 18, 1838. for the purpose of aiding in opening a canal to connect the waters of Lake Michigan with those of Rock river. (a) Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there be, and hereby is, granted to the Territory of Wisconsin, for the purpose of aiding in opening a canal to unite the waters of Lake Michigan, at Milwaukee, with those of Rock river, between the point of intersection with said river, of the line dividing townships seven and eight and the Lake Koshkonong, all the land heretofore not otherwise appropriated or disposed of in those sections and fractional sections which are numbered with odd numbers on the plats of the public surveys, within the breadth of five full sections, taken in north and south, or east and west tiers, on each side of the main route of said canal, from one end thereof to the other, and reserving the even numbered sections and fractional sections, taken as above, to the United States; and the said land, so granted to aid in the construction of said canal, shall be subject to the disposal of the Legislature of the said Territory, for the purpose aforesaid, and no other: Provided, That the said canal, when completed, and the branches thereof, shall be, and for ever remain, a public highway, for the use of the Government of the United States, free from any toll or other charge whatever, for any property of the United States, or persons in their service, passing through the same: Provided, That said main canal shall be commenced within three years, and completed in ten years, or the United States shall be entitled to receive the amount for which any of said land may have been previously sold, and that the title to purchasers under the Territory shall be valid. Certain lands granted to Wis consin to aid in opening a canal, &c. Lands so grant ed shall be subject to the disposal of the Legislature. Proviso. Proviso. The Governor shall transmit a plat of the route, of the Gen.Land Off., who shall ascertain the &c. to the Com. lands herein granted, and cause lists of them to be pre pared, &c. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That so soon as the route of the said main canal shall be definitively located and established, agreeably to an act of the Legislature of said Territory, incorporating the Milwaukee and Rock river Canal Company, approved January fifth, 1838, it shall be the duty of the Governor thereof, to transmit a plat of the same, showing its terminations and its connections with the sectioncorners of the public surveys, to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, whose duty it shall be to ascertain, under the direction of the President of the United States, the particular lands herein granted to said Territory; and shall cause duplicate lists of the same to be prepared from the plats on file in his office, one of which he shall transmit to the Governor of said Territory, who, or such other person or persons as shall be appointed for the purpose, under the authority of the Legislature of the said Territory, or of the State which may be erected out of the same, after the admission of such State, shall have power to sell or convey the whole, or any part of said land, at a price not less than two dollars and fifty cents per acre, and to give a title in fee simple therefor, to whomsoever shall purchase the whole or any part thereof. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the alternate sections and fractional sections which shall remain to the United States, agreeably to land. the first section of this act, shall not be sold for a less sum than two dollars and fifty cents per acre, nor be subject to pre-emption. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That in reference to the provisions of the first section of this act, where a section shall be divided by the route of the main canal, such section shall be counted (in fixing the lateral limits of said grant) as being on or towards that side of the line next the larger portion of said section, ascertained by reference to the mile-lines and corners of the sections, and the land and water thereby included. Prices of the Sections divi ded by route of main canal, how to be counted. (a) See notes of the acts relating to the territory of Wisconsin, April 20, 1836, chap. 54. Whenever the Terr. of Wisconsin shall be come a State, such part of the lands hereby granted as may not have been sold shall vest in the State, &c. Number of shares the State of Wisconsin may hold in said canal, &c. Provisions relating to the claims of stock, &c. Proviso. Wisconsin re U.S. for all moneys received, &c. if, &c. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That whenever the Territory of Wisconsin shall be admitted into the Union as a State, the lands hereby granted for the construction of the said canal, or such part thereof as may not have been already sold, and applied to that object, under the direction of the Territorial Government, shall vest in the State of Wisconsin, to be disposed of under such regulations as the Legislature thereof may provide, the proceeds of sale to be applied to the construction of the said canal, or of such part thereof as may not have been completed; and the State of Wisconsin shall be entitled to hold, in virtue of the grant hereby made, as many shares of the stock of the said canal as shall be equivalent to the aggregate of all the sums of money arising from the nett proceeds of the sales of the said lands, and applied to the construction of the canal, any thing in the charter of the Milwaukee and Rock river Canal Company to the contrary notwithstanding, and shall be entitled to the same dividends on said stock as any other stockholder; and in the event that the said State shall make no other adequate provision for purchasing out the residue of the stock of the said canal, the dividends of the State stock hereby acquired, and all other proceeds of the sales of the lands hereby granted, shall constitute a fund, and be applied to the extinguishment of the claims of all other stockholders, until the entire stock vested in the canal shall have been acquired by the State: after which, and after the said State shall have been reimbursed for all expenses incurred out of her own proper funds in the construction and repairs of said canal, no other tolls or charge whatever, for the use or navigation of the said canal shall be levied, except to such amount as may be required to keep the said canal and the works appurtenant thereto in good repair, and provide for the collection of the tolls and the superintendence of said canal: Provided, moreover, That no part of the said lands shall be sold for less than two dollars and a half per acre, nor any sale made until after three months' public notice thereof, and to the highest bidder; but in case such price cannot be obtained therefor, within five years from the first sale attempted to be made, it shall and may be lawful for the Territorial or State Legislature of Wisconsin to reduce the minimum price of the said lands. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the said State of Wisconsin sponsible to the shall be held responsible to the United States, and for the payment into the Treasury thereof, of the amount of all moneys received upon the sale of the whole or any part of said land, at the price at which the same shall be sold, not less than two dollars and fifty cents per acre, if the said main canal shall not be commenced within three years, and completed within ten years, pursuant to the provisions of the act creating said canal corporation. Assent of the Legislature required. The Legislature of Wiscon sin may borrow upon a pledge of said lands. SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That, in order to render effectual the provisions of this act, the Legislature of the State to be erected or admitted out of the territory now comprised in Wisconsin Territory, east of the Mississippi, shall give their assent to the same by act to be duly passed. SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That, for the purpose of securing a better price for the lands hereby granted, and expediting the construction of the said canal, the Territorial Legislature of Wisconsin may borrow, upon a pledge of the said lands, such sum or sums of money as they may think expedient, and defer the sale of said lands, or any part thereof, until such time or times, not exceeding two years beyond the period of the completion of said canal, as they may deem expedient; and for such sum or sums as may be so borrowed, and applied to the construction of said canal, the State of Wisconsin shall be entitled to such interest in the stock of said canal as shall be equivalent thereto in amount, and the interest so acquired shall be subject to all the obligations and restrictions provided in the last section of this act. SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That the assent of Congress is hereby given to the act of the Territorial Legislature of Wisconsin entitled an act to incorporate the Milwaukee and Rock river Canal Company, subject to the preceding modifications and to the following provision; that in estimating the principal sum and interest to be paid by the said Territory or the future State of Wisconsin to the stockholders of the said canal, a credit shall be given to the Territory or State for all dividends received by the said stockholders prior to the extinguishment of their interest in the said canal, in the mode provided by the twenty-third section of the said act of incorporation. SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That Congress may, at any time until said Territory shall be admitted as a State, prescribe and regulate the tolls to be received by said company; and after said Territory shall be admitted as a State, the Legislature thereof shall possess the like power; and said act of incorporation is hereby approved, subject to the modification and conditions aforesaid. Assent of Congress hereby given to the gislature of Wisconsin, inMilwaukee and corporating the Rock river canal company. act of the Le Tolls. Lands proba SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury shall reserve from sale the lands probably falling within the limits bly falling withof said grant, and the lands which, by the first section, were reserved to the United States, until the said canal can be located and the lands selected as contemplated by this act, and no pre-emption right shall attach thereto. APPROVED, June 18, 1838. in limits of said grant, &c., to be reserved from sale. STATUTE II. CHAP. CXV.-An Act to reorganize the district courts of the United States in the June 18, 1838. State of Mississippi. (a) Mississippi divided into two districts. Northern dis Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the State of Mississippi shall be, and the same is hereby, divided into two districts, in the following manner, to wit: The counties of Noxubee, Winston, Attala, Carrol, Bolivar, Coahoma, Tunica, De Soto, Marshal, Tippah, Tishe- trict. mingo, Itawamba, Monroe, Lowndes, Oaktibbeha, Choctaw, Yalobusha, Tallehatcha, Ponola, Lafayette, Pontotoc, and Chickasaw, in said State, shall compose one district, to be called the northern district, and a court shall be held for the said district, at the town of Pontotoc, and the residue of the counties of the said State shall hereafter compose the southern district of Mississippi, and a court shall be held for the same, as heretofore, at the city of Jackson. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That there shall be two terms of the district court, for the northern district, held at Pontotoc, in each year, to begin on the first Monday of June and December, and the district judge of the United States for the State of Mississippi is hereby required to hold the courts aforesaid. Southern dist. U. S. district judge for Miss. to hold two northern dist. terms a year in All cases pend ing in the dist. court at Jackson, &c. to be transferred for trial, &c. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That all causes at law or in chancery, and all indictments pending in the district court at Jackson, in which the defendant or defendants resided in the northern district (hereby established) at the time of serving process or the finding of a bill of indictment, shall be transferred for trial to the district court for the said northern district, and be proceeded in, heard, adjudged, and determined, in the same manner as though originally commenced or prosecuted in the said court; and it shall be the duty of the clerk of the district court at Jackson, safely to transmit to the clerk of the district court at Pontotoc, the original papers in all cases and prosecutions papers to be hereby ordered to be transferred, together with a transcript of all orders and other proceedings had thereon. The original transferred. (a) See notes of acts relating to the district court of Mississippi, vol. 3, 611. June 18, 1838. Act of June 12, 1838, ch. 96. President to cause southern boundary of Iowa to be ascer tained and marked. President to appoint a commissioner to act, &c. the line. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That all suits hereafter to be brought in either of said courts not of a local nature, shall be brought in the court of the district where the defendant resides; but if there be more than one defendant, and they reside in different districts, the plaintiff may sue in either, and send a duplicate writ against the defendant, directed to the marshal of the other district, on which the plaintiff or his attorney shall endorse that the writ thus sent is a copy of a writ sued out of the district court of the proper district; and the said writs, when executed and returned into the office from which they issued, shall constitute one suit, and be proceeded in accordingly. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the judge of the said courts shall appoint a clerk of the district court of the northern district, who shall reside and keep his office, and the records and documents appertaining thereto, at the place of holding said courts; said clerk shall be entitled to the same fees allowed by law to the clerk of the other district of the State of Mississippi, perform the like duties, and be subject to the same liabilities and penalties. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That a marshal and district attorney shall be appointed in the northern district of the State aforesaid, having the same duties and liabilities, in all respects, as are now possessed by the marshal and district attorney, respectively, in the State of Mississippi; and the said marshal is hereby required to give the same bonds that other marshals are required to give under the laws of the United States, to be approved of and recorded as now directed by law. SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the marshal and district attorney for the northern district, shall have the same salaries, fees and compensation, as are allowed and paid to the other marshal and district attorney for the State of Mississippi, under the laws of the United States. APPROVED, June 18, 1838. CHAP. CXVI.-An Act to authorize the President of the United States to cause the southern boundary line of the Territory of Iowa to be ascertained and marked. 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 surveyed, ascertained and distinctly marked, the southern boundary line of the Territory of Iowa, west of the Mississippi river, which divides said Territory from the State of Missouri; and that, for that purpose he shall appoint a commissioner on the part of the United States, who &c. in running, (with the aid of such surveyor or surveyors as may be necessary) shall unite or act in conjunction with a commissioner to be appointed by the State of Missouri and a commissioner to be appointed by the Governor of the Territory of Iowa, in running, marking, and ascertaining said boundary line; and that it shall be the duty of the commissioner so to be appointed by the President as aforesaid, after he shall have ascertained, run, and marked said boundary line, to make three maps or plats thereof, with a description or survey-bill thereof appended to each map or plat; one of which shall be returned to the office of Secretary of State for the United States, one to the office of Secretary of State for the State of Missouri, and one to the Secretary of the Territory of Iowa, and the said commissioner on the part of the United States shall also make a full report of his proceedings in the premises to the Secretary of State for the United States. Three maps of the line, &c. Said line to be run according to acts of 6th March 1820, ch. 22, and 7th June 1836, ch. 86. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the said boundary line shall be run or surveyed, ascertained, and marked in all respects according to, and in pursuance of the provisions of the following acts, wherein the said boundary line is defined and described, to wit: an act of Congress of the sixth March, eighteen hundred and twenty, entitled "An act to authorize the people of Missouri Territory to form a constitution and State Government, and for the admission of such State into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, and to prohibit slavery in certain Territories;" and an act of the seventh June, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, entitled "An act to extend the western boundary of the State of Missouri to the Missouri river:" Provided, however, That if either or both of said commissioners to be appointed on the part of the State of Missouri and Territory of Iowa should fail to attend to the aforesaid duty, after reasonable notice by the commissioner on the part of the United States, or if the State of Missouri, or Governor of Iowa, or either of them, should fail to appoint such commissioner on their part, respectively, after reasonable notice from the President of the United States, then, and in that case, the commissioner appointed on the part of the United States shall proceed to execute the duties enjoined by this act with either of said commissioners who may attend, or without the attendance of either or both of said commissioners, as the case may be. Proviso. To be approv SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the line to be so run, ascertained, and marked, shall not be deemed to be finally established and ed by Congress. ratified by the United States, until the map or plat, and description aforesaid, and also the said report of the commissioner shall be submitted to, and the boundary, as thus ascertained and marked, approved of and ratified by the Congress of the United States. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That, for the purpose of carrying Appropriation. into effect the provisions of this act, the sum of four thousand dollars, be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the CHAP. CXVII.—An Act making an appropriation for completing the public buildings in Wisconsin. of Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the sum of twenty thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby, granted and appropriated, out of any unappropriated money in the Treasury, to defray the expenses completing the public buildings in the Territory of Wisconsin, which are now commenced and partially completed; which said sum, or so much thereof as may be necessary for that purpose, shall be expended according to the act of the Legislative Assembly of Wisconsin, entitled "An act to establish the seat of Government of the Territory of Wisconsin, and to provide for the erection of public buildings," approved December thirty, eighteen hundred and thirty-six: Provided, That the commissioners elected in pursuance of the third section of said act, shall cause the said money to be so expended as to accomplish the completion or finishing of said buildings without further expense to the United States. APPROVED, June 18, 1838. STATUTE II. June 18, 1838. Appropriation for completing public buildings. How to be expended. Proviso. STATUTE II. CHAP. CXVIII.—An Act to require the judge of the district courts of East and June 18, 1838. West Tennessee to hold a court at Jackson, in said state. (a) Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That a district court of the United States be, and the same is hereby, established in the western district of the State of Tennessee, for the counties of Benton, Carroll, Henry, Obion, Dyer, Gibson, Lauderdale, Haywood, Tipton, Shelby, (") See notes to the act of January 13, 1831, chap. 1. VOL. V.-32 A district court U. S. establish ed in the western district of Tennessee. |