ACTS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA PASSED AT MILLEDGEVILLE, At an Extra Session in April and May. 1821. AN ACT To dispose of and distribute the lands lately acquired by the United States for the use of Georgia, of the Creek Nation of Indians, by a treaty made and concluded at the Indian Spring, on the eighth day of January, eighteen hundred and twenty-one; and to add the Reserve at Fort Hawkins to the county of Jones. Sec, 1. BE it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Georgia, in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That the territory acquired of the Creek Nation of Indians by the United States for the use of Georgia, as described in articles of a treaty, ntered intò, and concluded between Commissioners on the part of the United States, & the chiefs, headmen and warriors of the Creek Nation of Indians, at the Indian Spring, on the eighth day of January, eighteen hundred and twenty-one, shall form, and be divided into five counties, as follows, to wit: All that part of said territory which lies south of a line commencing on the Ocmulgee river, opposite the town of Hartford, and running due west to the Flint river, shall form one county, to be called Dooley. All that part of said territory lying between a line commencing on the Ocmulgee river opposite Fort Hawkins, and running due west to Flint river, and the line first above described, shall form one other county to be called Houston. All that part of said territory lying between the last mentioned line, and a line commencing at the Seven Islands, on the Ocmulgee river. and running due west forty miles, thence due south to the Flint river, shall form one other county, to be called Monroe. All that part of said territory which lies west of the last mentioned line and a line commencing at the corner of Monroe county, as above described, and running north to the Chattahoochie, shall form one other county to be called Fayette. All that part of said territory which lies east of the last meatio ued line, running from the corner of Monroe county, to the Chattahoochie, shall form one other county, to be called Henry. Sec. 2. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That each of the counties herein before laid out and described, shall be divided into districts of nine miles square, as near as practicable, the district lines running parallel to the lines dividing cousties, and crossed by other lines at right angles, and said districts so laid out, shall be again subdivided by lines to be run in like directions into square tracts, containing each two hundred two and a half acres, marked and numbered according to the plan heretofore pursued, under the instructions of the Surveyor General. Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the fractionable parts of surveys which may be created by the divisions and subdivisions aforesaid, shall be reserved for public uses, to be disposed of as a future Legislature may direct. Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That a number of Surveyors equal to the number of districts shall be appointed by joint ballot of the Legislature in one general ticket; and the person having the highest number of votes, shall be entitled to the first choice of districts, and in the same order, agreeably to the number of votes each Surveyor may receive; and in case of a tie between any number of Surveyors, then preference in choice shall be decided by lot in presence of the Surveyor General. Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That ten persons shall be appointed by joint ballot of the Legislature, neither of whom shall be a District Surveyor, to run and plainly mark the several district and county lines herein before directed, whose duties shall be apportioned by the Surveyor General, as nearly equal as practicable-and that no ticket shall be counted, unless it contains the names of ten persons. Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That no ticket for District Surveyors shall be counted unless it contains as many names as there are districts. Any person elected a Surveyor who shall fail to perform the duties of his office, as required by the provisions of this act, shall be considered as forfeiting his bond, and himself and his securities immediately liable therefor. Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That the Surveyors respectively, shall give bond in the sum of ten thousand dollars, to the Governor and his successors in office, with such security as he, or a majority of the Justices of the Inferior court of the county, in which such Surveyor may reside, shall approve, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties required of them by this act. which bond shall be deposited in the Executive office. Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Surveyors appointed in pursuance of this act, to make the Surveys of the counties and districts, to which they may be appointed, in their own proper person, to mark, or cause to be marked plainly & distinctly upon trees, if practicable, otherwise on posts, all corners and stations & all lines which they may be required to run for the purpose of making the surveys of their respective counties and districts, immediately upon being required so to do by the Surveyor General, to cause all such lines to be measured with all possible exactness, with a half chain containing thirty three feet, divided into fifty equal links, which shall be adjusted by the Surveyor General, according to the standard in his office; to take as accurately as possible he meanders of all water courses which shall form natural boundaries to any of the surveys; to note in field books to be kept by them respectively, the names of the corners and station trees, which shall be marked and numbered under the direction of the Surveyor General; also, all rivers, creeks and other water courses which may be touched upon or crossed, in running any of the lines aforesaid; transcripts of which fleld books, after being compared with the originals by the Surveyor, General; and certified and signed on every page by the Surveyor returning the same, shall be deposited in the Surveyor General's office, and become a record; and the District Surveyors shall make a return of their surveys and works within ninety days from the time they are notified to enter upon the discharge of their duties, containing a map of their district, in which shall be correctly represented and numbered all lots and fractions of said district, and waters therein delineated as the Surveyor General may direct; and also return at the same time a detached plat of each lot and fraction which said district may contain, certifled & signed by such Surveyor; which plat shall be filed among the records of the Surveyor General's office and from which copies shall be taken to be annexed to grants; and said surveyors shall con form to such instructions as they may receive from time to time from the Surveyor General during their continuance in office; Provided, The same do not militate against this act......... And the Surveyors appointed to lay out county and district lines, shall make return of their works to the Surveyor General within sixty days after the passage of this act, |