February 4, 1868. This plat was suspended January 22, 1873, on account of conflict with the Diaz grant, and was not restored until October 1, 1873. Township 16 N., range 2 W., was surveyed in the field in July, 1871, and the plat approved by the surveyor general August 23, 1871, and filed in the local office September 25, 1871. This plat was also suspended January 22, 1873, on account of conflict with the Diaz grant, and not restored until October 1, 1873. Part of the lands in 17 N., 2 W., were returned as swampy.and overflowed on the official plat of that township and were certified to the State September 20, 1870, and are not, therefore involved in this case. In the year 1861, the State caused segregation surveys to be made of the lands in these townships, which were claimed by her under the swamp grant of September 28, 1850, and these surveys included large tracts which are returned as dry lands on the United States official surveys. The State filed objections to the government surveys with the surveyor general on October 20, 1871, as provided for in the last clause of the 4th section of the act of July 23, 1866, and a hearing was set for November 13, 1872. On the date last mentioned objection was raised to the right of the State to swamp lands within the limits of a private grant, the title to which was still in litigation; and the surveyor general thereupon postponed further action, to await instructions from the Commissioner of the General Land Office. On January 9, 1873, the surveyor general was directed by your office to suspend the hearings in all cases where the title to the lands was in litigation, and proceedings in this case were consequently suspended until April 7, 1874, when the hearing was held in the town of Colusa, Cal., which is situated near the lands in dispute. In the mean time, viz, on March 5, 1872, the following lands in 17 N., 2 W., were patented to the Central Pacific Railroad Company: All of fractional section 15. S. E. of N. W. †, W. † of N. E. 1, N. E. † of N. E. †, W. of S. E. 1, and S. W. of section 27. All of section 29. W. of W., N. E. † of N. W. 1, S. E. † of S. W., and S. of S. E. of section 33. On August 28, 1874, your predecessor rendered a decision on certain preliminary questions raised by counsel for the State, and an appeal was taken on behalf of the State from this decision. On February 27, 1875, counsel for the State asked leave to withdraw their appeal without prejudice to any legal rights which their client might possess, in order to have the testimony examined and the case decided on its merits by your office, and this request was granted by my predecessor, Hon. C. Delano, on March 1,1875. On June 28, 1875, the case was examined and decided by your office on its merits, and the following tracts were found to be so swampy or overflowed as to be unfit for successful cultivation in a majority of seasons without reclamation, viz: and overflowed, it shall not be necessary to subdivide the same, but to run the exterior lines of such body of land." In order to understand the object of this clause, it is necessary to briefly revert to the condition of affairs which existed in California at the time the act was passed. The State, in her anxiety to obtain possession of those lands which had been granted her, undertook to anticipate the lawful setting apart of them by the government, and to that end caused segregation surveys to be made by her officers. These surveys were extended over the swampy lands, and in many instances over the adjacent dry lands as well. The State then sold the lands to innocent third parties, although the dry lands had never passed under the grant, and she had in fact no title to any except swampy and overflowed lands. The dry lands were, in many cases, occupied by bona-fide settlers, claiming the right to enter them under the pre-emption and homestead laws, and the result was an inextricable confusion of titles and claims growing out of these conflicting interests. The act of September 28, 1850, granted none but swampy or overflowed lands, whereas the State had segregated both dry and swamp lands. The clause above quoted was therefore enacted to make an end of controversy, by confirming to the State those lands which she had segregated, in accordance with the system of surveys adopted by the general government. I am of opinion that this clause confirms absolutely to the State all lands not in a state of reservation which had been segregated by her prior to July 23, 1866, if the State surveys were made on the rectangular system, whether the lands had been surveyed by the United States or not, or whether they were swampy or dry lands, provided no valid pre-emption or homestead claim or other right had been acquired by any settler, as provided in the first section of the act. It is the duty of the surveyor-general to prepare plats showing those lands segregated by the State, where the surveys were made on the rectangular system and conform to the United States surveys prior to July 23, 1866, as swampy, and when this is done, the plats should be approved and the lands certified over to the State, unless you shall find that there were bona-fide settlers on the dry lands at the date of the approval of the act, in which event the claim of the State must give way to that of the settler. This act gave the settler no right to enter lands which were swampy in 1850, because the government had no title in them, and could not give a settler a right to enter lands previously granted to the State. In other words, the State acquired title to all public lands which were swampy or overflowed in 1850, and the act of 1866 did not abrogate that grant, but, on the contrary, extended it, by giving her in some cases dry lands as well. In cases where the State segregation surveys were not made on the rectangular system, and where no surveys had been made either by the State or the United States prior to July 23, 1866, the surveyor-general, by the third clause of said fourth section, is required to make segregation surveys, and to represent and describe on the plats of survey what lands were actually swampy in 1850 from the best evidence he can obtain. If the State is dissatisfied with the surveyor-general's action and claims more lands than are set off to her as swampy, she is entitled to make proof of her claim before the surveyor-general. The lands involved in this case, however, were not confirmed by the act of July 23, 1866, as that act only confirmed to the State those dry lands which had been segregated by her on the rectangular system prior to that time, and which were not then in a state of reservation. The lands within the Diaz grant were reserved by the act of March 3, 1851, and that reservation continued until the grant was finally rejected on March 3, 1873, a period of twenty-two years, and the same rule that excepted them from the railroad grant excepted them also from the confirmation contained in the act of 1866. I am of opinion, therefore, that the State is entitled to those lands only which were returned by the surveyor-general as swampy or overflowed, or which the proof shows were of that character in 1850. Your finding of fact as to the character of the lands in dispute is affirmed, and the swampy lands will be certified over to the State. The surveyor-general should be instructed to proceed with the hearings as to the character of those lands in relation to which he refused to allow testimony to be taken in 1874. Your decision is modified accordingly; and the papers transmitted with your letter of January 8, 1876, are herewith returned. Very respectfully, The COMMISSIONER OF THE GENERAL LAND OFFICE. C. SCHURZ, Secretary. By the act of March 3, 1857 (Revised Statutes of the United States, section 2484), the lands selected and reported as swamp and overflowed lands within the six-mile limit of the Illinois Central Railroad grant were confirmed to the State, so far as they remained vacant and unappropriated at that date. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, SIR: I have considered the appeal of the State of Illinois from your decision of February 23, 1878, rejecting her application to have the following tracts certified to her as swamp and overflowed land under the provisions of section 2484 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, viz: N. of N. W. section 11, tp. 6 N., range 1 E., 3d P. M. S. W. of N. W. section 1, tp. 4 N., range 1 W., 3d P. M. S. E. of S. W. section 17, tp. 28 N., range 1 W., 4th P. M. Frl N. E. section 29, tp. 28 N., range 1 W., 4th P. M. The facts in this case are as follows, viz: By act of Congress approved September 20, 1850, there was granted to the State of Illinois, to aid in the construction of a railroad "from the southern terminus of the Illinois and Michigan Canal to a point at or near the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, with a branch of the same to Chicago, on Lake Michigan, and another via the town of Galena, in said State," every alternate section of land designated by even numbers for six sections in width on each side of said road and branches; and in case any of said land had been sold by the United States, or the right of pre-emption had attached to the same at the time the line of said road was definitely fixed, the State was granted indemnity for the lands so lost, to be selected from the most contiguous tier of alternate sections within fifteen miles of the line of the road. (9 Statutes, p. 466.) The sale of the lands within the six and fifteen mile limits of said road was suspended by letter of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, dated September 20, 1850, pursuant to an order of President Filmore, dated September 19, 1850. The Illinois Central Railroad was constructed under this grant, and the whole grant, with the exception of a few trifling balances, was adjusted and certified March 13, 1852; and the balance of the lands within the six and fifteen mile limits were subsequently offered at public sale and restored to market by executive proclamation. By act approved September 28, 1850 (9 Stat., 519), Congress granted to the several States of the Union all of the unsold swamp and overflowed lands within their respective limits. It appears that on November 20, 1855, my predecessor, Hon. R. McClelland, decided that the lands within the six-mile limits of the Illinois Central Railroad did not inure to the State under the swamp-land grant of September 28, 1850, and rejected the claim of the State thereto. You held that the decision of Secretary McClelland, under which your office had acted for twenty-two years, was final and conclusive against the claim of the State to these lands, and rejected this application for that reason. I am of opinion that the decision of Secretary McClelland is final and conclusive upon the questions decided by him, but I do not think that decision has any application whatever to the case under consideration. Secretary McClelland simply decided that the odd sections of lands within the sixmile limits of the grant to the Illinois Central Railroad, did not inure to the State under the swamp-land grant of September 28, 1850; whereas, in this case, the State is not claiming under the act of 1850, but under the act approved March 3, 1857, entitled "An act to confirm to the several States the swamp and overflowed lands selected under the act of September twenty-eight, eighteen hundred and fifty, and the act of the second March, eighteen hundred and forty-nine," as re-enacted in section 2484 of the Revised Statutes of the United States. The statute under which the State claims is as follows, viz: "SECTION 2484. All lands selected and reported to the General Land Office as swamp and overflowed land by the several States entitled to the provisions of said act of September 28, 1850, prior to March 3, A. D. eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, are confirmed to said States respectively so far as the same remained vacant and unappropriated, and not interfered with by an actual settlement under any law of the United States." The language of the act of March 3, 1857, and of the above re-enactment is plain and unambiguous, and its effect was to confirm to the several States all selections of swamp and overflowed lands which had been reported to your office prior to March 3, 1857, and remained vacant and unappropriated and not interfered with by actual settlement. This view of the law is fully sustained by the former decisions of this department. In the case of J. D. Ludlow vs. The State of Illinois, decided on January 8, 1858, my predecessor, Hon. J. Thompson, held as follows, viz: "I am of opinion that the act of Congress of March 3, 1857, entitled 'An act to confirm to the several States the swamp and overflowed lands, selected under the act of September 28, 1850,' is, as respects the disposition of cases on th the date of its passage, mandatory in its terms. It confirms the selections of swamp and overflowed lands 'heretofore made and missioner of the General Land Office, so far as the same remai priated and not interfered with by any actual settlement und the United States,' and directs that they be approved and p States. It is not for me to call in question the const Congress under discussion, or to refuse obedience to a plain on account of the effect or consequences of such obedience." p. 558.) ** In a decision relating to swamp lands and lands granted fo State of Iowa, rendered July 23, 1859, Secretary Thompson 1 "The act of Congress of the 3d March, 1857, confirmed all grant, which had been regularly reported, and were on file so far as the lands remained vacant and unappropriated; a whether lands so selected and reported were or were not sv ber, 1850, if they remained vacant and unappropriated on Lester's Land Laws, p. 570.) The tracts involved in this State as swamp and overflowed lands on October 29, 1853, regularly reported and were on file in your office at the act of March 3, 1857, and I am, therefore, of opinion th. confirmatory provisions of the act. The act of September 28, 1850, and the decision of Se portant in the consideration of the questions at issue in State rests upon the confirmatory act of March 3, 1857 2484 of the Revised Statutes, which was in effect a grant and perfected the title of the State therein, as held by th States in the recent case of Martin vs. Marks, decided at On examination of the records of your office I find tha tp. 6 N., range 1 E., was entered by Nathan Sanford, per c patent issued August 20, 1875. As this tract has been patented, it has passed beyond this department; and the application of the State to under the act of March 3, 1857 as re-enacted in section refused, as such certification would be equivalent to tl the same land, while the first was outstanding and un The S. W. of N. W. sec. 1, tp. 4 N., range 1 W., is 1 of the passage of the act of March 3, 1857, it was e made October 8, 1856, by R. P. Vincent. This entry, 1 ber 16, 1857, on account of the prior swamp selection purchase money was returned June 8, 1861, under the tract was not legally appropriated at the date of vacant, and there is no reason why it should not be The S. E. of S. W. section 17, tp. 28 N., range of S. W. sec. 17, tp. 28 N., range 1 W., north of n acres, was entered by John S. Crawford, at Spri patented March 12, 1857. This tract was not, theref 3, 1857. The S. E. frl of S. W. sec. 17, tp. 28, range 1, ble slough, and containing 6.72 acres, was vacant vacant, and there is no reason why it should not be The fr'l N. E. sec. 29, tp. 28 N., range 1 W., 4t situated on an island in the Mississippi River, ! boundary of the State extends to the middle of sai priated on March 3, 1857, and is now vacant, it sh Your decision is reversed for the reasons stated your letter of March 1, 1878, are herewith returne Very respectfully, The COMMISSIONER OF THE GENERAL LAND C Change of the rules and regulations in regard lands, for which indemnity is claimed under section 2482). DEPAR SIR: I have considered the testimony relating indemnity for swamp lands in Greene County, d neys are received are over and above rs and receivers. The performance ad frequently requires clerical assisters for the purpose, and the moneys f expenses incident to the prosecution regard it as a hardship to compel the me against their maximum compensarelieve them therefrom. fer of title. blic lands generally provide for transact of Congress approved July 4, 1836 ection enacts "that there shall be apwith consent of the Senate, a Recorder se duty it shall be, in pursuance of iner, to certify and affix the seal of the s for public lands, and he shall attend cording and transmission of such patrepare such copies and exemplifications the General Land Office as the Comdirect." (See also Rev. Stat., section 341 (vol. 5, page 416), it was enacted of this act it shall be the duty of the Office, in addition to the duties now resign all patents issued from said office." atutory enactments and official regulaone in the Recorder's Division of this ng June 30, 1878: 7,646 8,303 6,809 4,537 $7,790.63 $1,351. 63 2,998 13, 418 419 123 12 16,970 eceding year of 6,556, which was caused epare them. Number of patents transof patents signed and sealed by the eneral Land Office, 17,718, showing the oad, swamp, and other patents, not agri the office all patents other than agriculhis division, the Recorder being required his office, pages 37, 38, and 39, there was r and kind of agricultural patents issued and Territories from 1793 to the close of |