SUPERVISOR OF SURVEYS, SURVEYS, AND RESURVEYS 66 Cross references: See subtitle "Land Districts," under "Alaska," p. 16; "Geological Survey," pp. 151, 152; subtitle Homestead Entries within Forest Reserves," under 'Homesteads," p. 180; "Indian Lands," pp. 226, 229, 285; "Private Land and Small Holding Claims," p. 397; subtitle " Surveys of Railroad Lands," under "Railroad Grants," p. 450; "Repayments, " p. 610; Reservoir Sites," p. 618; subtitle "School Land Grants," under "State Grants," pp. 647, 648, 651, 665, 672. SUPERVISOR OF SURVEYS Extract from the Interior Department appropriation Act, approved to Field Survey. The office of surveyor general is hereby abolished, effec- Surveyor general tive July 1, 1925, and the administration of all activities Office abolished. theretofore in charge of surveyors general, including the necessary personnel, all records, furniture, and other Administration, equipment, and all supplies of their respective offices, are etc., transferred hereby transferred to and consolidated with the Field ing Service. Surveying Service, under the jurisdiction of the United States Supervisor of Surveys, who shall hereafter administer same in association with the surveying operations in his charge and under such regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may provide. (U. S. C., title 43, sec. 54.) DUTIES OF SUPERVISOR OF SURVEYS surveyors-gen SEC. 2223. Every surveyor-general shall engage a suffi- General duties of cient number of skillful surveyors as his deputies, to eral. whom he is authorized to administer the necessary oaths upon their appointments. He shall have authority to frame regulations for their direction, not inconsistent with law or the instructions of the General Land Office, and to remove them for negligence or misconduct in office. Second. He shall cause to be surveyed, measured, and marked, without delay, all base and meridian lines through such points and perpetuated by such monuments, and such other correction parallels and meridians as may be prescribed by law or by instructions from the General Land Office in respect to the public lands within his surveying district, to which the Indian title has been or may be hereafter extinguished. Third. He shall cause to be surveyed all private land claims within his district, after they have been confirmed 1 Office of surveyor-general abolished and duties transferred to a supervisor of surveys. See act of Mar. 3, 1925 (43 Stat. 1141, 1144), ante. Paragraph 1 of sec. 2223, R. S., now obsolete. For selection and compensation of surveyors see act of June 25, 1910 (36 Stat. 703, 740), p. 696. by authority of Congress, so far as may be necessary to complete the survey of the public lands. Fourth. He shall transmit to the register of the respective land offices within his district general and particular plats of all lands surveyed by him for each land district; and he shall forward copies of such plats to the Commissioner of the General Land Office. Fifth. He shall, so far as is compatible with the desk duties of his office, occasionally inspect the surveying operations while in progress in the field, sufficiently to satisfy himself of the fidelity of the execution of the work according to contract, and the actual and necessary expenses incurred by him while so engaged shall be allowed; and where it is incompatible with his other duties for a surveyor-general to devote the time necessary to make a personal inspection of the work in progress, then he is authorized to depute a confidential agent to make such examination, and the actual and necessary expenses of such person shall be allowed and paid for that service, and five dollars a day during the examination in the field; but such examination shall not be protracted beyond thirty days, and in no case longer than is actually necessary; and when a surveyor-general, or any person employed in his office at a regular salary, is engaged in such special service, he shall receive only his necessary expenses in addition to his regular salary. (U. S. C., title 43, sec. 52.) SELECTION AND COMPENSATION OF SURVEYORS Extract from the sundry civil appropriations Act approved June 25, 1910 (36 Stat. 703, 740) For surveys and resurveys of public lands, under the supervision of the Commissioner of the General Land Office and direction of the Secretary of the Interior, four hundred and fifty thousand dollars: Provided, That in expending this appropriation preference shall be given, first, in favor of surveying townships occupied, in whole or in part, by actual settlers and of lands granted to the States by the Act approved February twenty-second, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, and the Acts approved July third and July tenth, eighteen hundred and ninety; and, second, to surveying under such other Acts as provide for land grants to the several States and Territories, except railroad land grants and such indemnity lands as the several States and Territories may be entitled to in lieu of lands granted them for educational and other purposes which may have been sold or included in some reservation or otherwise disposed of, and other surveys shall include lands adapted to agricul ture and lands deemed advisable to survey on account of availability for irrigation or dry farming, lines of compensation by Clerks, etc., in lands, etc. reservations, and lands within boundaries of forest reservations. The surveys and resurveys to be made by such Determination of competent surveyors as the Secretary of the Interior Secretary. may select, at such compensation not exceeding two hun- Post, p. 890. dred dollars per month as he may prescribe, except in the District of Alaska, where a compensation not exceeding ten dollars per day may be allowed such surveyors and such per diem allowance, in lieu of subsistence, not exceeding three dollars, as he may prescribe, said per diem allowance to be also made to such clerks who are specting mineral, competent surveyors who may be detailed to make sur- coal, and timber veys, resurveys, or examinations of surveys heretofore made and reported to be defective or fraudulent, and inspecting mineral deposits, coal fields, and timber districts, and for making, by such competent surveyors, fragmentary surveys and such other surveys or examinations as may be required for identification of lands for purposes of evidence in any suit or proceeding in behalf of the United States, the sum hereby appropriated to be immediately available: Provided further, That the sum Monuments for of not exceeding ten per centum of the amount hereby appropriated may be expended by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, for the purchase of metal or other equally durable monuments to be used for publicland survey corners wherever practicable. COMPLETION OF SURVEYS section corners. surveys, delivery SEC. 2218, R. S.3 The Secretary of the Interior shall Completion of take all the necessary measures for the completion of the of field notes. surveys in the several surveying-districts for which surveyors-general have been, or may be, appointed, at the earliest periods compatible with the purposes contemplated by law; and whenever the surveys and records of any such district are completed, the surveyor-general thereof shall be required to deliver over to the secretary of state of the respective States, including such surveys, or to such other officer as may be authorized to receive them, all the field-notes, maps, records, and other papers appertaining to land titles within the same; and the office of surveyor-general in every such district shall thereafter cease and be discontinued. (U. S. C., title 43, sec. 54.) veyor-general's missioner of Land SEC. 2219, R. S. In all cases where, as provided in the Devolution of surpreceding section, the field-notes, maps, records, and powers upon Comother papers appertaining to land-titles in any State are Office. turned over to the authorities of such State, the same authority, powers, and duties in relation to the survey, This provision abolished the contract system of surveying public lands and made obsolete the first paragraph of sec. 2223, R. S., and secs. 22302233, R. S. See act of May 28, 1926 (44 Stat. 672), p. 698. Free access to field notes, etc., de resurvey, or subdivision of the lands therein, and all matters and things connected therewith, as previously exercised by the surveyor-general, whose district included such State, shall be vested in, and devolved upon, the Commissioner of the General Land Office. (Ủ. S. C., title 43, sec. 53.) SEC. 2220, R. S. Under the authority and direction of livered to states. the Commissioner of the General Land Office any deputy surveyor or other agent of the United States shall have free access to any such field notes, maps, records, and other papers for the purpose of taking extracts therefrom or making copies thereof without charge of any kind. (U. S. C., title 43, sec. 55.) Conditions of delivery of field notes to the States. Field notes, etc., be turned over to the State. 5 SEC. 2221, R. S. The field-notes, maps, records, and other papers mentioned in section twenty-two hundred and nineteen, shall in no case be turned over to the authorities of any State, until such State has provided by law for the reception and safe-keeping of the same as public records, and for the allowance of free access to the same by the authorities of the United States. (U. S. C., title 43, sec. 56.) TRANSFER OF RECORDS TO STATES An Act To provide for the transfer of certain records of the General Land Office to States, and for other purposes 5 * SEC. 2. That when the public surveys in any State have of surveys, may been so far completed that in the opinion of the Secretary of the Interior it is no longer necessary to maintain a public survey office in said State, he may turn over to the State the field notes, maps, plats, records, and all other papers appertaining to land titles in such public survey office that may not be needed by the United States and which the State may elect to receive. (U. S. C., 3d supp. title 43, sec. 25a.) SEC. 3. The transcripts, documents, records, field notes, maps, plats, and other papers mentioned in sections 1 and 2 of this Act shall in no case be turned over to the authorities in any State until such State has provided by law for the reception and safekeeping of same as public records, and for the allowance of free access to the same by the authorities of the United States. (U. S. C., 3d supp. title 43, sec. 25b.) Approved, May 28, 1926 (44 Stat. 672). CERTIFICATION OF RECORDS SEC. 2224, R. S. The official seals heretofore authorized to be provided for the offices of the surveyors-general of Oregon, California, and Louisiana shall continue to be used; and any copy of or extract from the plats, field See act of May 28, 1926 (44 Stat. 672), infra. For sec. 1 of this act see "Registers and Receivers," p. 606. notes, records, or other papers on file in these offices, respectively, when authenticated by the seal and signature of the proper surveyor-general, shall be evidence in all cases in which the original would be evidence. (U. S. C., title 43, sec. 54.) records of SEC. 2225, R. S. Any copy of a plat of survey, or trans- Transcripts from script from the records of the office of surveyor-general Louisiana. of Louisiana, duly certified by him, shall be admitted as evidence in all the courts of the United States and the Territories thereof. (U. S. C., title 43, sec. 58.) office of surveyor thereof. SEC. 2229, R. S. All official books, papers, instruments official papers in of writing, documents, archives, official seals, stamps, or general of Calidies, which have been heretofore authorized by law to be fornia; copies collected and deposited in the surveyor-general's office in California, shall be safely and securely kept by such surveyor-general in the archives of his office; and copies thereof, authenticated by the surveyor-general under his seal of office, shall be evidence in all cases where the originals would be evidence. (U. S. C., title 43, sec. 59.) PROTECTION OF SURVEYOR shal of district. SEC. 2413, R. S. Whenever the President is satisfied Protection of that forcible opposition has been offered, or is likely to be surveyor by maroffered, to any surveyor or deputy surveyor in the discharge of his duties in surveying the public lands, it may be lawful for the President to order the marshal of the State or district, by himself or deputy, to attend such surveyor or deputy surveyor with sufficient force to protect such officer in the execution of his duty, and to remove force should any be offered. (U. S. C., title 43, sec. 774.) RULES OF SURVEY SEC. 2395, R. S. The public lands shall be divided by Rules of survey. north and south lines run according to the true meridian, and by others crossing them at right angles, so as to form townships of six miles square, unless where the line of an Indian reservation, or of tracts of land heretofore surveyed or patented, or the course of navigable rivers, may render this impracticable; and in that case this rule must be departed from no further than such particular circumstances require. Second. The corners of the townships must be marked with progressive numbers from the beginning; each distance of a mile between such corners must be also distinctly marked with marks different from those of the corners. Third. The township shall be subdivided into sections, containing, as nearly as may be, six hundred and forty acres each, by running through the same, each way, 11992-31-45 |