Washington, DC, 1994.
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An
ORDINANCE for ascertaining the Mode of disposing of
LANDS
in the
WESTERN TERRITORY.
BE IT
ORDAINED BY THE
UNITED
STATES IN
Thirteen or more surveyors shall be appointed by Congress, who shall take an oath for the faithful discharge of their duty, to be administered by the geographer, who is hereby empowered to administer the same; and if any surveyor being appointed as aforesaid, shall decline or become incapable to discharge his duty, the geographer shall appoint another in his place.
The geographer, (under whose direction the surveyors shall act) shall form such regulations for their conduct, as he shall deem necessary: and shall have authority to suspend them for misconduct in office, and shall make report of the same to Congress.
The surveyors shall proceed to divide the said territory into townships of
There shall be allowed for the surveying of every township
The first line running north and south as aforesaid, shall begin on the Ohio, at a point that shall be found to be due north from the termination of a line which has been run as the southern boundary of the state of Pennsylvania; and the first line running east and west shall begin at the same point, and shall extend throughout the whole territory. The geographer shall designate the townships or parts of townships, by numbers progressively from south to north, always beginning each range with No. 1; and the ranges shall be distinguished by their progressive numbers to the westward. The first range extending from the Ohio to the lake Erie, being marked No. 1.
The lines shall be measured with a chain; shall be plainly marked by chaps on the trees, and exactly described on a plat, whereon shall be noted at their proper distances all water courses, mountains, and other remarkable and permanent things, over or near which such lines shall pass.
The plats of the districts respectively, shall be subdivided, as the case may require, into sections of one mile square, or 640 acres, in the same direction as the external lines, and numbered from 1 to 49. Always beginning the succeeding range of sections with the number next to that with which the preceding one concluded.— And where from the causes before mentioned, only a part of a township shall be surveyed, the sections protracted thereon, shall bear the same numbers as if the township had been entire. And these sections shall be subdivided into lots of 320 acres.
The geographer and surveyors, shall pay the utmost attention to the variation of the magnetic needle—and shall run and note all lines by the true meridian, certifying with every plat what was the variation at the times of running the lines thereon noted.
As soon as
The commissioners shall transmit duplicates of the said original plats so drawn for, to the loan officer of the individual states respectively, who after giving proper notice, shall proceed to sell the same at public vendue excepting only such townships and parts of townships as may be hereinafter particularly reserved; provided that none of the lands within the said territory, be sold under the price of one dollar the acre, to be paid in specie or loan-office certificates reduced to specie value by the scale of depreciation, or certificates of liquidated debts of the United States, besides the expence of the survey and other proceedings thereon, which are hereby rated at dollars the townships, in specie or certificates as aforesaid, and so in the same proportion for a part thereof.
When any township or part of a township shall have been sold as aforesaid, and the money or certificates received therefor, the loan officer shall deliver a deed in the following terms.
To all to whom these presents shall come greeting, Know ye, That for the consideration ofC.D. the townships or parts of a township numberedC.D. his heirs and assigns for ever, subject nevertheless to such reservation as are contained in an ordinance, bearing date the
In witness whereof, the said
A.B. loan officer of the said state, hath hereunto set his hand, and affixed the seal of his office, this
The loan-officers respectively shall make returns to the commissioners of the treasury every
If any township or part of township remains unsold for
There shall be reserved for the United States out of every township, the four corner sections, being numbered, and out of every part of a township, so many sections of the same numbers as shall be found thereon.
Also one
There shall be reserved the central section of every township, for the maintenance of public schools, and the section immediately adjoining the same to the northward, for the support of religion. The profis arising therefrom in both instances, to be applied for ever according to the will of the majority of male residents of full age within the same. And whereas Congress by their resolutions of September 16th and 18th in the year 1776, and the 12th of August 1780, stipulated grants of land to the officers and soldiers who had engaged or should engage in the service of the United States during the war, and continue therein to the close of the same, or until discharged by Congress, and to the representatives of such officers and soldiers as should be slain by the enemy, in the following proportions, to wit.
To a major general 1100 acres, to a brigadier 850, to a colonel 450, to a major 400, to a captain 300, to a lieutenant 200, to an ensign 150, and to a noncommissioned officer and soldier 100. For complying therefore with such engagement, be it ordained, That the secretary at war, from the returns in his office, or such other sufficient evidence as the nature of the case may admit, determine who are the objects of the above resolutions, and the quantity of lands to which such persons or their representatives are respectively entitled, and cause the township or parts of townships herein before reserved for the use of the late continental army, to be drawn for in such manner as he shall deem expedient, to answer the purpose of an impartial distribution.
He shall from time to time transmit certificates, difficult of imitation, to the loan-officers of the different states, to the lines of which the military claimants respectively belong, specifying the name and rank of the party, the terms of his engagement, and time of his service, and the division, brigade, regiment or company to which he belonged, the quantity of land he is entitled to, and the township out of which his portion is to be taken.
The loan-officers shall execute deeds for such undivided proportions in manner and form herein before mentioned, varying only in such a degree as to make the same conformable to the certificate from the secretary at war.
Where any military claimants of bounty in lands shall not belong to the line of any particular state, similar certificates shall be sent to the commissioners of the treasury, who shall execute deeds to the parties for the same.
The commissioners of the treasury, and loan-officers in the states, shall within twelve months, return receipts to the secretary at war, for all deeds which have been delivered, as also all the original deeds which remain in their hands for want of applicants, which deeds so returned shall be preserved in the office until the parties, or their representatives require the same.
Saving and confirming always, to all officers and soldiers entitled to lands on the northern side of the Ohio, by donation or bounty from the commonwealth of Virginia, and to all persons claiming under them, all rights to which they are so entitled by the laws of the said state, and the acts of Congress, accepting the session of western territory from the said state.