Mendocino County, and to collect such toll for the use of same as the Supervisors of said county shall, from time to time, establish. SEC. 2. Said chute and landing shall be of sufficient capacity Description. to ship all the lumber, timber or other commodities usually shipped at said Cuffey's Cove; and said chute and landing shall be completed within two years from the passage of this Act. SEC. 3. The said chute and landing, when constructed, shall be used for the accommodation of all persons who desire to ship therefrom, upon the payment of the legal toll. SEC. 4. The franchise herein granted shall endure for the term [of] twenty years from and after the passage of this Act. SEC. 5. This Act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage. An Act to authorize and direct the municipal authorities of the several cities and incorporated towns of this State to execute certain trusts in relation to the town lands granted to the incorporated cities and towns in this State by the Act of Congress entitled an Act for the relief of the inhabitants of cities and towns upon the public lands, approved March second, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven. [Approved March 24, 1868.] The People of the State of California, represented in Senate and enter land Land Office. SECTION 1. It shall be the duty of the Board of Trustees, or Board of other corporate authorities, of any city or incorporated town Trustees to in this State, to enter at the proper Land Office of the United in U. S. States such quantity of land as the inhabitants of any incorporated city or town may be entitled to claim, in the aggregate, according to their population, in the manner required by the laws of the United States and the regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior of the United States, and by order entered upon their minutes of proceedings, at a regular meeting, to authorize the presiding officer and Clerk of such Board or other corporate authority, attested by the seal of such corporation, to make and sign all necessary declaratory statements, certificates and affidavits, or other instruments requisite to carry into effect the intentions of this Act and the intentions of the Act of Congress of the United States entitled an Act for the relief of the inhabitants of cities and towns upon the public lands, approved March second, eighteen hundred and sixtyseven, and to make proof, when required, of the facts necessary to establish the claim of such inhabitants to the lands so granted by said Act of Congress. tion of SEC. 2. The corporate authorities of every city and incorpo- Enumerarated town situate upon the public lands of this State, within inhabitants. three months after the passage of this Act, may, if they shall deem it necessary, cause an enumeration of the inhabitants of Survey. such city or town to be made by the Marshal thereof, and such enumeration shall be returned by said Marshal, within twenty days, to the City or Town Clerks, exhibiting therein the names of all heads of families and possessors or occupants of lots, lands or premises within such town site, alphabetically arranged, verified by his oath. SEC. 3. The said corporate authorities shall thereupon, and immediately thereafter, cause a survey to be made, by some competent person, of the lands which the inhabitants of said city or town may be entitled to claim, under the said Act of Congress, located according to the legal subdivisions of the sections, and by the section lines of the United States, and the same shall be distinctly marked by suitable monuments. Such survey shall further particularly designate all streets, roads, lanes and alleys, public squares, churches, school lots, cemeteries and commons, as the same exist and have been heretofore dedicated in any manner to public use; and, by measurement, the precise boundaries and area of each and every lot or parcel of land and premises claimed by any person, corporation or association, within said city or town site, shall be designated on the map, showing the name or names of the possessor or occupant, and claimant, if other than the occupant, of each particular lot and parcel of land; and in case of any disputed claim as to lots, lands, premises or boundaries, the said surveyor, if the same be demanded by any person, shall designate the lines-in different color from the body of the plat-of such part of any premises so disputed or claimed adversely. A plat thereof shall be made in duplicate, on a scale of not of less than eighty feet to one inch, which shall be duly certified under oath by the surOfficial plats veyor, one of which shall be filed with the County Recorder of the county wherein the town is situated, and one shall be deposited with the City or Town Clerk. These plats shall be considered public records, shall each be accompanied with a copy of the field notes, and the County Recorder shall make a record thereof in a book to be kept by him for that purpose. The said surveyor shall number the blocks as divided by the roads and streets opened at the time of making such survey, and shall number the several lots consecutively in each block, and all other parcels of land within said town or city surveyed as herein provided, which said numbers shall be a sufficient description of any parcel of land in said plat, when mentioned by reference to such town plat; and such plats, field notes and records, and certified copies thereof, shall be prima facie evidence of the contents and correctness thereof in all the Courts of this State. Notice of survey. SEC. 4. Before proceeding to make such survey, at least ten days notice thereof shall be given, by posting within the limits of such town site not less than five written or printed notices of the time when such survey shall commence, and by publication thereof in any newspaper or newspapers published in the city or town, if one there be. The survey of said town lands shall be made to the best advantage and at the least expense to the holders and claimants thereof; and the said corporate authorities are hereby authorized to receive bids for such survey ing, and to let the same by contract to the lowest competent bidder. SEC. 5. All streets, roads, lanes and alleys, public squares, Public cemeteries and commons, surveyed, marked and platted on the property. map of any town site, as prescribed and directed by the provi sions of this Act, shall be deemed and considered, and they are hereby declared to be, dedicated to public use by the filing of such town plat in the office of the County Recorder, shall become the property of such town or city, and shall be subject to the control of the Board of Trustees or other municipal authority of such town or city. to pay ex SEC. 6. Each lot or parcel of said lands having thereon valu- Assessment able improvements or buildings ordinarily used as dwellings or penses. for business purposes, not exceeding one tenth of one acre in area, shall be rated and assessed by the said corporate authorities at the sum of one dollar; each lot or parcel of such lands exceeding one tenth and not exceeding one eighth of one acre in area shall be rated and assessed at the sum of one dollar and fifty cents; each lot or parcel of such lands exceeding in area one eighth of one acre and not exceeding one quarter of an acre in area shall be rated and assessed at the sum of two dollars; and each lot or parcel of such lands exceeding one quarter of an acre and not exceeding one half of one acre in area shall be rated and assessed at the sum of two dollars and one half; and each lot or parcel of land so improved, exceeding one half acre in area, shall be assessed at the rate of two dollars and one half for each half an acre or fractional part over half an acre; and every lot or parcel of land inclosed which may not be otherwise improved, or uninclosed, claimed by any person, corporation or association, shall be rated and assessed at the rate of two dollars per acre or fractional part over an acre; and where upon one parcel of land there shall be two or more separate buildings occupied or used ordinarily as dwellings or for business purposes, each such building, for the purposes of this section, shall be considered as standing on a separate lot of land; but the whole of such premises may be conveyed in one deed; which moneys so assessed shall be paid in gold and silver coin of the United States, and shall be received by the Clerk and be paid by him into the City or Town Treasury. land. SEC. 7. Every person, company, corporation or association, Claims for claimant of any town lot or parcel of land within the limits of such town site, shall present to the corporate authorities, by filing the same with the Clerk thereof, within six months after the plat shall have been filed in the office of the County Recorder, his, her or their affidavit, verified in person or by duly authorized agent or attorney, in which shall be concisely stated the facts constituting the possession or right of possession of the claimant, and that the claimant is entitled to the possession thereof as against all other persons, to the best of his knowledge and belief, to which shall be attached a copy of so much of the plat of said town site as will fully exhibit the particular lot or parcel of land so claimed, with the abuttals; and every such claimant, at the time of filing such affidavit, shall pay to such Record. Deficit. Deeds to be six months. Adverse claims. Clerks such sum of money as said Clerk shall thereon certify to be due for the assessment mentioned in section six of this Act, together with the further sum of five dollars, in gold or silver coin of the United States, to be appropriated to the payment of the expenses incurred in carrying out the provisions of this Act; and the said Clerks shall thereupon give to such claimant a certificate, attested by the corporate seal, containing a description of the lot or parcel of land claimed, and setting forth the amounts paid thereon by such claimant. The corporate authorities of every such city or town shall procure a bound book for each, wherein the said Clerk shall make proper entries of the substantial matters contained in every such certificate issued by him, numbering the same in consecutive order, setting forth the name of claimant or claimants in full, date of issue and description of lot or lots claimed. SEC. 8. If it shall be found that the amounts herein before specified as assessments and fees for cost and expenses shall prove to be insufficient to cover and defray all the necessary expenses, the corporate authorities of every such city and town shall be and they are hereby authorized and empowered to estimate the deficiency and to assess such deficiency pro rata upon all the lots and parcels of lands in such town and to declare the same upon the basis set down in section six of this Act; which additional amount, if any, may be paid by the claimant at the time when the certificate herein before mentioned, or at the time when the deed of conveyance hereinafter provided for, shall be issued. SEC. 9. At the expiration of six months after the issuance of given after the certificate mentioned in the preceding section, if there shall have been no adverse claim filed in the meantime, the said Board of Trustees or other corporate authority shall execute and deliver to such claimant, or to his, her or their heirs, administrators or assigns, a good and sufficient deed of the premises described in the application of the claimant originally filed, which said deed shall be signed and acknowledged by the President or other presiding officer of the municipal Board of officers, and Clerk, and shall be attested by the corporate seal of such city or town. No conveyance of any such lands made as in this Act provided shall be deemed to conclude the rights of third persons; but such third persons may have their action in the premises, to determine alleged interest in such lands against such grantee, his heirs or assigns, to which they may deem themselves entitled either in law or equity; provided, that no action for the recovery of the possession of such premises or any portion thereof shall be maintained in any Court against the grantee named therein or against his, her or their assigns, unless such action shall be commenced within two years after such deed shall have been filed for record in the office of the County Recorder of the county where such lands are situate; and provided, that nothing herein shall be construed to extend the time of limitation prescribed by law for the commencement of actions upon a possessory claim or title to real estate, when such action is barred by law at the time of the passage of this Act; and provided further, that whenever mining claims shall have been located prior to the passage of this Act, and where claims. the same shall be prior in location to the claim of any occupant Mining for other purposes, such mining rights, according to the metes and bounds so located and claimed, shall not in any manner be affected by the provisions of this Act; nor shall any sale be made, nor any title be conveyed by reason of any sale or pretended sale, of such lands so claimed for mining purposes until after the occupancy of such mining claims shall have been abandoned by the holders thereof. of adverse SEC. 10. In all cases of adverse claims or disputes arising Settlement out of conflicting claims to lands or boundary lines, the adverse claims. claimants may submit the decision thereof to the corporate authorities of such city or town by an agreement in writing specifying particularly the subject matter in dispute, and may agree that their decision shall be final. The municipal Board shall hear the proofs and shall order a deed to be executed in accordance with the facts; but in all other cases of adverse claim the party out of possession shall commence his action in a Court of competent jurisdiction within six months after the filing of the town plat in the office of the County Recorder. In case such action be commenced the plaintiff shall serve a notice lis pendens upon the President of the municipal Board, who shall thereupon stay all proceedings in the matter of granting any certificate or deed until the final decision of such suit; and upon presentation of a certified copy of the final decree of such Court in such action, the said Board shall execute and deliver a deed of such premises, in accordance with the decree. In case no such action be commenced within the time herein prescribed, the said Board shall deliver a deed to the party in possession, as provided in section nine of this Act. filing of plat SEC. 11. The said Board shall give public notice by adver- Notice of tisement for four weeks in any newspaper or newspapers published in the said city or town, if any there be-and if there be no newspaper published in said city or town, then by publication in some newspaper having the most general circulation in such city or town-and not less than five written or printed notices posted within the limits of such town site, that the plat thereof has been filed in the Recorder's office. And if any person, company, association or other claimant of lands in such town shall fail, neglect or refuse to make application to the said Board for a deed of conveyance to the lands so claimed, and to pay the sums of money specified in this Act, within six months after the filing of said plat, the Clerk of said Board shall enter on his book the names of all such persons, with a description of the property or premises, and shall certify the same as delinquent for the amount of assessments certified to by such Clerk as due under section six of this Act; and at the expiration of thirty days after making such entries, if such application be not made and such assessment be not paid, the said Board shall proceed to advertise all such lots and parcels of land for sale, in the same manner as real estate is required to be advertised under execution. SEC. 12. At the time of sale mentioned in said advertise- Sale of delinment, the Marshal of said city or town shall proceed to sell all quent lands. such parcels of land so remaining delinquent, by public auction, to the highest bidder for cash, at some public place within the |