sold at pub lic auction Sale adver tised. Proceeds, how applied Lands, when acres or more in one body of such swamp lands in any survey. ed township, the Commissioner of the Land Office, with the approval of the board of control, may sell at public auction to the highest bidder, all the swamp lands of such township, in whole or in parcels, as such board of control shall determine and direct, subject to such system of thorough drainage as said board of control shall prescribe, and such lands shall not be conveyed to the purchasers thereof until such drainage shall be fully completed. Before making such sale the commissioner shall advertise the time and place of such sales for twelve successive weeks, in a newspaper printed in the county in which such lands lie, if there be one; if no newspaper be published in the county, then in a newspaper printed at Lansing, and in such other manner as the commissioner may deem proper; and the moneys arising from such sales shall be paid into the treasury of the State to the credit of the swamp land fund, and be applied to the discharge of any indebtedness arising under "an act to provide for the drainage and reclamation of swamp lands by means of State roads and ditches," approved February twelfth, eighteen hundred and fifty-nine: Provided, That in all cases such sales shall be made in the counties in which such lands lie, at such place therein as such commissioner shall appoint Proviso. Provisions to apply to tracts. Sec. 11. The provisions of this act shall apply to all contracts former con. heretofore made under the act hereby amended, and not canceled and remaining unfulfilled, so far as applicable thereto; and all such contracts shall be paid in the manner provided in this act, irrespective of other provisions, except that by the voluntary consent of the contractors, the contract may be paid in land. Sec. 12. This act shall take effect immediately. [ No. 108. ] AN ACT to amend an act entitled "an act to provide for the settlement and drainage of the swamp lands by actual settlers," being act number two hundred and twenty-nine of session laws of eighteen hundred and fifty-nine. amended. SECTION 1. The People of the State of Michigan enact, That section one of an act to amend an act entitled "an act to pro-Section vide for the settlement and drainage of the swamp lands by actual settlers," approved February fifteenth, eighteen hundred and fifty-nine, be so amended as to read as follows: missioner to issue certif cate. SECTION 1. The People of the State of Michigan enact, That the Commissioner of the Land Office is hereby required to issue When coma certificate of purchase to every settler or occupant of the swamp lands belonging to this State, in the proper legal subdivision, for eighty acres of said land, whenever it shall be made to appear to said commissioner that such settler or occupant has actually resided upon such eighty acres of land for the period of five continuous years, and that he has also drained the same so as to comply with the provisions of the act of Congress, approved September twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and fifty, by which said lands were conveyed to this State. Sec. 2. That section four of said act be so amended as to read as follows: settlement. Sec. 4. And it is further provided that the license for settle-License of ment granted under this act, shall contain a clause which shall expressly provide that the settler or occupant shall, within three months after the date of said license, file with the Commissioner of the Land Office a certificate from the supervisor of the township in which the land is located, together with the affidavit of such settler, that he is in the actual possession and occupancy of such land; and said license shall also contain a clause providing that the settler or occupant shall not be authorized to cut, take and carry away any pine, oak or other valuable timber, unless it be to clear the land for cultivation, and then only as much as may be necessary to improve the same; and for a violation of the aforesaid conditions, he or violating its Penalty for they shall be liable to all the forfeitures, penalties and liabiliconditions. ties of a trespasser upon State lands, as now is or may hereafter Occupant may purchase. Occupant may pur be provided by law; and it is further provided, that if such settler shall not file his certificate and oath of settlement and occupancy, as above provided, or if evidence of two witnesses, under oath, is furnished to the Commissioner of the State Land Office, that the clause above mentioned, to prevent waste of said land, has been violated, then his claim shall be deemed as void, and the Commissioner of the State Land Office shall, from and after said time, sell said lands the same as other swamp lands, and this provision shall be inserted in the license for said lands. Sec. 3. That two sections be added to said act numbered section five and section six, to read as follows: Sec. 5. Any occupant, under such license, may at any time pay for said land the minimum price fixed by law for the swamp lands, and receive from the commissioner a certificate entitling him, or his legal representatives, to a patent for the same from the State, in the same manner as though the said land had not been licensed. Sec. 6. Such settler or occupant may take any fractional chase excess legal subdivision of land, not exceeding one hundred and twenvision. ty acres, by paying for all over eighty acres, the minimum of frl subdi He may price for swamp lands fixed by law for such excess. Approved March 7, 1861. [ No. 109. ] AN ACT to organize the township of Cedar Creek, in the county of Muskegon. organized. SECTION 1. The People of the State of Michigan enact, That all of townships number eleven and twelve north, of range Township fifteen west, and now forming a portion of the townships of Dalton and Oceana, in the county of Muskegon, be and the same is hereby set off from the residue of said last named townships, and organized into a separate township by the name of Cedar Creek; and the first township meeting thereof shall be First busi held at the house of William Merchant, in said township, on ing. the first Monday of April next. ness meet. spectors. Sec. 2. William Merchant, Richard Ryerson and Norman Board of inCunningham, are hereby made and constituted a board of inspectors for said township election. tion, notice thereof. Sec. 3. If, for any reason, the township election should not be Special elecheld at the time herein named, it shall and may be lawful to hold the same at any time thereafter, by giving at least ten days notice of the time and place of such meeting, by posting notices thereof in four of the most public places in said township, which the said board of inspectors are hereby authorized and required to do. Sec. 58. This act shall take effect immediately. [ No. 110. ] AN ACT to reduce the capital stock of the president, directors and company of the Peninsular bank, and to amend an act to incorporate the president, directors, and company of the Peninsular bank, approved March twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and forty-nine. SECTION 1. The People of the State of Michigan enact, That with the consent in writing of a majority in amount of the stockholders of said corporation, the board of directors thereof be and they are hereby authorized and empowered to reduce violating its Penalty for they shall be liable to all the forfeitures, penalties and liabiliconditions. ties of a trespasser upon State lands, as now is or may hereafter Occupant may pur. chase. Occupant may pur of frl subdi be provided by law; and it is further provided, that if such settler shall not file his certificate and oath of settlement and occupancy, as above provided, or if evidence of two witnesses, under oath, is furnished to the Commissioner of the State Land Office, that the clause above mentioned, to prevent waste of said land, has been violated, then his claim shall be deemed as void, and the Commissioner of the State Land Office shall, from and after said time, sell said lands the same as other swamp lands, and this provision shall be inserted in the license for said lands. Sec. 3. That two sections be added to said act numbered section five and section six, to read as follows: Sec. 5. Any occupant, under such license, may at any time. pay for said land the minimum price fixed by law for the swamp lands, and receive from the commissioner a certificate entitling him, or his legal representatives, to a patent for the same from the State, in the same manner as though the said land had not been licensed. Sec. 6. Such settler or occupant may take any fractional chase excess legal subdivision of land, not exceeding one hundred and twenvision. ty acres, by paying for all over eighty acres, the minimum price for swamp lands fixed by law for such excess. He may also take an additional adjoining legal subdivision of eighty acres or less, by paying one-quarter of the purchase money down, according to the provisions of an act entitled "an act to provide for the sale of swamp lands, and the reclamation thereof, and to secure the pre-emption claims of settlers thereon, approved February fourth, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight, and the acts amendatory thereto," approved February eleventh, eighteen hundred and fifty-nine, for the sale of swamp lands, and reclamation thereof. Approved March 7, 1861. |