United States Statutes at Large/Volume 5/28th Congress/1st Session/Chapter 55
Chap. LV.—An Act to authorize the selection of certain school lands in the Territories of Florida, Iowa, and Wisconsin.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,When a 16th section is included in a private claim, lands adjacent may be selected in lieu. That wherever the sixteenth section in said Territories, either in whole or in part, are now, or may hereafter be, included in private claims held by titles confirmed or legally decided to be valid and sufficient, other lands equivalent thereto, within any land district in said Territories most adjacent to said lands so taken up by private claims, “which have been offered at public sale, and remain unsold,” may be selected in lieu thereof, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury: and the lands so selected shall be entered in the office of the register of the land district in which they may lie, and be by such register reported to the Commissioner of the General Land Office as school lands under this act:Proviso. Provided―That, before making any entry of such other lands, the case shall be made out to the satisfaction of the register and receiver of said district, agreeably to rules to be prescribed by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, for the purpose of showing that the sixteenth section, or part thereof, has been included in the manner above mentioned.
Approved, June 15, 1844.