852 THE FARMER'S AND 



acres of wild lands ; situated in many of the States and 

 Territories. The price at which these lands are sold, is 

 one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. 



In various places at the West, and elsewhere, there are 

 government land-offices, at which the purchaser must ap. 

 ply to transact any business he may have relative to this 

 matter. It is not necessary to name the localities of tne 

 various land-offices, as the settler will readily ascertain 

 which is the one to which he should go. 



Under certain circumstances, which it is not necessary 

 that we should name here, settlers may take possession ot 

 certain vacant government lands. As this is a subject 

 of great interest to Western settlers, we subjoin the law 

 which regulates it, together with the forms necessary to 

 be observed in making application as a preemptor. 



This law, it will oe perceived, has been in operation 

 several years, and has been found generally satisfactory 

 to all parties. Since its passage, it has undergone some 

 slight modifications, chiefly for temporary purposes, but its 

 principal provisions remain unaltered. 



AN ACT TO GRANT PRE-EMPTION RIOHTS. 



Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, That from and after the pas- 

 sage of this act, every person, being the head of a family, or widow, or 

 single man, over the age of twenty-one years, and being a citizen of 

 the United States, or having filed his declaration of intention to become 

 a citizen as required by the naturalization laws, who, since the first day 

 of June, A. D. eighteen hundred and forty, has made, or shall hereafter 

 make, a settlement in person on the public lands to which the Indian 

 title had been, at the time of such settlement, extinguished, and which 

 has been, or shall have been sirveyed prior thereto, and who shall in- 

 habit and improve the same, and who has or shall erect a dwelling 

 thereon, shall be, and is hereby authorized to enter with the register 

 of the land-office for the district in which such land may lie, by legal 

 ubdivisions, any number of acres not exceeding one hundred and sixty, 

 or a quarter section of land, to include the residence of srch Claimant, 



