ment of any contract made under the provisions of this act, when the same shall be fully complied with on the part of the contractor, and not before.

Sec. 6. That the auditor and district attorney aforesaid, together, shall have the power to reject any unreasonable or excessive proposals for such public printing, and in all cases where there has been but one proposal made for such printing said auditor shall immediately re-advertise for proposals, as required by this act.

Sec. 7. That any auditor or district attorney required to perform any duty under the provisions of this act, who shall directly or indirectly become interested in any bid, proposal, or contract made under the provisions of this act, shall be fined in a sum not less than one thousand dollars, nor more than five thousand dollars, to be recovered in any court of competent jurisdiction, and the same shall work a forfeiture of office.

CHAPTER LII.

REAL ESTATE.

Sec. 1. Rights of parties occupying the public domain.
Sec. 2. Declaration or deed to be recorded, &c.

Sec. 3. Transferable interest of owner of claim.

Sec. 4. Rights of occupancy and possession determined by the

local law.

Sec. 5. Form of declaration.

Sec. 6. Muniment of title to be recorded.

Sec. 7. Records to be received as evidence; except when.
Sec. 8. Declaration not to include mines.

Section 1. Conceding to the United States of America the primary and paramount right to dispose of the soil of this territory, according to the laws existing or to be enacted by congress, and full and complete exemption from every form of taxation of their property, it is hereby declared that as between all citizens now residing in, or who shall hereafter come to reside in this territory, and as between them, or any of them, and others having or claiming now, or hereafter pretending to have or claim, any right to occupy, possess, or enjoy any portion of the public domain, situate within the boundaries of this territory, and as between each and every one of them, and all other persons, associations, corporations, and powers, except the government of the United States of Amer

ica, the right as the same may exist under the local laws to occupy, possess, and enjoy any tract or portion thereof, not to exceed one hundred and sixty acres, in such form as may be prescribed by the laws of the United States, shall be respected in law and in equity in all the courts and tribunals of this territory, as a chattel real, possessing the character of real estate.

Sec. 2. All rights of occupancy, possession, and enjoyment of any tract or portion of the said public domain, except mining claims, shall be expressed and described in a declaration, in cases of original occupation, and by deed, in cases of purchase, duly acknowledged by some officer authorized to take acknowledgments of deeds, and recorded in the office of the recorder of the county in which the land is situated.

Sec. 3. The owner of every claim or improvement on any tract or parcel of land, has transferable interest therein, which may be sold by execution or otherwise, and any sale of such improvement is a sufficient consideration to sustain a promise.

Sec. 4. All rights of occupancy, possession, and enjoyment of any tract or portion of the said public domain acquired before the passage of this act, shall be ascertained, adjudged, and determined by the local law of the district or precinct in which such tract is situated, as it existed on the day when such rights were acquired, or as it thereafter may have existed, then by the common custom then prevailing, in respect to such property, in the district or precinct in which it existed.

Sec. 5. The declaration of an occupant of a tract or portion of the public domain, required by the second section of this act, shall be substantially in the following form:

in the county of

To all whom these presents may concern: Know ye, that I, A. B., of in the territory of Montana, do hereby declare and publish as a legal notice to all the world, that I have a valid right to the occupation, possession, and enjoyment of all and singular that tract or parcel of land not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres, situate, lying, and being in the township of in the county of in the territory of Montana, bounded and described as follows: [here insert the description;] together with all and singular the hereditaments and appurtenances thereunto belonging, or in anywise appertaining. Witness my hand and seal, this thousand eight hundred and sixty

day of

one

To be subscribed with the full Christian name and surname of the person making the application, acknowledged in the same manner as a deed of real estate.

Sec. 6. All persons, associations, and companies, now claiming individually and collectively, the right to the occupancy, possession and enjoyment of any tract or parcel of the said public domains, except mining claims, under or by virtue of the terms expressed

in the fourth section of this chapter, shall deposit all deeds, declarations, and other muniments of title, for record, with the recorder of the county in which the lands shall be situated, within three months from the time a duly elected recorder shall enter upon his duties, unless within that time the books of record in which they may have been recorded according to the local law or custom shall have been deposited in said office for the public use. Sec. 7. In all legal or equitable proceedings hereafter instituted in any court in this territory, the record of any declaration, deed, or mortgage, or any other muniments of right referred to in the third and fifth sections of this act, shall be received except as against the United States, and all other persons claiming under the United States, as presumptive evidence of the regularity of the paper itself, under the local law or custom existing at the true time of its execution, and if the regularity thereof shall be challenged, the burden of proving the alleged irregularity shall be upon the party making the challenge.

Sec. 8. The declaration of every occupant of any tract or portion of the public domain mentioned in section five of this act, shall not be construed to include any gold-bearing quartz lodes, silver lodes, or gold diggings, but said lodes or diggings shall be excepted from the tract of said occupant, and shall be subject to be occupied, possessed, and enjoyed, according to the local laws or customs of the district in which the same may be situated, and if there shall be no local law or custom in said district, then by the custom prevailing in the nearest mining district thereto.

CHAPTER LIII.

ROADS AND HIGHWAYS.

Sec. 1. Person or company damaging road, to repair the same.
Sec. 2. Person digging ditch across road to bridge the same.
Sec. 3. All roads declared public highway.

Sec. 4. Width of roads.

Sec. 5. Fine for charging illegal toll.

Sec. 6. Penalty for obstructing road.

Section 1. That if any person, mining, ditch, or milling company, shall, by virtue of any charter or law granted or made for mining, milling, irrigating, or other purposes, dam the waters of any stream in this territory, so that the water thus dammed shall overflow any wagon or other road, situated on the margin or banks of said stream, or so as to cause the said road to become undermined, weakened, or damaged, the said person, company, or corporation,

shall rebuild or repair said road at their own expense; the said road to be accepted by the county commissioners of the county in which said road is located.

Sec. 2. That if any person, mining, ditch, or milling company, shall, by virtue of any charter or law granted or made for mining, milling, irrigating, or other purposes, or by virtue of any established custom, cut, dig, or excavate, or cause to be cut, dug, or excavated, any ditch across any wagon or other road, the said person, company, or corporation shall bridge, or cause the same to be bridged, in a strong, safe, and substantial manner, to be accepted by the county commissioners of the county in which said road is located.

Sec. 3. All roads or highways laid out or now travelled in the various counties in the territory of Montana are hereby declared public highways, excepting such roads and highways upon which franchises have heretofore been granted.

Sec. 4. That the width of all territorial and county roads, not otherwise specified, shall be sixty-six feet.

Sec. 5. Any person, or association of persons, charging toll upon any road, bridge, or ferry, without authority of law, or who shall charge more toll than is allowed by his or their charter, shall be liable to the person or persons paying such illegal toll in ten times the amount so paid, which may be recovered in any court having jurisdiction, and, in addition thereto, shall be subject to a criminal prosecution, and, upon conviction, shall be fined in any sum not less than fifty dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars, to be imposed and collected as fines in other cases; one half of which fine shall go to the informant, and one half shall be paid into the county treasury, for the benefit of the school fund of the county in which the offence was committed.

Sec. 6. Any person who shall hereafter fence up or obstruct any such highways, having been notified of the same by any person or persons aggrieved, or who shall, within ten days after such notice, fail or refuse to remove any such obstructions, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, before any court of competent jurisdiction, shall be fined in a sum not less than twenty-five dollars, nor more than one hundred dollars, and be adjudged to pay all costs of prosecution.

ARTICLE II.

ROADS, DISTRICTS, AND SUPERVISORS.

Sec. 1. County commissioners may establish road districts.
Sec. 2. Supervisors- by whom appointed.

Sec. 3. Road tax to be levied.

Sec. 4. Supervisor to make out list.

Sec. 5. Supervisor to report labor to commissioners.

Sec. 6. County treasurer to collect road tax.

Sec. 7. Penalty for failure to perform duties of supervisor.

Section 1. That the several boards of county commissioners, on the petition of thirty bona fide citizens of any township of this territory, may, in their discretion, establish such township, or any part thereof, into suitable and convenient road districts, and cause a brief description of the same to be entered on the county records; that, in all cases where such petition is presented to the board of county commissioners of any county, they shall, prior to granting the same, cause a public notice thereof to be given, by publication or otherwise, as they, the commissioners, may elect.

Sec. 2. The county commissioners shall, annually at the February term thereof, appoint a supervisor of roads for each road district in the county, and shall at any time fill any vacancy that may occur in such office; and the county clerk of each county shall immediately notify all persons who have been appointed as supervisors, and they shall qualify within twenty days after their appointment, and such supervisors shall take an oath, before entering upon the duties of their office, for the faithful performance of their duties; that they will call out all persons in their respective districts liable to work on highways therein; that they will superintend the labor thereon, and see that the same is faithfully performed, and sue for and collect all moneys due such district. No commissioner to be a road supervisor.

Sec. 3. There shall be levied and collected on all taxable property, in each district, the sum of one mill on the dollar, also a head tax of three dollars on each able-bodied man between the ages of twenty-one and forty-five residing in each district: Provided, That any person liable to pay road tax may work out such tax, under the supervision of the supervisor of the district where such person resides, and shall be allowed for such work the sum of three dollars per day.

Sec. 4. The supervisor of each district shall make out a list of all persons in his district who have been residents in such district.