Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar

“ Pursuant to the deisi on of the secretary of the interior, after notice to all parties in interest, the United States surveyor general held an investigation as to the character of the land, and decided that the land was not in fact swamp and overflowed on the 28th of September, 1850, the date of the general swamp land act. The decision of the surveyor general was affirmed by the secretary of the interior on the 25th of February, 1881, who also adjudged that the land was subject to disposal under the pre-emption laws, and that Wallace should be allowed to perfect his pre-emption claim thereto. ”

“ In other words, this designation, operating as an estoppel against the United States, should have a strict construction. No lands should be considered as embraced within the terms 'swamp and overflowed' by mere implication, simply because they may have been described in other terms which, in some instances, might be equivalent to the terms prescribed by the act. ”

“ We do not think the second assignment of error can be sustained. The surveys and plats made upon the application of Hartwell to purchase the tract were not the segregation surveys referred to in the second clause of the fourth section of the act of July 23, 1866. As said in Tubbs v. Wilhoit, supra, that clause 'provided for the construction of township plats where none previously existed. ”