(a) The Commissioner of State Lands is authorized and empowered to execute, under his or her hand and official seal, a deed to purchasers or their assigns or legal representatives of sixteenth section or school lands, upon presentation to the Commissioner of State Lands of proper evidence of full payment for the lands, in all cases where the sale of the land occurred prior to the passage of “An act to provide for the sale of the sixteenth section in this State”, approved March 22, 1881.
(b) The certificates and evidences of assignment mentioned in subsection (a) of this section, upon which deeds are so made, shall be filed in the Commissioner of State Lands' office. He or she shall keep a record of the deeds so made, from which he or she may issue duplicates upon sufficient proof of loss of, or errors in, the original deeds.
(c) In all cases where sufficient proof is presented of the loss, destruction, or erroneous issue of any deeds made to any lands belonging to the state by any officer authorized so to do, when evidence exists in the Commissioner of State Lands' office of the proper issuance of the former deeds, it shall be the duty of the Commissioner of State Lands to issue duplicates or make new deeds, as the case may be, referring therein to the deeds previously issued.
(d) The duplicates or new deeds shall have the like force and effect as the original deeds.