It shall be the duty of the judge of the county court, or the judge of the district court of any county in this state, in which any public records have been lost or destroyed to examine into the state of the records in such county, and in case he finds any abstracts, copies, minutes or extracts from said records existing after such destruction as aforesaid, and finds that said abstracts, copies, minutes or extracts were fairly made before the destruction of the records by any person, in the ordinary course of business, and that they contain a material and substantial part of said records, and, that such abstracts, copies, minutes and extracts tend to show a connected chain of title to the land in said county, the said judge shall certify the facts found by him in respect to such abstracts, copies, minutes and extracts, and said judge, shall cause all evidence produced as to said abstract books to be reduced to writing, and shall cause all such evidence to be spread of record, as a part of the order of said court.
R.L. 1910, § 7279.