REPORT OF THE SURVEYOR-GENERAL OF NEVADA. OFFICE OF UNITED STATES SURVEYOR-GENERAL, Reno, Nev., July 25, 1891. SIR: In compliance with your letter "E" of April 18, 1891, I have the honor to submit in duplicate the following annual report of the surveying operations in this district for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891, with the following tabular statements: A.-Statement showing contracts let during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891, payable from the appropriation of March 3, 1885, for the survey of abandoned military reservations. B.-Statement showing contracts let during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891, payable from the appropriation of August 30, 1890, for the survey of abandoned military reservations. C.-Statement showing contracts let during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891, payable from the appropriation of August 30, 1890, for surveying the public lands. D.-Statement of special deposits made by the Central Pacific Railroad Company during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891. During the year 295 miles and 61.19 chains of line have been run and marked in the field, examined, platted, transcribed, approved, and forwarded to your office, as follows: The field-notes of contracts Nos. 187, 188, and 189, dated June 10, 1887, payable from the appropriation of August 4, 1886, have lain for a long time in this office awaiting field examination, and for other causes. Of these contracts 2,589 miles and 39.68 chains were platted, and the duplicate plats and transcripts of field notes forwarded to your office during the year, as follows: The Central Pacific Railroad Company deposited on selections $380.72 for fieldwork and $126.91 for office work. Township plats made... There were no special deposits by individuals for the survey of public lands during the year. 168 Standard plats made Mineral plats made.... Miscellaneous diagrams Mineral surveys ordered. 136 Amended mineral surveys ordered Amended mineral surveys approved.... 5 1 31 3 The amount deposited for office-work on mineral claims during the year was $1,050. The arrears of office-work at the beginning of the fiscal year have been very largely reduced, and the current business has been kept up. I hope soon to bring all the business of the office up to date. I am in constaut receipt of applications for surveys from nearly all parts of the State. Scarcely any appropriation has been made for surveys in this State for a number of years, and I would urge that liberal appropriations be made in order that the surveys may be extended. In former years most of the valleys of the State were surveyed, leaving the intervening mountainous regions unsurveyed. The soil in both valleys and mountains is rich and needs but irrigation to produce generous crops of all kinds. In the large valleys irrigation is not often practicable for the small farmer, as extensive works are required, demanding large capital. In the smaller valleys and along the streams and ravines in the mountainous sections, however, the land can be irrigated at a comparatively small expense, and it is these most desirable lands to the settler which remain unsurveyed. Of these lands only a portion of most townships would, in the narrow sense of the word, be classed as agricultural, and so come within existing surveying instructions. In most townships the land, which by such strict construction of the term are classed as agricultural, is distributed in different parts of the township, with land which is not classed as agricultural intervening. Under existing instructions, and at the rates allowed for surveys, it is almost impossible to survey these lands. The terms of the appropriation and the department instructions should not confine the surveys to agricultural land unless mountainous land fit for pasturage be included in the term agricultural. In my opinion the interests of both the settlers and the public service would be subserved by extending the surveys alike over agricultural, grazing, and mineral land and fully closing up the work in any given locality upon the existing surveys. GEO. F. TURRITTIN, U. S. Surveyor-General for Nevada. Hon. THOMAS H. CARTER, Commissioner General Land Office. A.-Contracts let during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891, payable from the appropriation of March 3, 1885, for the survey of abandoned military reservations. B.-Contracts let during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891, payable from the appropriation of August 30, 1890, for the survey of abandoned military reservations. C.-Contracts let during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891, payable from the appropriation of August 30, 1890, for surveying the public lands. D.-Special deposits made by the Central Pacific Railroad Company during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891. REPORT OF THE SURVEYOR-GENERAL OF NEW MEXICO. OFFICE OF UNITED STATES SURVEYOR-GENERAL, Santa Fé, N. Mex., July 24, 1891. SIR: In compliance with instructions contained in your letter E of April 18, 1891, I have the honor to submit herewith my report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891. Annexed to my annual report for the fiscal year ending June 0, 1890, is a statement showing the surveys approved by this office during that year. I have now to report that all the surveys mentioned in the said statement, exhibit B, have been approved and the triplicate plats filed in the proper local land offices. Out of all these surveys so approved it was only necessary in one instance for the contracting deputy surveyor to return to the field to make corrections. All surveys under contracts payable from the appropriation for public surveys for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1890, have been returned to this office, with the exception of those to be executed under contract No. 253. The office-work on the surveys so returned has been completed and the plats, diagrams, and transcripts of fieldnotes have been transmitted to your office. There is therefore no work on these surveys yet remaining to be done. Exhibit A, hereunto annexed, is a statement of the surveying contracts awarded, payable from the appropriations for the fiscal year just passed. All of these contracts, except No. 261, which is payable from the appropriation for surveying confirmed private land claims in New Mexico, are payable from the appropriation for surveying public lands. No deposits for township surveys have been made during the year. In addition to the contracts above referred to, special instructions were issued under date of December 16, 1890, for such surveys for allotments within the Jicarilla Apache Indian reservation as may be designated in writing by Special Agent John K. Rankin. These instructions were originally issued to James P. Harper, but afterwards, it being impossible for that deputy to act, by request of Mr. Rankin and with your consent, John B. Harper was appointed to execute the sur veys, and the said special instructions are now in his hands to be complied with. None of the surveys to be paid for from the appropriation for the survey of public lands have been executed or returned. Contract No. 251 for the survey of the lines of the town of Las Trampas grant has been executed and the field-notes thereof have been returned and approved by me. The plats have also been made and are approved. The annexed statement, marked exhibit B, is a true statement of the surveys that have been returned, approved, and reported during the year. The number of miles of different lines established is as follows: In addition to the surveys mentioned in exhibit B, the surveys executed by Benjamin F. Bailey, under special instructions dated March 26, 1889, providing for the survey of the unsurveyed portions of fractional Ts. 8 and 9 S., R. 2 W, have been returned, but are not yet approved by this office. These surveys only cover the very small portions of the said townships which lie outside of the Pedro Armendarez grants and the Fort Craig military reservation, and the amount to be expended for the same was not to be in excess of $305. During the year plats have been made as follows: During the year the question which has been annoying this office and the people for years, as to the location of the boundary line between New Mexico and Arizona, has been settled permanently. This uncertainty arose owing to the survey of Ts. 13, 14, 18, and 19 S., R. 21 W., in full, while Ts. 20 and 21 S., R. 21 W., were made fractional, being closed on the said boundary line. A resurvey of the four townships first mentioned developed the fact that they should have been made fractional, as they were intersected by the western boundary of the Territory, and they were accordingly made fractional and closed, as they should have been in the first instance. I also desire to say at this time that the progress of settlement, as well as the interests of the government in this Territory, demand a speedy settlement as to the location of the eastern boundary line of New Mexico. I infer from correspondence had with your office that this matter will not be much longer deferred, and it will be a matter greatly to be deplored if the true position of the boundary line between Texas and New Mexico and between New Mexico and the Public Land Strip is not determined in the near future. Settlers do not care to locate upon lands which can not be surveyed, and it is not possible to survey lands which close upon a line the proper position of which is still in doubt. The boundary is the one hundred and third meridian of west longitude, but the position of that meridian on the ground has never been permanently and satisfactorily determined. In the meantime the inhabitants of a strip miles in width escape taxation. It was hoped that you would be able to have this line surveyed under the provisions of the act of March 3, 1891, making appropriation for public surveys for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1892. If this is not considered sufficient authority it is earnestly requested that further legislation be asked for by the department. MINING. From July 1, 1890, to June 30, 1891, there was deposited on account of the survey of mining claims, $2,175. During the same time applications were made for surveys aggregating sixty-five mineral locations. At the end of the year all approved mineral surveys had been platted and the transcripts of field-notes and plats transmitted. The amount deposited for surveys and the number of surveys applied for is considerably in excess of business done during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1890, and indicates an increased prosperity in the mining interests of New Mexico. A great increase has been noted in the activity of the Magdalena mining district in the matter of surveys. In this district alone twenty-five locations have been surveyed and the field-notes thereof returned to this office. The activity in this district is not owing to speculation, but may be attributed to the increased price of lead ore. The increase in the price of this quality of ore is owing to the exclusion of ores of the same character from the mines of Mexico. Most of the mines in this district are now being worked with profit to the owners, and it is to be hoped that the present prosperous condition of the miners in this locality will continue, as there is no doubt that it will if existing prices continue to prevail. Several times during the year just closed I have called your attention to discrepancies which exist between the public and mineral surveys. So numerous were the inconsistencies that it was found to be absolutely impossible to prepare a diagram for the use of your office showing the true position of approved mineral surveys in Ts. 6 S., Rs. 11 and 12 E. Because of the uncertainty growing out of this state of affairs, instructions have been prepared and approved, and $500 set aside for the purpose of conducting an examination in the field preparatory to making a diagram showing the actual situation of the claims. The ordering of this investigation was absolutely necessary and is an important step in the right direction. |