C.-Contracts let for the survey of public lands in the State of Washington, the number of miles and acres in each township, etc.-Continued.

REPORT OF THE SURVEYOR-GENERAL OF WYOMING.

UNITED STATES SURVEYOR-GENERAL'S OFFICE.

Cheyenne, Wyo., June 30, 1891.

SIR: In compliance with instructions contained in your circular letter E, dated April 18, 1891, I have the honor to submit herewith my annual report in duplicate of the surveying operations in the district of Wyoming for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891, with tabular statements as follows, viz:

A.-Statement of contracts entered into under the regular appropriation for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891.

B.-Statement of contracts entered into under the appropriation of August 8, 1890, for surveys of abandoned military reservations.

C.-Statement of mineral surveys platted and transcribed.

D.-Statement of deposits made by individuals for office-work on mineral surveys.

REGULAR APPROPRIATION.

Under the appropriation of $20,000 for surveys in this district two contracts were entered into, but too late for any field-work to be done thereunder during the fiscal

year.

Of the two contracts, Nos. 233 and 234, entered into under the regular appropriation for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1889, the field-notes of both have been filed in this office, the office work completed, and the surveys approved. The triplicate plats pertaining to contract No. 234 were filed in the United States land office at Evanston, Wyo., April 13, 1891.

Of the two contracts entered into under the regular appropriation for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1890, the field-notes of one under contract No. 237, dated June 18, 1890, have been filed in this office, the plats and transcripts made, and the survey approved. The field-notes under contract No. 238, for resurveys, have not yet been filed, but the field-work is completed and the notes will be filed at an early date.

Of contract No. 236, with Howard B. Carpenter, deputy surveyor, dated March 22, 1890, for Indian surveys, liability $12,000, the field-work is completed and the officework on all notes filed to date, and covering the field-work of last season, has been completed and the survey, after proper examination of the work in the field, has been approved as far as finished. The remainder of the field-notes, under this contract, embracing exterior lines of one township and subdivisional lines of eight townships, will soon be filed in this office.

Of contract No. 239, with William O. Owen, deputy surveyor, dated March 20, 1891, for the survey of the Fort Laramie military reservation (abandoned), the fieldnotes have been filed in this office and the office-work completed, but the fund for the examination of this survey was not received before the end of the fiscal year.

Contract No. 242, with William M. Gilcrest, deputy surveyor, dated June 30, 1891, for the survey of the Fort Bridger military reservation (abandoned), was entered into too late for any work to be done thereunder during the fiscal year.

SPECIAL DEPOSITS.

There were no special deposits for surveying public land in the district of Wyoming this year.

Aggregate of miles surveyed in this district as embraced in surveys, the field-notes of which have been received and approved by this office under contracts Nos. 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, and 238 during the fiscal year.

Total number of miles surveyed under all contracts approved during the fiscal year, 2,674 miles and 31.94 chains.

Total area of land embraced in townships surveyed under contract No. 236 in the Shoshone Indian reservation, and approved during the year, 272,299.41 acres.

Total area of land embraced in surveys of townships under all other contracts approved during the fiscal year, 382,633.54 acres.

Total area of lands embraced in surveys approved during the fiscal year, 654,932.95

In this connection, I would respectfully call your attention to the question of insufficiency of the appropriation for clerk hire in this office for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1892. Contracts have already been entered into for field-work, the liability of which aggregates $25,500, and if this district gets an appropriation from the regular appropriation, even approximating the estimates, which are based upon actual necessity for surveys, there will be more than double this amount expended in fieldwork before the end of the fiscal year. The appropriation for clerk hire, amounting to $4,000, is totally inadequate to carry on the work of the office during the year. Experience has shown that the cost of office-work is properly estimated at 25 per cent of the amount appropriated for field-work, and $10,000 to $12,000 would have been little enough to carry on the work of the office, and insure to those deputies, who have taken contracts in good faith, and whose work in the past is creditable and satisfactory to the service, that their field-notes of survey will receive prompt attention when they are filed in this office. I am now confronted by the horns of a dilemma, one of which, in accordance with custom, would require that I limit the funds to be paid for clerk hire during the year to the appropriation of $4,000, and thus compel those deputy surveyors who have done the work under their contracts in good faith, and have filed their field-notes in this office in conformity to the requirements of their instructions, to wait one or two years for the office-work to be taken up, completed, and the contracts approved.

The other proposition is one which may be without precedent, but which I am seriously inclined to follow if I shall be able to secure clerks in conformity thereto, and that is to employ a sufficient number of experienced clerks and draftsmen to take up the office-work on the field-notes of survey as soon as the same are filed by the deputy surveyors and prosecute the work vigorously until the available fund is exhausted. The most weighty argument in favor of the prompt execution of the office-work incidental to the surveys now under contract and being made lies in the fact that the land embraced in some of these contracts has been designated by the proper State authorities as land which they desire to select for the State under the act of admission, which donated large tracts of land to the State. These selections can not be made until the surveys are finally accepted, and a long delay in completing the officework will seriously injure the interests of the State.

I am aware that the meager appropriation of $4,000 will be expended long before
the close of the fiscal year, but I shall feel satisfied in having done all I could to pro-
mote the interests of the surveying service in this district and in having kept faith
with the deputy surveyors by endeavoring to do the necessary office-work upon their
field-notes of survey in their proper order and without delay.

Very respectfully,

Hon. THOMAS H. CARTER,

WM. A. RICHARDS,

U. S. Surveyor-General for Wyoming.

Commissioner of the General Land Office, Washington, D. C.

A.-Contracts entered into under the regular appropriation for the fiscal year ending Juno

1891.
240 Apr. 21

41 Apr. 1

30, 1891.

J. E. Shannon and A. The sixth standard parallel north, west from the
L. Coleman.
standard cor. to T. 25 N., Rs. 104 and 105 W., to
the closing cor. to T. 24 N., Rs. 112 and 113 W.;
the thirteenth auxiliary meridian W., N. from the
standard cor. to T. 25 N., Rs. 108 and 109 W., to
the seventh standard parallel N.; the west boun-
daries of Ts. 25, 26, 27, and 28 N., Rs. 105, 106, and
107 W.; the N. boundaries of Ts. 25, 26, and 27 N.,
Rs. 105, 106, 107, and 108 W.; the W. boundaries of
Ts. 23 and 24 N., Rs. 105, 106, 107, and 111 W.; the
W. boundaries of T. 24 N., Rs. 108, 109, and 110
W.; the N. boundaries of T. 23 N., Rs. 105,106, 107
108, 111, and 112 W.; all subdivisional lines sur-
veyable under the appropriation, in Ts. 23, 24, 25,
26, 27, and 28 N., Rs. 105, 106, 107, and 108 W. of the
sixth principal meridian.

Howard B. Carpen-
ter and J. Frank
Warner.

Resurvey of the eleventh auxiliary meridian W.
through Ts. 41, 42, 43, and 44 N.; the eleventh
standard parallel N., W. from the closing cor. to
T. 44 N., Rs. 92 and 93 W., through Rs. 93, 94, 95,
96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, and 104 W.; to sur-
vey mark and establish the eleventh standard
parallel N., W. through range 105 W., 6 miles;
the twelfth guide meridian W.and the twelfth aux-
iliary meridian W. both south from the eleventh
standard parallel N. to the N. boundary of the
Shoshone Indian reservation; the thirteenth
guide meridian W.,south from the eleventh stand.
ard parallel N. 36 miles; the tenth standard par-
allel N.,east from the standard cor. to T. 41 N. Rs.
104 and 105 W. to the W.boundary of the Shoshone
Indian Reservation, and also W. from said standard
Tp. cor. 24 miles; the thirteenth auxiliary merid
ian W., N. from the tenth standard parallel, N.
18 miles; the exterior lines and also the subdivi-
sional lines surveyable under the appropriation,
of T. 44 N., Rs. 93 to 105 W, inclusive; Ts. 43 N.,
Rs. 93 and 97 to 108 W. inclusive; T. 42 N., Rs.
104 to 108 W., inclusive; Ts. 41 N., Rs. 105 to 108
W., inclusive; T. 40 N., R. 105 W.; fractional T.
43 N., Rs. 94, 95, and 96 W.; T. 42 N., Rs. 96 to 103
W., inclusive; T. 41 N., Rs. 103 and 104 W., and
Ts. 39 and 40 N., R. 104 W. of the sixth principal
meridian, Wyoming; also the N. boundary of the
Shoshone Indian reservation from the mouth of
the North Fork of Wind river to the mouth of
Owl creek, the N. E. cor. of the reservation.

$8,000

12,000

B.-Contracts entered into under the appropriation of August 8, 1890, for surveys of aban-
doned military reservations.

D.-Deposits made by individuals for office work on mineral surveys.

June 8, 1891
Do.