Statement showing States to which grants have been made, &c.—Continued. Statement showing States to which grants have been made to aid in the construction of railroads which have not been completed within the time required by law, the grants to which provide that if the roads be not completed within the time therein fixed no further patents shall be issued to the railroad company, and no further sale shall be made, and the lands unsold shall revert to the United States. Statement showing States to which grants have been made to aid in the construction of railroads which have not been completed within the time required by law, the grants to which provide that if the roads be not completed within the time therein fixed the lands not patented shall revert to the United States. statement showing grant made to aid in the construction of a railroad, which has not been completed within the time required by law, wherein it is provided that if the road be not completed within ten years the lands not patented shall revert to the State for the purpose of securing the completion of the road, and should the State fail to complete the road within five years after the ten years aforesaid, then the lands undisposed of shall revert to the United States. Statement showing corporations to which grants have been made to aid in the construction of railroads which have not been completed within the time required by law, the grants to which provide that if the companies fail to file their assent or complete their roads as provided therein the act shall be null and void, and all lands not conveyed by patent to the company or companies, as the case may be, at the date of such failure, shall revert to the United States. Statement showing corporations to which grant has been made to aid in the construction of a railroad, which has not been completed within the time required by law, wherein it is provided that the company shall complete a section of twenty or more miles of its road within two years and the entire road within six years from the same date. Statement showing corporations to which grants have been made to aid in construction of railroads which have not been completed within the time required by law, the grants to which provide that if the companies make any breach of the conditions thereof Congress may do any and all acts necessary to secure the speedy completion of the roads. Corporation to which grant was made. Date of act making grant. Statutes. Page. Northern Pacific Railroad Company Texas Pacific Railroad Company, now Texas and Pacific Railway Company New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Vicksburg Railroad Company, of which the New Orleans Pacific Railway Company claims to be the assignee. The question of declaring a forfeiture of the foregoing grants or of any of them, is deemed an appropriate one for legislative consideration. The time fixed in the granting acts for the completion of the roads expired in some instances in 1866, and in other cases at later periods down to 1882. In the absence of Congressional action lands have been certified or patented accordingly as roads have been constructed whether within or out of the time prescribed. Your immediate predecessor suspended this practice prior to the meeting of Congress in December, 1880, but as no legislative action was taken you have held that under the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States you had no right to declare a forfeiture or to further suspend the issue of patents for lands along the constructed portions of roads even if the same had not been built within the prescribed time. The remaining lands are continued in the reservations established by law or under withdrawals made for the protection of the grants. Meanwhile settlers have entered upon some of these lands and are anxious to know whether they must look to the railroad companies or to the United States for their titles. The public demand for a definite settlement of the question whether a forfeiture is to be enforced in any of these cases is constantly pressed upon my attention. I consider it of very great importance that the earliest possible action should be taken either to revive the grants or to declare them forfeited. If it be the judgment of Congress that the grants should be revived, Congress may unquestionably prescribe the conditions of such revival; and if such action should be taken I suggest that all actual settlers on the land be saved and secured in their rights and claims to land embraced in their settlements and improvements at the date of any such revival of the railroad grant. MILITARY BOUNTY-LAND WARRANTS. The area represented by military bounty-land warrants issued under the acts of 1847 to 1855, inclusive, located and not heretofore reported, was 48,680 acres, computed at $1.25 per acre. Twenty-one thousand two hundred and twenty-three warrants are now outstanding, calling for 2,411,700 acres. STATE SELECTIONS. One hundred and seventy-eight thousand six hundred and twentyfour and sixty-one one-hundredths acres were approved to the several States entitled thereto under the internal-improvement, agricultural college, university, and school-indemnity grants. TOWN SITES. Seventeen town sites and 230 entries of town lots were approved for patent. INDIAN LANDS AND MILITARY RESERVATIONS. The proceedings of the Land Department in respect of lands embraced in sundry Indian and military reservations will be found in detail in this report. ACCOUNTS. Thirty-six hundred and seventy accounts were examined and audited, covering $9,410,031.42. The adjusted accounts embrace receipts amounting to $6,247,721.21 and disbursements to the amount of $3,162,310.21. CERTIFICATES OF DEPOSIT ON ACCOUNT OF SURVEYS. The amount covered by certificates of deposit on account of surveys examined and accepted in payment for public lands during the year was $1,720,800.70. The amount deposited for surveys under the individual deposit system was $1,162,935.58 REPAYMENTS. Five hundred and sixty-six repayment claims for lands erroneously sold were adjusted and approved, amounting to $57,739.64. STATE FUND ACCOUNTS. The amount reported to the First Comptroller as accruing to the several States entitled by acts of admission into the Union to 5 per cent. of the net proceeds of sales of the public lands, was $134,133.22. SURVEYS. The area of public surveys executed was as follows: Surveys of public lands Surveys of Indian lands... Surveys of private land claims Total number of acres surveyed during the fiscal year.... Two thousand six hundred and seventy township plats and field notes of surveys of public lands and private land claims were examined during the year, and three hundred and fifty-one surveying contracts entered into by surveyors general were examined and approved. PUBLIC LAND STRIP. The boundaries of the tract of unorganized territory south of the Kansas and Colorado State lines, and between the Indian Territory and New Mexico, have been established and exterior township lines surveyed. Subdivisional township surveys yet remain to be made. Settlers are commencing to enter this territory, and means should be provided by which they may be enabled to secure titles under the public land laws and also to be protected in person and property by the laws of the land. The territory is not at present attached to any judicial district. In my last annual report I recommended that it be attached to the surveying district of New Mexico for the purpose of subdivisional township surveys and the disposal of the land. The land is, however, nearer the recently established South western land district in the State of Kansas, and it would be more convenient for settlers to make their entries at Garden City, in that district, than at the Santa Fé land office in New Mexico. I recommend, therefore, the attachment of this public land strip to the Southwestern land district in Kansas, and, as there is no surveyor general in Kansas, I also recommend that authority be given the Secretary of the Interior to cause the subdivisional surveys to be made under the general appropriation for the surveying service. ALLOTMENT LANDS FOR UTE INDIANS. The surveys made previous to the last fiscal year of lands for allotment to the Southern Utes in Colorado and New Mexico, amounting to 326,675.56 acres, have been examined and approved. In the past year surveys have been returned of 148,255.65 acres. Two hundred and eighty-seven thousand one hundred and forty-seven and seventy-six one-hundredth acres have been surveyed within the Uintah Reservation in Utah for allotment to the White River Ute Indians. Some progress has been made in the field work of surveys in Utah for allotment to the Uncompahgre Utes, but no returns have been received. INDIAN RESERVATIONS. A contract has been entered into for the survey and subdivision of seventeen townships in the late Uncompahgre Reservation in Colorado. The survey of the boundary between the Crow Reservation and Crow ceded lands in Montana, and surveys of Crow lands for allotment, have been contracted for. The survey of the boundary lines has not yet been executed. Some progress has been made in field surveys for allotment The lands within the old Sioux Indian reservation west of Big Stone Lake in Dakota, have been resurveyed, and the western boundary line retraced, the original surveys having been reported fraudulent. The area shown by the original survey was 115,157.68 acres, and by the resurvey 137,648 acres, making an increase by the resurvey of 22,540.32 acres. NORTHERN BOUNDARY OF WYOMING. The survey of the northern boundary of Wyoming has been examined in the field by a surveyor detailed for that duty by the Superintendent of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the boundary line found correctly established. MILITARY RESERVATIONS. The Fort Larned reservation has been surveyed and subdivided as other public lands, and the necessary steps taken for the appraisement and sale of the land to actual settlers as provided by law. A statement of military reservations created, enlarged, reduced, modified, or restored to the public domain during the year, will be found in the appropriate place in this report. GENERAL SURVEYING OPERATIONS. For the details of surveying operations in the several surveying districts, and much valuable information in respect to the public lands in said districts, reference is made to the accompanying reports of the sixteen surveyors-general. DESTRUCTION OF MONUMENTS. The frequent removal or destruction of corners marking the public surveys render it necessary for me to call attention to the absence of any statute bearing upon the matter in cases where the surveys have been completed. The protection of these monuments is of great importance both to settlers and the Government, and I recommend the passage of an act by Congress making the willful removal or destruction of monuments or corners of public surveys an offense, and providing proper penalties therefor. FALSE AND FRAUDULENT SURVEYS. Under existing laws deputy surveyors are liable on their bonds for the execution of false or fraudulent surveys, and are also liable to the penalties of perjury for falsely taking and subscribing an oath that surveys have been faithfully and correctly made. These penalties are ineffective to prevent gross frauds in the surveying service. Recoveries upon bonds are rarely possible, and the difficulty in obtaining convictions for perjury in general cases is well known. I am of the opinion that punishment by fine and imprisonment for making false and fraudulent returns of public surveys is a matter of necessity for the better protection of the public interests, and I recommend the passage of an act to that effect. RESURVEYS. It often becomes necessary to resurvey townships which have been erroneously surveyed, or where the corners marking the surveys have |