October 30, 1897, the Deparment granted authority under the abovequoted provision of law for the sale of dead timber on the diminished White Earth and Red Lake reservations, under regulations previously in force to govern the logging operations of those Indians. Under this authority the office approved twelve contracts for the sale of dead timber on the diminished White Earth Reservation aggregating 15,500,000 feet for $77,500, and three contracts for timber on the diminished Red Lake Reservation aggregating 4,500,000 feet for $22,500, aggregating $100,000 for the total amount of timber contracted for. It appears, how. ever, from Agent Sutherland's accounts for the fourth quarter, 1898, that some of the Indians operating on the diminished reservations cut timber in excess of the amount called for by their contracts, so that the total value of all the timber cut on the two reservations was $110,596.32. Of this amount 10 per cent was deducted for stumpage charges and has been deposited in the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts, class three, for the benefit of the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota.

The whole amount thus deposited by the agent on account of timber operations on both ceded lands and diminished reservations was $46,246.38, and the total value of timber sold by the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota was $363,900.31.

La Pointe Agency, Wis.-The logging on the Lac du Flambeau Reservation by J. H. Cushway & Co., under the various authorities heretofore granted, has proceeded without incident of note.

Very little logging has been done on the Lac Courte d'Oreilles Res ervation, nearly all the timber having been cut during the previous season. Such contracts as have been made between Mr. Turrish, the authorized purchaser on that reservation, and some of the allottees were for the purpose of gathering up the scattered timber remaining on only a very few allotments.

No change has occurred in logging matters on the Bad River Reservation, except so far as they have been affected by the relinquishment, by 24 allottees, of old allotments from which the timber had been burned and the making of new allotments to them, as authorized by Department letter of September 14, 1897. The list of new allotments was reported by Captain Scott, the acting agent, on December 31, 1897; was forwarded to the Department with the recommendation of this office on February 11, 1898, and was approved by the President Febru ary 23, 1898. The patents therefor were issued on June 13, 1898, and were transmitted to S. W. Campbell, the new agent at La Pointe Agency, for delivery to the allottees, with letter from this office dated August 5, 1898. Contracts were made by the allottees with Mr. Justus S. Stearns, the authorized purchaser of timber on the Bad River Reservation, for the sale of timber on these new allotments, and the President having, under date of April 29, 1898, authorized it, these contracts were approved by this office.

In my last annual report I made a statement of the steps taken looking to the sale by the Indian allottees of the Red Cliff Reservation of

the timber on their allotments, and quoted the regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior to govern the sale under an authority granted by the President on July 28, 1897. Under those regulations Captain Scott advertised for bids for the purchase of the timber. In answer to this advertisement (which was inserted in several newspapers) four bids were received as follows, viz:

Frederick L. Gilbert (estimated on the quantity of timber of different kinds supposed to be on the allotments), $416,662; D. J. Arpin and William Scott, $266,447.50; Charles Crogster & Co., $262,300.37; O. A. Ritan, $224,300.

The prescribed regulations required that all timber cut upon the reservation should be sawed in a mill to be erected upon the reservation. In his bid Mr. Gilbert proposed a modification of those regulations to the extent of permitting the immediate removal from the reservation, for manufacture outside, of a considerable quantity of burnt timber which had been cut by the Indians during the logging season of 1896-97 and which was at the time in the lake at the mouth of the Red Cliff River. On his part he agreed to saw at the mill, before the expiration of three years, a like quantity of timber cut from lands outside the reserve. September 23, 1897, the Department accepted Mr. Gilbert's bid, and on the same date this office advised Captain Scott of its acceptance. Mr. Gilbert having filed a bond in the penal sum of $50,000, with the American Surety Company of New York as surety, which was approved by the Department October 21, 1897, he was permitted to proceed with the making of his contracts and the erection of his mill. It is understood that the mill has been erected and is now in working order. Seventy contracts for the sale of timber have been approved.

I should add that the regulations of July 29, 1897, overlooked the fact that a number of the allottees were minors, and consequently no provision was made for the sale of the timber on their allotments. In order to meet the situation the Department, June 13, 1898, modified these regulations by adding to paragraph 3 the following:

And provided, That where an allotment belongs to a minor the timber thereon may be sold as provided in these regulations under contract executed by the father of such minor, if he be alive, and in case he be dead then by his mother, and if both the father and mother of such minor be dead his timber may be sold under a contract executed by his legal guardian, if one has been appointed by the courts, and if no guardian has been appointed the Indian agent shall be authorized to make such contract: And provided further, That the proceeds of the sale of timber on allotments of minors shall be held by the agent, as other moneys received by him on account of the sale of timber on the Red Cliff allotments, to the credit of such minors, respectively, and shall not be subject to draft until said minors shall have reached the age of 21 years, respectively, except that the Commissioner of Indian Affairs shall have the power to authorize the use of such proceeds of the sale of the timber in special cases if, in his judgment, the facts and circumstances in such special cases warrant the same.

The agent shall keep, in a well-bound book to be provided for the purpose, separate accounts with each Indian minor for whom he may so receive funds, in which accounts he shall charge himself with all sums received, giving dates, from whom

received, amount received, and quantity of timber, and take credit upon proper vouchers for all authorized disbursements. And at the end of each quarter, with his regular quarterly cash accounts, but separately and disconnected therefrom, he shall render an account showing correctly and in detail these receipts and disbursements. And upon each transfer of the agency the outgoing agent shall pay over to his successor all such funds for which he may then be responsible, taking proper receipts therefor to be filed with his accounts. And his successor shall charge himself with the funds so received and account for the same as herein provided.

June 17, 1898, Captain Scott was informed of this amendment of the regulations and instructed to permit the making of contracts for the sale of the timber on the allotments of minors in accordance therewith.

Menomonee Reservation, Wis.-August 11, 1897, the Department, on recommendation of this office, granted authority for the agent of the Green Bay Agency, Wis., to employ Menomonee Indians to carry on logging operations on their reservation for the season of 1897-98, under the provisions of the act of June 12, 1890 (26 Stat. L., 146). They were to cut and bank on the rivers and tributaries of the reservation 16,000,000 feet of pine timber, or so much thereof as might be practi cable, under the rules and regulations that governed similar operations the previous year.

Acting under this authority, the Menomonee Indians, under the direc tion of Agent George, cut and banked 10,135,000 feet of logs on the Wolf River and tributaries and 5,865,000 feet of logs on the Oconto River, and on February 12, 1898, the agent was authorized to advertise the logs for sale. March 15, Agent George submitted an abstract of bids received, and March 21 they were submitted to the Department with the recommendation that the following be accepted: Bid of Stephen Radford, of Oshkosh, Wis., for 10,135,000 feet of logs on Wolf River and tributaries, at $12.03 per 1,000 feet, and bid of Perley, Lowe & Co., of Chicago, Ill., for 5,865,000 feet of logs on south branch of Oconto River, at $13.60 per 1,000 feet. The Department, March 23, 1898, accepted the above bids, and the sale of logs to them was confirmed. This average of $12.814 per 1,000 feet is an increase of $2.61 per 1,000 feet over that for the season of 1896–97.

The State of Wisconsin, April 13, 1898, attached all the logs cut and banked on the south branch of the Oconto River, claiming that of the 16,000,000 feet of logs cut on the reservation during the year a large amount had been cut from lands belonging to the State. Messrs. Perley, Lowe & Co. immediately furnished a bond of indemnity in the sum of $25,000, in order that they might not be embarrassed in disposing of the logs which they had bought. June 15, 1898, Mr. E. G. Mullen, chief inspector of State lands for Wisconsin, presented the claim of the State of Wisconsin for damages by reason of the cutting and removal of certain pine timber from the swamp lands within the limits of the Menomonee Indian Reservation, which were ceded to that State on November 13, 1865, Patent No. 8. This statement was transmitted to the Department June 16, 1898, and next day the Department directed

that a commission, to be composed of the United States Indian agent at Green Bay Agency, the superintendent of logging, a scaler, an agent of the Department, and agents of the State of Wisconsin, of Perley, Lowe & Co., and of Seymour W. Hollister of Oshkosh, Wis. (purchasers of the logs from Perley, Lowe & Co.), go upon the lands described, for the purpose of ascertaining the exact quantity of timber cut and removed which was involved in this claim. July 13, 1898, the report of that commission was transmitted to the Department, the commission certifying: "A careful examination has been made with respect to the illegal cutting of timber, and it is found that there has been cut and removed from lands belonging to the State of Wisconsin 1,044,500 feet, board measure, of pine timber and logs."

It has been the custom in the vicinity of the agency, where a trespass of cutting timber has been committed that was not malicious or willful, to settle with the owner of the timber for what the standing trees or stumpage were worth. In view of this fact, it was recommended as the most equitable procedure that, as the standing trees or stumpage on the lands claimed by the State were worth about $8 per 1,000 feet, the State of Wisconsin should settle on that basis, if it had a just claim. The Department, July 25, 1898, approved the report of the commission as to the amount of pine timber and logs cut and removed from the lands belonging to the State of Wisconsin within the Menomonee Indian Reservation, and also approved the recommendation that the trespass should be settled upon the basis of $8 per 1,000 feet, the net value of the timber. July 27, 1898, the Indian agent at Green Bay Agency was directed to require Perley, Lowe & Co. to deposit the sum of $25,000, being the balance of the amount due on their contract for the purchase of logs on the Menomonee Indian Reservation, their bond of indemnity to be returned to them after making such deposit. On the same date the chief inspector of lands of the State of Wisconsin was informed of the approval of the report of the commission as to the amount of the timber cut and removed, and also of the authorization by the Department of the settlement of the trespass upon the basis of $8 per 1,000 feet, and the chief inspector was requested to take the necessary steps to have the State of Wisconsin present a claim, through its proper officers, for the payment for 1,044,500 feet of pine timber and logs improperly cut and removed from lands belonging to the State.

LEASING OF INDIAN LANDS.

For the terms on which Indian lands can be leased, see the annual report for 1897 (p. 40).

UNALLOTTED OR TRIBAL LANDS.

Since the date of the last annual report the following leases of tribal lands have been approved:

Crow Reservation, Mont.-In the annual reports for 1895-96 will be found a list of six grazing leases on this reservation, five of them for the

period of five years from June 30, 1895, and one for the period of four years from June 30, 1896. Since that date one additional lease has been executed in favor of Paul McCormick for range No. 3 for the period of five years from January 1, 1898. Estimated area, 199,000 acres; annual rental $6,984.90. The lease was approved July 20, 1898. It was executed in lieu of a lease in favor of Portus B. Weare covering the same land.

Kiowa and Comanche Reservation, Okla.-Twenty-three grazing leases and one grazing permit have been executed, as follows:

The last two leases, to Connell and Moffett, have not been acted upon by this office.

Wichita Reservation, Okla.-Twelve grazing leases have been executed and approved, each for the term of one year from April 1, 1898, as follows: