feet, the face of the walls being as smooth and upright as if fashioned by the hand of an artisan. Seven hundred feet from the entrance the stream becomes narrow; the water rushes through like a torrent. A few hundred feet further the stream with a gentle current flows through a beautiful valley. The Sierra Blanca lies fifteen miles north of this point.

The Rio Navajo empties into the Rio San Juan three miles north of the two hundred and twe aty-seventh mile. This latter stream is the most important in the couatry except the Rio Grande. It touches the boundary first on the two hundred and thirty-first mile, and finally crosses ten miles further west, flowing thence in a southwesterly direc tion, having its source in a number of small lakes in the Sierra San Juan, and is supposed to be in length four hundred miles. All the streams from the north on the residue of the line empty into the San Juan. The valley of this stream embraces many different varieties of soil and surface. At Pagosa, near the foot of the Sierra San Juan, there are large tracts of beautiful table lands and immense forests of excellent pine.

Notwithstanding the high altitude, the valleys afford fine grazing. Leaving this stream and proceeding westward in the survey, the boundary crosses the Rio Los Pinos at the two hundred and fifteenth mile, the Los Animas at the two hundred and sixty-sixth, the La Plata at the two hundred and eighty-third, and the Los Mancas at the two hundred and thirty-fourth mile. These valleys vary in width from fifty feet to three miles, and are susceptible of cultivation. La Plata Valley is cultivated by the Ute Indians, and their crops of corn are reported as being equal to any raised in the States. The streams are all fringed with pine, aspen, beach, and willow, with pine and cedar on the mountain slopes. The Rio Los Mancas courses through a deep cañon, where it crosses the line with vertical walls, along the top of which are seen immense boulders.

The surveyor reports the evidences of former civilization, in the shape of castles in these immense rocks, the ruins of some settlement. They were arranged apparently for defense, being in various positions. In this cañon, and for forty miles eastward, pottery of different shapes was found, with flint arrow-heads. At the mouth of this cañon, where it terminates in the San Juan Valley, is an isolated vertical mass of rocks and stone, four hundred feet high. A circular mound extends one hundred feet from the level prairie, out of which shoots a pier in height three hundred feet. North and south in this valley are various similar masses of rock and earth, which have the appearance in the distance of cathedrals and immense buildings, this valley resembling the San Luis, though not so fertile.

Three miles from the terminal point is a high ridge, upon which lies a mass of volcanic stone and gravel, having been ejected apparently from the crater of an eruptive volcano.

A few miles further east the surveyor discovered in a deep cañon immense boulders, composed of minute shells perfectly white. On the Rio Navajo sulphur springs are reported of various sizes, with a marsh between them and the river, the largest spring having a diameter of twenty feet, situated in a low ravine, and having a continuous bubbling flow. Near the Rio La Plata is a magnesian spring of the finest quality, also bubbling and flowing in a continuous stream of twenty-five barrels per diem. In the vicinity of Ratoon Pass many large beds of bituminous coal were discovered in veins of a thickness from one to five feet. From Triridad to the source of the Purgatory the mountain sides show

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a continuous cropping out of this valuable fuel. The best and largest beds of bituminous coal have there been discovered, extending through the mountains and under the level surface, with, in one place, eighty acres exposed. Coal of various qualities, and in apparently inexhaustible quantities, is to be found on this parallel from the San Luis Valley westward to the terminal point of this survey-cannel coal of good quality existing on the San Juan and La Plata Rivers.

This region has been imperfectly prospected as to the more valuable minerals in view of the hostility of the Indians, but gold and silver lodes are believed to exist in all these mountains, which it is supposed will yet prove a valuable mining region. Extraordinary changes of the magnetic variation are noted in many places, indicating the existence of quantities of magnetic iron.

The whole length of this surveyed line, which is the boundary between New Mexico and Colorado, is three hundred and thirty-one and threefourths miles. In the survey involving astronomical determinations, eleven astronomical stations were established, while one thonsand five hundred observations were computed and final results therefrom deduced.

CHANGE IN THE BED OF THE MISSOURI RIVER ABOVE DAKOTA CITY, IN NEBRASKA.

By instructions from this office of February 12, 1868, authority was given for a survey, incident to a change in the course of the Missouri River above Dakota City, in Nebraska, affecting former surveys in that State and in Dakota Territory. From the report of the surveyor general, it was found that the river had forsaken its former channel between townships 28 and 29 north of ranges 8 and 9 east of the sixth principal meridian, and townships 88 and 89 north of ranges 47 and 48 west of the fifth principal meridian in Dakota. A diagram, accompanying the surveyor general's report, shows two lakes, the localities of which are part of the original bed of the river, but as they are likely to dry up at no distant day, they were not considered meanderable, and it has been ordered that the lines of public survey be extended over them, as in the case of shallow lakes. It appears that the river has permanently changed its channel, and that its former bed is now arable land, of alluvial formation, with luxuriant growth of vegetation.

By the act of Congress approved May 30, 1854, (U. S. Statutes, vol. 10, p. 277,) organizing the Territory of Nebraska, it was provided that the eastern and northeastern boundary line should pass down the main channel of the Missouri, and the act of March 1, 1867, (U. S. Statutes, vol. 13, p. 47,) admitting Nebraska into the Union as a State, provides that said boundary line shall pass down the middle channel of the Missouri. As the channel of that river had been subject to many fluctuations prior to the change in its bed, which at the place referred to is now nearly all dry and covered with sedimentary deposits, the surveyor general was instructed to adopt the middle of the old bed of the Missouri river as the jurisdiction line separating Nebraska from Dakota. The fact that the channel of the river had thus been changed by a sudden rush of waters is not held by the Commissioner as making any change in the political jurisdiction of the adjacent localities. After running this line of demarcation, the surveyor general was directed to cause an extension to be made of the lines of the public surveys formerly interrupted by the Missouri River, and to close on that line of demarcation the surveys falling within the respective jurisdictions of Nebraska and Dakota, as illustrated in the accompanying diagram.

DUTIES ENJOINED BY LAW ON THE GENERAL

LAND OFFICE IN REGARD TO THE SURVEY OF INDIAN RESERVATIONS AND THE ISSUING OF PATENTS FOR INDIAN LANDS.

In the sixth section of the act of Congress approved April 2, 1864, (U. S. Statutes, vol. 13, page 41,) it is declared that hereafter, "when it shall become necessary to survey any Indian or other reservations, or any lands, the same shall be surveyed under the direction and control of the General Land Office, and as nearly as may be possible in conformity to the rules and regulations under which public surveys are made."

The first section of the act of May 5, 1864, (Statutes, vol. 13, page 63,) delegates like authority in respect to certain Indian reservations in Utah, and requires the survey of "the several Indian reservations heretofore made or occupied as such in the Territory of Utah, excepting Uintah Valley," "into tracts or lots not exceeding eighty acres each, under the direction of the Commissioner of the General Land Office."

Under the law first above mentioned the survey of the Cherokee neutral lands in southeastern Kansas, as provided in the treaty of July 19, 1866, was contracted for in August, 1866, and the deputy instructed first carefully to establish the boundaries so as to preserve the full limits contemplated in the treaty; then to extend the standard township and section lines over the tract in accordance with the public-land system. The survey of the Osage lands sold to the United States (article 1, treaty of September 29, 1865) was ordered at the same time, and governed by the same instructions. These lands lie on the west of, and are contiguous to, the Cherokee neutral lands.

By the second article of the treaty, dated September 29, 1865, with the Osages, a tract twenty miles in width from north to south off the north side of the remainder of their reservation, and extending its entire length from east to west, was ceded in trust to the United States, to be surveyed and sold for the benefit of said tribe.

Contract for the survey of that part of these lands east of the Arkansas River was effected in September, 1866, and the surveyor directed, after establishing the line segregating the ceded lands from the home reservation as far west as the Arkansas River, to extend the public lines over the tract in the usual manner.

In May, 1867, a contract was made for the survey of that part of the Osage ceded tract west of the Arkansas River, extending to the one hundredth meridian west from Greenwich. The surveyor was instructed to extend the sixth principal meridian south from the point of its intersection with the Arkansas River to the extent of twenty miles south of the northern boundary of the Osage ceded lands; then accurately to establish the boundaries of the tract according to the terms of the treaty; and finally to extend the standard township and section lines over the entire tract in the manner set forth in our printed Manual of Instructions for the survey of the public lands.

In order to carry out the provisions of the treaty, dated March 6, 1865, with the Omaha Indians, it became necessary to survey and subdivide their reservation situated in the eastern part of Nebraska and fronting on the Missouri River. The surveyor was instructed carefully to retrace the boundaries of the reservation and so much of the standard lines as fall within the reservation, and permanently to establish the subdivision line described in the treaty. That portion of the reservation south of the subdivision line was subdivided into forty-acre parcels by running, in addition to the usual sectional boundaries, lines through the sections,

both north and south and east and west, and establishing corners every twenty chains on all the lines. That part north of the subdivisional line was sold to the United States, the object of the government in purchasing being to locate thereon the Winnebago tribe; the tract has been subdivided according to the usual method.

Complete returns of the survey of the aforesaid reservations have been received at this office, the areas of the same as ascertained by actual measurement being as follows:

Under the provisions of the third and fourth articles of the treaty of February 19, 1867, with the Sissiton and Wapeton bands of Dakota or Sioux Indians, and act of April 10, 1869, making appropriation of $45,000 for the survey of their reservation lying immediately west of Lake Traverse, in Dakota, the survey was contracted for and the deputy instructed to establish the boundaries of the reservation and extend the lines of the public surveys over the same, running in addition to the usual subdivisions north and south and east and west lines through each section, establishing corners every twenty chains on all the lines. The survey of the reservation for the Navajo Indians, situated in northwestern New Mexico and northeastern Arizona, set apart under the treaty of June 1, 1868, is now in progress. The surveyor was instructed to establish the boundaries of the reservation astronomically, in accordance with the description given in the second article of the treaty, and to adopt the southern boundary as the special base from which to extend the subdivisional surveys. Should the topographical features of the country prove favorable, the eastern boundary will be adopted as the special meridian governing the subdivisional surveys; but if a better locality should appear, the meridian will be established within the reservation, and the standard, township, and section lines extended east and west over the lands suitable for agriculture to the extent allowed by the appropriation of $36,220, per act of April 10, 1869.

Under the act of May 5, 1864, requiring the survey of "the several Indian reservations heretofore made or occupied as such, excepting the Uintah Valley," into tracts or lots not exceeding eighty acres each, instructions were issued to the then surveyor general of Colorado and Utah to enter into contract for the survey of the Deep Creek, Corn Creek, San Pete, and Spanish Fork reservations. The surveys have been returned to the department, the areas of the several reservations being as follows:

MENDOCINO INDIAN RESERVATION, CALIFORNIA.

Authority was given by law for the establishment of certain Indian reservations in California, or in Utah and New Mexico, for the protection

of the Indians. One of these, known as the Mendocino, was ordered May 22, 1856, by the President, its limits, however, not having been fixed by actual survey until 1868-69. It is situated on the west coast of California, having for its northern boundary a line one mile north of Beedaloc Creek; for its southern the south bank of the Noyc River. The reservation extends from the coast eastward for quantity, yet is limited to twenty-five thousand acres, so as to include the valleys beyond the first range of hills to the Coast Mountains.

By the sixth section of an act of Congress approved July 27, 1868, (Statutes 1867-'68, p. 223,) this reservation was restored to the mass of public lands, and the Secretary of the Interior directed to cause the same to be surveyed and offered for sale, for money only, in legal subdivisions, at not less than $1 25 per acre; the act requiring the purchasers of tracts in the reserve to pay for all improvements thereon by the government, at the rates appraised by the register and receiver of the land district; and further, that all improvements made prior to the passage of the act should be the sole property of the persons who made them, with the right of purchase to the extent of six hundred and forty acres, to include the improvements.

In accordance with the provisions of this act, instructions to the surveyor general of California for the subdivisional survey of the reservation were issued from the General Land Office August 8, 1868, and approved by the department. The returns, which were approved May 14, 1869, embrace 24,930.08 acres, and the survey having been found correct, the same was approved on the 15th June following, with directions to the surveyor general to transmit duplicate plats to the register and receiver of the proper local land office, so that the duties devolved on those officers under the special law and the instructions may be duly carried into effect.

OSAGE INDIAN LANDS IN KANSAS.

The Osage Indian lands acquired by treaty with the Great and Little Osage Indians, made September 29, 1865, lying in the southern part of Kansas, embrace 4,041,937 acres, of which the surveys have been completed, and plats duly filed in this and the district land office at Humboldt, Kansas.

A question arose as to the right of railroad companies under the amendment to the first article of the treaty. The decision of the Commissioner of the General Land Office in the matter was reversed, on appeal, by Mr. Secretary Browning, who decided that the amendment conferred rights upon the railroad companies, and accordingly the lands embraced within the grants were withdrawn on account of such grants. A proclamation was afterward issued by the President for the sale of the remaining tracts; but subsequently the indefinite postponement of the sale was ordered, and no further disposal of the lands was authorized until the passage by Congress of the following resolution, approved April 10, 1869:

That resolution directs "that any bona fide settler residing upon any portion of the lands sold to the United States by virtue of the first and second articles of the treaty concluded between the United States and the Great and Little Osage tribe of Indians, September twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, and proclaimed January twenty-first, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, who is a citizen of the United States, or shall have declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States, shall be and hereby is entitled to purchase the