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REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF THE GENERAL

LAND OFFICE.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Washington, September 22, 1915.

SIR: I have the honor to submit a report of the transactions of business in the General Land Office for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1915, including therewith a few suggestions as to new legislation.

AREA OF LANDS ENTERED AND PATENTED.

The total area of public and Indian lands originally entered and allowed during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1915, is 16,861,214.69 acres, an increase of 338,362.57 acres as compared with the area entered during the year 1914.

The area patented during the fiscal year is 13,025,427.976 acres, a decrease of 1,365,643.124 acres as compared with the fiscal year of 1914. Of the above area, 9,594,973.025 acres were patented under the homestead laws, a decrease of 405,661.975 acres, not including homesteads, 32,360.89 acres patented as soldiers' additional entries.

The above patented area also includes the following: Enlarged homesteads, 3,972,381.16 acres; homesteads under the Kinkaid Act, 1,263,184.37 acres; homesteads with coal reservations, 1,435,071.80 acres. Area of Indian fee patents, not included in the above, 202,050.06 acres.

CASH RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES.

The total cash receipts for the sales of public land, including fees and commissions on both original and final entries, and sales of Government property in the local offices for the fiscal year 1915 were $3,786,319.54 (1914, $4,256,102.96), a decrease of $469,783.42. Miscellaneous receipts were as follows: From sales of Indian lands, $1,556,630.97 (1914, $1,884,802.77); depredations on public lands, $31,203.54; depredations on Indian lands, $38.33; leases, power sites, etc., act of February 15, 1901, $1,116.21; copies of records, plats, etc., made at General Land Office, $14,738.82, and at 13 surveyors generals' offices, $4,900.79, making the aggregate cash receipts of this bureau during the fiscal year 1915, $5,394,948.20 (1914, $6,148,367.63), a decrease of $753,419.43.

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The total expenses of district land offices for salaries and commissions of registers and receivers and incidental expenses during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1915, were $828,865.71, a decrease of $24,832.89. The aggregate expenditures and estimated liabilities of the public land service, including expenses of district land offices and surveys made were $3,008,996.31, leaving a net surplus of $2,384,922.61 of receipts over expenditures.

THE FIELD SERVICE.

The amount appropriated for the maintenance of the field service for this year was $475,000, a decrease of $25,000 from that allowed for the year 1914. This made necessary a reduction in the field force. The average number of agents employed during this year was 106, a decrease of 13 from the preceding year. In addition to these employees, the cost of the maintenance of the offices of the chiefs of field division, with the clerical assistance incidental thereto, is met from this appropriation.

The total amount of cash collected and turned into the Treasury as the result of the work of the special agents during the fiscal year was $90,799.24. Of this amount, $34,014.40 was accepted as settlement for timber trespass and $10,302.66 was realized from timber sales; $46,482.18 was recovered by civil and criminal action brought through the Department of Justice in cases of depredations on the public lands and violations of the public-land laws.

As a result of investigations by the field service, 530,841.90 acres have been restored to the public domain. Of this amount, 258,240 acres represent fraudulent entries (taking an average of 160 acres to each entry) canceled as the result of proceedings on special agents' reports; 266,774.40 acres were restored to open range on abatement of unlawful inclosures without suit.

Special agents have made examinations and reports on 20,299 entries, 5,501 of which were adverse and 14,798 were favorable. In addition to the reports of special agents, 200 adverse reports and 1,011 favorable reports have been received from forest officers on entries within national forests.

During the year 123 civil suits were recommended Two hundred and fifteen suits have been tried, 133 of which were won and 82 lost. As a result, $42,919 was recovered and 41,695.50 acres were restored to the public domain, 35,868 acres of which had been unlawfully inclosed.

Of the 73 criminal cases disposed of during the year, 33 resulted in convictions, and in these cases fines amounting to $7,552 were imposed, as well as 23 prison sentences.

At the close of the fiscal year, 638 civil cases and 174 cases wherein criminal prosecution was recommended were pending before the Department of Justice.

Effective July 1, 1915, a consolidation of the field service was directed; the Los Angeles field division was abolished, the State of Arizona being consolidated with the Santa Fe (N. Mex.) field division and the Los Angeles district being placed under the jurisdiction of the San Francisco field division. The Duluth (Minn.) field division was also abolished; the State of South Dakota was placed under the jurisdiction of the Cheyenne (Wyo.) field division, and the administration of the work in the States of North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan was placed under the chief of field service of this office.

By these changes the expense incident to the maintenance of these two headquarters is saved, without impairment of efficiency in the administration of the work.

THE OIL LAND SITUATION.

The investigation of locations and filings on lands withdrawn as oil in California, Wyoming, and Louisiana constitutes one of the most important and pressing branches of the work of the field service.

All these filings, entries, and selections must be investigated to determine the rights, if any, of applicants and locators. As to those who assert claims under the mining laws, the investigation must go, not only into the bona fides of the locations and applications for patent, but also into the question as to whether or not the claimants were in diligent prosecution of the work leading to discovery prior to the withdrawal of the lands. It is important that the rights of all who assert any claims in these withdrawn areas be promptly determined in order that the lands may not be drained of their petroleum contents by those having no rights thereto, and in order that it may be definitely determined what lands remain subject to disposal by the Government.

In California alone there are over a million and a half acres within the withdrawn area, of which about a million acres are patented lands. More than one hundred thousand acres are embraced in pending filings, selections, or entries, and there are over four hundred thousand acres for which no filings have been presented to the local land office, but which are doubtless covered by mineral locations recorded in the various mining districts.

During the year, 11 mineral and 44 agricultural claims, embracing 7,060 acres, have been patented; adverse proceedings have been instituted challenging the validity of 41 mineral and 42 agricultural claims, with an acreage of 14,803; 15 mineral and 39 agricultural claims, embracing 10,887 acres, have been canceled; there are now

pending, under various stages of investigation and action, 145 mineral claims, embracing 34,547 acres, and 340 agricultural claims with an acreage of 54,029.

While I anticipated that at the close of this fiscal year practically all the investigations in California on pending applications would be completed, my hope has not been fully realized. However, the most recent reports indicate that in a few months we shall be in a position to take action on nearly all these pending cases. Much has been accomplished during the year, considering the magnitude of the work, the difficulties involved, and the necessity for exhaustive investigation of intricate details; the cases are being closed up and reports are now coming in which will afford a basis of action. The investigating force has been still further increased over that which operated last year and the chief of field service is in San Francisco in personal supervision of the work.

In addition to the examination of claims pending before the Land Department, the investigation of lands and securing evidence to predicate action by the Department of Justice to recover by suit valuable oil lands the title to which has been secured by fraud, has been pushed. As the result, four suits have been instituted against the Southern Pacific Railroad Co. to recover title to 56,579 acres. With those already instituted, there are now eight suits pending in the Federal courts in California, involving 159,580 acres.

Six suits, involving 877 acres, have also been brought to recover for trespass committed in violation of the Executive withdrawal orders. In most of these cases operations have been continued under receiverships ordered by the court in order to conserve the property pending definite determination of title.

In Wyoming there are about 600,000 acres now under withdrawal, of which about 65,000 acres are patented. Since September 27, 1909, the date of the first withdrawal, 11 mineral entries, embracing 1,500 acres of withdrawn land, have been passed to patent after investigation by the field service. Three of these entries were canceled in part as the result of investigations which disclosed the use of "dummy" locators, the area canceled amounting to 290 acres. Investigations have been made of a number of pending applications, and also of locations for which no applications for patent have been filed.

The situation regarding the lands withdrawn in Wyoming is quite different from that in California, for the reason that Wyoming is the newer field and there are very few locations on which operations are being conducted for which application for patent had not been filed. In California, many locations are held under the possessory title only without steps being taken to procure patent. The situation in Wyoming is complicated by reason of the fact that while active

operations in the field are comparatively recent, yet a considerable number of locations were made many years prior to active operations, and adverse claims under section 2326 of the Revised Statutes have been filed against most of the applications for patent. Thus all action looking toward the issuance of patent is stayed pending determination of the possessory title.

Three trespass suits, involving 680 acres, have been brought by the Department of Justice as the result of investigations made by the field service in the withdrawn areas.

The area of unpatented lands embraced in the withdrawals in Louisiana is relatively small and the interest of the Government in these areas is largely involved in the proceedings known as the Ferry or Caddo Lake case which is dealt with in another part of this report. The general situation has been greatly clarified by the decision in the case of the United States v. Midwest Oil Co. (236 U. S., 459), which upheld the power of the Executive, in the absence of specific authority from Congress, to withdraw lands from appropriation and to reserve them for public purposes. The decision of Judge Bledsoe, rendered in July, 1915, in United States v. Pacific Midway Oil Co. et al., in the southern district of California, was the first judicial expression as to what constitutes diligent prosecution of work leading to a discovery so as to except a claim from the force and effect of an Executive withdrawal.

OIL CONTRACTS.

The act of August 25, 1914 (38 Stat., 708), affords temporary relief to applicants for mineral patent for lands valuable for oil and gas which are embraced in orders of withdrawal. Under this act, the Secretary of the Interior is vested with the discretion of entering into contracts providing for the disposition of the oil or gas produced from the tract embraced in the application for patent, or any portion of it, upon such terms and conditions as he may prescribe.

After careful consideration of the situation in the various oil fields a form of contract was drawn up which is clear in its terms and free from hampering and technical restrictions, yet withal, due regard is had for the interest of the Government.

It was concluded that one-eighth of the gross proceeds would be a fair and just proportion to be placed in escrow, to be paid over to the United States in case the application for patent was denied. The seven-eighths allowed to the operator is regarded as equaling the expense of operation plus a fair return upon the investment. However, the right is reserved to increase the royalty exacted at any time, should it be deemed proper and advisable to do so.

During the year 15 applications for contracts have been considered and allowed. The present prospects are that a considerably greater number will be presented during the coming year.

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