REPORT. STATE OF CALIFORNIA, OFFICE OF SURVEYOR-GENERAL, To his Excellency GEORGE C. PERKINS, Governor of California: DEAR SIR: In accordance with the requirements of the law relating to the duties of the Surveyor-General, I have the honor to submit the following report of the transactions of this office from August 1,1880, to August 1, 1882. JAMES W. SHANKLIN, Surveyor-General and ex officio Register of the State Land Office. As surveys of the public land enuring to the State under the several grants made by Acts of Congress are not under the control or direction of this office, and are legal only when made under the direction of the United States Surveyor-General for California, I have to rely on said officer for the following data, which he has kindly furnished, in order that I may be enabled to meet the requirements of the State law. AREA OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA. The area of the State of California is estimated at 100,500,000 acres, apportioned as follows: GENERAL OFFICE BUSINESS. From August 1, 1880, to August 1, 1882, applications to purchase school lands have been filed as follows: Di fol 403. CONTESTED CASES. From the office of the Surveyor-General, fifty-four orders of refer ence to the Superior Courts liave been issued, and from the office of the Register, forty-seven have been issued. LAND OFFICE GENERAL OFFICIAL BUSINESS. From August 1, 1881, to July 31, 1882, inclusive, three hundred and four Certificates of Purchase have been issued, embracing the following number of acres under the different grants: I Bo of rec and Tre No. o 387 380 398 399 310. 118_ 404 402 396. 397. 45. 405... During the same time, five hundred and forty-eight Patents have been issued, embracing the following number of acres under the different grants: 410.. 413... 412 a 417.. 409.. Aug A 1880 se SWAMP LAND DISTRICTS ORGANIZED. During the same time, twenty-five Swamp Land Reclamation Districts have been created, reported to this office, and numbered as follows: SWAMP LAND DISTRICTS RECLAIMED. During the same time there has been received from County Boards of Supervisors evidence of completion of reclamation, or of the expenditure of two dollars per acre upon the works of reclamation of lands embraced in the following named districts, and the statements relating thereto have been sent to the County Treasurers: ed he he 413 5.17 0.00 2.59 FEES. Amount collected as Surveyor-General, from August 1, 1880, to August 1, 1882, $4,554 25. Amount collected as Register of State Land Office, from August 1, 1880, to August 1, 1882, $4,742 05. GENERAL OFFICE WORK. The office of the Surveyor-General has been furnished with entire new set of working maps, neatly backed with muslin, and well bound; and copies of United States township maps have been procured. All the cases, both in the office of the State Surveyor-General and Register, used for filing applications, and other papers relating to titles issued, have been furnished with tin cases, and are plainly labeled, so as to show their contents. Indexes of the names of all applicants for School Lands, or for lands under the 500,000 acres, and for Seminary and Public Buildings grants, have been made, leaving only indexes of lands applied for under the Swamp and Overflowed Land grant to be made, to have a complete reference to all applicants for State lands. Nothing of this kind has ever before been attempted in the office. The correspondence of the Surveyor-General's office, in answering inquiries as to the condition of State lands, and in giving informa tion called for concerning the existence of conflicting applications, lis has been unusually great, taking nearly all the time of two men. LANDS GRANTED TO THE STATE. ас bil of Sta ро pa When I came into the office, I found such disagreement between the State and United States Land Offices in relation to the condition of the various grants, that the Secretary of the Interior had, in con sequence thereof, declined to list any more land to the State. I then prepared a complete ledger statement of all the Indemnity School lands received from the United States, and took it to Washington, be and made a careful comparison of this work with the maps and the records of the General Land Office. The Commissioner furnished a clerk for each department of the examination on the part of the los United States, and I personally acted on the part of the State. That comparison showed, notwithstanding the fact that many corrections had been made, that the State still had received an excess by listing of about 70,000 acres more than was justly due. Examinations were also made as to the condition of the other grants, and it was found, that while the State had applied for more land under each of the other grants, no excess had been received. This work at Washington occupied over ten weeks, and, on my return, had duplicate copies of the comparisons made and returned to Wash ington to aid in future adjustments. Fr pu the CO ler Co the tra th CO 18! ор be aw in La In addition to this work, I made maps, showing the exact lines established as the boundaries of the various railroad reservations in this State. This became necessary, not as a matter of general infor mation, but because the Commissioner of the General Land Office has decided that when the State selects indemnity lands within such reserved limits, the land must be regarded as double minimum price, and the State cannot select within the reserved limits, unless it has lost other lands equivalent in price, without agreeing to sur render two acres for one. This was done in some cases before I came fer into office, but without authority, for the Surveyor-General is no allowed to charge more than $1 25 per acre for State land, while t surrender two acres for one would occasion a loss to the School Fund be eq |