ject, of course, to the subsequent approval of his application. This provision has been found of extreme importance, particularly in rapidly developing sections of Alaska and in certain placer mining regions.

TIMBER RESERVE NO. 1.

The act of March 12, 1914 (38 Stat., 305), authorized the President to locate, construct, and operate railroads in the Territory of Alaska. Recently the Government purchased the property of the Alaska Central Railway Co., the successor of the Alaska Northern Railway Co., and is now engaged in extending the line to Fairbanks. A branch line is also being construcced into the Matanuska coal fields.

On June 22, 1915, an order was issued, reserving for the use of the United States, in connection with the construction and operation of the railroad, the timber upon the public lands north of the Chugach National Forest, extending 5 miles in width along the northern shores of the Knik Arm and Cook Inlet, between the mouth of the Knik River on the east and the mouth of the Susitna River on the west, thence north on each side of the Susitna River from its mouth on the south, to the mouth of the Yentna River on the north. The reserve also embraces the timber on an area 5 miles in width on each side of the right of way of the main line of the proposed railroad through the Susitna Valley to Broad Pass, and similar areas on each side of the right of way of the proposed branch line, extending into the Matanuska coal fields.

Subsequently the order was amended so as to include within the reservation the timber upon a strip of land 5 miles in width on each side of the proposed right of way of the main line of the railroad, beginning at Broad Pass, and extending down to the Nenana River and up Goldstream Creek to Fairbanks.

The purpose of the reservation is to prevent the timber needed for the construction of the railroad and its branches from falling into the possession of individuals or corporations, in which event it would be necessary for the Government to purchase timber which it once owned. It is not the intention of the Government, however, to make any unnecessary restrictions which will tend to retard the development of the Territory of Alaska along the lines of the railroad or its branches, and in the withdrawal order the interests of the public were conserved in every way possible. Only the timber on the land, not the land itself, was reserved. The land is still subject to location, settlement, or entry under the public-land laws, and it is provided in the withdrawal order that the Secretary of the Interior may permit settlers and those engaged in business in the locality to obtain such timber as they require for their own uses, provided that the timber is not needed for the construction of the railroad. It is also

the purpose of the Government to withold the issuance of final certificates and patents to the land within the timber reserve until the Alaskan Engineering Commission shall have acquired such timber as may be needed by it. When it shall be determined that no more timber is needed within a locality, the lands within that locality will be eliminated from that reserve, and persons entitled to patents for the lands will receive them, together with the timber that is remaining thereon. Such eliminations will be made from time to time and with as much dispatch as the circumstances will warrant.

MAP COMPILING AND DRAFTING.

The 1915 edition of the United States map, containing a new inset map of the Panama Canal Zone, was issued one month in advance of the previous year. The copper plates for 1916 edition are now in the course of revision; that part of Mexico appearing on the map will be revised, and other new features will be added. It is planned also to advance the date of issue of this edition.

Maps of Mississippi, Louisiana, Indiana, and Alaska have been compiled or revised and will issue during the year.

The

The work of compiling and drawing special maps for this and other bureaus has consumed a considerable time of the draftsmen. demand upon the division for this character of work seems to be increasing.

Maps, charts, and other features prepared and installed under the direction of the Chief of Drafting Division, for display in the General Land Office exhibit at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition at San Francisco, were awarded three gold medals.

A map showing the meridians and base lines and areas governed thereby was compiled, drawn, and reproduced, copies of which may be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, at 15 cents per copy.

TRACT RECORDS.

Special efforts have been made to have the tract records show, without delay, any pending application or entry, of whatever nature, and also to have the preliminary examination of homestead and desert-land entries, and timber and stone filings, made promptly:

First. In order that no one having occasion to use the tract records may be misled as to the status of any tract.

Second. In order to suspend, with as little delay as possible, entries or filings that may have been erroneously allowed by the local officers, either on account of the land involved not being subject to entry or the entryman having exhausted his right, etc. Failure to discover and correct errors of this character at the earliest possible period may result in irreparable loss to the entryman.

After posting of such cases by one class of clerks a careful examination is made by another class of each entry and filing for possible defects in the preparation of the papers, such as errors in the description, omission of evidence of citizenship, seals, signatures, etc. The questions of the qualifications of the entryman are carefully considered, and the tract books are, at that time, examined for errors in posting, conflicts, withdrawals, reservations, etc.

SUPPLEMENTAL PATENTS.

The act of Congress approved April 14, 1914 (38 Stat., 335), provides for the issuance of supplemental patents in cases where patents have reserved to the United States the coal deposits in the land and such lands are subsequently classified as noncoal in character.

Pursuant to the provisions of this act and instructions issued thereunder, Circular No. 327, dated June 3, 1914, there were withdrawn from the files and taken up for examination and action 1,874 cases, on which 1,227 supplemental patents have been issued.

It is estimated that there are about 2,500 of these cases still to be examined.

HOMESTEAD-TIMBER AND STONE-ISOLATED TRACTS.

A review of the work during the past year in the division of public lands, handling homesteads, timber and stone entries, and the public sale of isolated tracts, shows the approval for patent of 41,291 homestead entries, 794 timber and stone entries, 2,830 sales of isolated tracts, and 919 miscellaneous cash sales.

During the same period action was taken on 2,943 applications for second entry, as against 777 of the previous year; 5,875 applications for the sale of isolated tracts, against 5,900 of the previous year; 3,467 applications for amendment of entry, against 2,568 of the year previous; 1,118 applications for extension of time; 1,159 applications for leave of absence, against 1,258 of the year previous; 20,731 original homestead entries, against 14,264 of the year previous; 1,432 appeals from district land offices, as against 1,869 of the previous year.

An item worthy of note in this class of work is the evident appreciation of settlers in the semiarid districts of the preferred right of entry, under the enlarged homestead act, accorded to applicants for undesignated lands, by the amendatory act of March 4, 1915 (38 Stat., 1162), 2,591 applications for action thereunder having been filed prior to June 30, 1915; while up to the 1st of September 6,621 applications have been received and filed.

SUGGESTIONS TO HOMESTEADERS.

From time to time there is prepared in the General Land Office, for free distribution, a compilation of the several homestead acts, under the title "Suggestions to Homesteaders," with all the later statutes amendatory thereof, together with appropriate reguiations and instructions issued thereunder with the approval of the department.

Revised editions of this publication are issued at such times as seem requisite to keep homeseekers on the public lands advised as to new legislation, as well as any new decisions of the courts or the department affecting the rights of settlers on the public domain. The homestead law is preeminently the best adapted among all our public-land laws to secure the development of homes and social communities, that form the basis of our national stability, and the general recognition of this proposition is attested by the fact that last year the office distributed, in response to requests for information, an edition of 150,000 copies of Suggestions to Homesteaders.

This year a new edition was issued the 1st of June, containing, as additional matter, the several amendatory provisions of the homestead laws made by the Sixty-third Congress, as well as recent instructions and information necessary for the use of the intending claimant under any of the existing homestead laws.

RECLAMATION HOMESTEADS.

Under the provisions of the reclamation act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat., 388), 28 principal irrigation projects are being constructed by the Reclamation Service. In addition to these principal projects, a number of smaller projects are under consideration or in the course of investigation. Of the major projects, water for the irrigation of lands is available upon 23. Upon the Uncompahgre Valley project in Colorado, the Boise project in Idaho and Oregon, the Salt River project in Arizona, and several other projects, water is furnished upon a rental basis. Farm units, embracing areas reasonably required for the support of one family, have been established in 19 of the projects.

By the provisions of the reclamation extension act of August 13, 1914 (38 Stat., 686), the number of installments in which the construction charges in connection with irrigation projects must be paid was extended from 10 to 20, and the period of time within which such payments must be made was likewise increased from 10 to 20 years. This act further amended previous legislation by permitting the entry of land withdrawn for irrigation purposes where farm units have been established, but no public notice issued fixing the waterright charges and announcing the availability of water for irriga

tion of the land, upon the announcement by the Secretary of the Interior of the fact that water is ready to be delivered to the lands in such farm units or some part thereof.

In addition to the projects heing constructed under the provisions of the act of June 17, 1902, supra, several other projects upon Indian reservations are being constructed under the provisions of acts applicable to such projects alone. Among these projects the principal one is the Flathead project in Montana. Upon the Flathead project farm units have been established, though water is available at present for the irrigation of only a small part of the lands. To this project the provisions of the act of August 9, 1912 (37 Stat., 265), were extended by the act of July 17, 1914 (38 Stat., 510). Under the provisions of this act, upon the submission of proof of reclamation of the land and of the payment of all the charges, including the water-right charges due in connection therewith to the date of the submission of such proof, the entrymen are entitled to the issuance of a patent, reserving to the Government a prior lien to secure the payment of the water-right charges to become due thereafter. The act above mentioned also extends to the Flathead project the provisions of the act of June 23, 1910 (36 Stat., 592), authorizing the assignment of homestead entries within reclamation projects, upon the submission of satisfactory proof of compliance with the ordinary requirements of the homestead law with respect to residence, cultivation, and improvement of the land. OPENING OF CEDED CHIPPEWA LANDS, MINNESOTA.

There has been no opening to homestead settlement and entry of lands classified as agricultural in the ceded Chippewa reservations, Minnesota, since the year 1911. These lands were withdrawn from opening under instructions from the department, to allow of changes of Indian allotments. With respect to lands in the Bois Fort Reservation, this action was taken in 1909 to permit Indians who had received unsuitable or worthless allotments, to select other lands in lieu thereof. In 1912 this office was instructed to withhold from opening lands in the Leech Lake, Chippewa of the Mississippi, and other Chippewa reservations, pending changes in Indian allotments, made necessary by the fact that an investigation in the field of the lands in certain reservations, ordered in June, 1908, by the then Secretary of the Interior, showed that a number of the tracts allotted to Indians were swampy in character, and were granted to the State by the swamp-land acts. The changes of allotments have nearly all been made and the lands in the different reservations, excepting certain tracts reserved for future allotments, and excepting lands in the Fond du Lac Reservation, have been released from withdrawal during the past year.