instances after the exterior township lines have been run by the deputy, and then he may discover that it would not be lawful to subdivide the township. The settlements in this Territory are generally in the valleys on streams, and these valleys vary in width from a half mile to five and ten miles, but with few exceptions they are from one-fourth to one and two miles in width, and the country on each side hilly or mountainous, or, as is the case in many instances, there are table (or mesa) lands on either side, affording fine grasses, and which would be purchased for grazing parposes at private entry, but as it is unfit for agriculture on account of there being no means of irrigation, it cannot be surveyed under the law as it now stands. One-fourth to one-half the lands of a township may fall within the classifications made by law, while the remainder will be unsurveyable thereunder, but if surveyed and subject to entry would be readily purchased as stock range for the contiguous homesteader or pre-emptor living upon arable land. The extension of standard lines may be for some distance through arable lands, and then there will be intervening distances where the character of the lands is such that they would not be surveyable. No allowance is made for obtaining starting points by triangulation for surveys in settlements remote from the regular lines of public surveys, and, with the large reduction in the price allowed for the same, it is impossible to get competent deputies to undertake work remote from present surveyed standard lines, unless they are allowed to extend such lines under compensation. If the law required the surveyors general to give precedence to the survey of the settled portions of the public lands, it would, in my judgment, be a sufficient restriction, without stipulating the classes to be surveyed, as such conditions operate to embarrass the deputies in the field, and in this Territory it is almost impossible to comply strictly therewith. Of the 121,201 square miles, or 77,568,640 acres, embraced within the boundaries of the Territory, but 11,417 square miles, or 7,307,157.22 acres, including reservations, have been surveyed. I berewith transmit a map of the Territory, marked “ D,” upon which are noted all public surveys, grants, Indian and military reservations, and changes or county boundaries in this district, up to the close of the fiscal year. The map shows in blue ink the survey of grants executed during the year. It also shows one additional Indian reservation, that of the Zuñi Pueblo Indians, upon the New Mexico-Arizona boundary. This reserve embraces the grant made to that Pueblo by the Spanish Government in 1689, the original grant having been filed in this office by the United States agent for the Pueblos, July 3, 1875, but not having been yet acted upon and reported by the surveyor general its existence is unknown to the department. I believe it would be to the interest of the government if an inspection were made of all surveys by persons designated by the department, independent of the surveyors general, as it would impress the deputies with the necessity of doing thorough and complete work from fear of the possibility of losing the fruit of their labor, should their work not be perfect in all respects. If the inspectors are appointed by the surveyor general they would be most apt to designate local surveyors who, through prejudice, might make captious objections, or from friendship might favor the deputies in their reports. Hence, in my opinion, the selection by you of disinterested persons to make the inspections would be preferable OFFICE WORK. The field notes of all surveys made under contracts entered into previous to the close of the past fiscal year have been examined and approved by this office, and transcripts of same bave in every case been forwarded to the General Land Office, and the plats thereof have been prepared and disposed of as the law and regulations require. The current work of the office has been kept up as nearly as possible with the small clerical force employed, which is entirely inadequate, and the business is necessarily considerably in arrears, occasioned by a lack of means to employ sufficient force to dispose of same, and keep the records in proper condition. In addition to the usual work of offices of this character, Congress has imposed the investigation of private land claims originating under the Spanish and Mexican Governments prior to the acquisition of the Territory by the United States. The original title papers and documents in connection with these claims being in Spanish, their translation is imperatively necessary, and a proper record of the original and of the official translation is also essential. The witnesses examined in the course of the investigation of these cases are almost invariably Mexicans, and their evidence must be interpreted and reduced to writing in English, and after all the testimony has been submitted the surveyor general is required to transmit three copies of all the documents in Spanish, and the same number of copies of the translation thereof, together with the evidence and all proceedings had in the case, are copied in triplicate, the whole usually making a voluminous trans cript. This involves a large amount of labor not known to other offices of a similar character, in the adjudication, decision, aud preparation of these private land claims for the action of Congress. Upon taking charge of this office, something over a year since, I found a portion of the work several years in arrears. The record of the private land claims acted upon is several years behind, and no descriptive lists of public surveys have been furnished to the various local land offices since 1868. The work of the office should be brought up and kept so, and while a portion of the work in arrears has been advanced, and the current work kept up during the past year, and that with a reduced force over previous years, yet it is impossible to make much headway in getting up the old records with the limited clerical force at my disposal, and I respectfully urge the necessity for the full allowance of clerk hire asked for in my estimates for the ensuing fiscal year, believing that it is imperatively necessary for the good of the public service. After these records are once brought up, a considerable reduction in the force of the office can thereafter be made. The return of survey of the grants now under contract to be surveyed will doubtless, as has been the case heretofore, be followed by complaints that the proper location of the natural objects forming the boundary calls were not correctly discovered, i. e., the survey does not correspond to the ideas of claimants, and an investigation into the facts must follow ere the survey is approved by me. A copy of the plat in each case of a grant survey should be furnished to the local land offices, (which has not heretofore been done,) all of which will largely increase the work of this office. A good business mau will not permit his work to get in arrears, and the same rule should apply to the public business, yet no matter how much a public officer may desire to keep his work up, it not unfrequently (as is the case here) becomes a matter of impossibility unless sufficient force is allowed for that purpose. My estimates, particularly in regard to clerk hire, are based upon what I know to be the actual requirements of the public service, and I trust that Congress will realize the necessity therefor. I respectfully call attention to my remarks upon this subject in my letter of July 18 last, in connection with the estimates of this office for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1879, and also to the estimates marked Exhibit "E," herewith submitted, together with my letters of the 3d instant, asking for a deficiency appropriation for this year. INCIDENTAL EXPENDITURES. Exhibit "H" shows the condition of the appropriation for incidental expenses, which was so small that it was impossible to obtain some necessary articles for the office without exceeding the appropriation, although I exercised the utmost economy in the premises. When I took charge of the office the government paid $600 per annum office rent. Since October last I have reduced the rent to $480, and re-reut a portion of the building to private parties for $240 per annum, thereby reducing the rent paid by government to $240 per annum, as the amount received from private parties is deposited to the credit of the appropriation for office rent, &c. Several articles of furniture are required for the office, particularly cases for the record books and accumulating files, but the appropriation is too small to admit of their purchase. PUBLIC LANDS. As will be seen from Exhibit "B," but a small proportion of the public lands has been surveyed in this district, and while the necessity exists for the immediate survey of a large portion of what is now unsurveyed public domain, Congress does not appear to realize that fact or to appreciate the requirements of the settlers and stock-raisers. The question of securing a permanent stock range, is becoming an important one to the settlers engaged in stock raising, and if that portion of the public lands which are suitable only for grazing purposes were surveyed, and could be purchased at $1.25 per acre at private entry, the government would receive an income from their disposition, and as they are unfit for agricultural purposes they remain unproductive property to the government. Upon the table lands and plains of New Mexico there is not water sufficient for irrigation, except in isolated places and adjacent to some of the numerous springs, but all of these lands afford fire grazing for cattle and sheep, as the grasses are nutritious during the entire year, and there is no necessity for winter feeding, while there is a sufficiency of water for stock even in the driest season. The cost of surveying these lauds is less than two and one-half cents per acre, and by their survey and exposition to sale at private entry at a graduated price, or even at the minimum government price, per acre, a considerable portion of them would find ready sale. Stock raisers, looking ahead to the speedy occupation of all the agricultural lands, would avail themselves of the opportunity to purchase tracts for permanent grazing ranges. And it appears to me to be sound policy to expose all of this class of lands for sale. They must all be surveyed at some time, and as they can only be utilized for grazing purposes, I fail to perceive the economy to the government in prohibiting their survey and thereby withholding them from market. I believe it to be to the interest of the government that all these non-agricultural lands, as well as those adapted to agriculture and immediately liable to settlement, should be surveyed, and that the former should be open to private entry. Were they owned by individuals who did not desire to engage in stock raising, it would certainly be advisable for such persons to realize on them from parties who would utilize them for grazing purposes rather than hold them as unproductive property, and the proceeds could be employed more advantageously. If this business rule holds good in case of an individual, why does it not apply with equal force in that of the government? Were they agricultural lar ds, or were it probable even in the remote future that they would become such, the policy of the government of reserving lands for actual settlers would afford sufficient reason for withholding them from private entry, but as they will never, in my opinion, be suitable for agricultural purposes, and can only be utilized for grazing, and stock raisers alone could legitimately invest in them and make the investment remunerative, I see no valid reason why the policy herein suggested should not be adopted in regard to the disposition of these lands. I am confident that it is the only manner in which they can ever be sold, and the government would find ready sale for them, although it might be policy to graduate them in price, say from 25 cents to $1.25 per acre, according to quality and accessibility to water. PRIVATE LAND CLAIMS. Of these there were none filed or acted upon during the year. In my last annual report I treated the subject of private land claims at some length, advancing the suggestion that they should receive early attention on the part of Congress; that they ought speedily to be segregated from the public domain by surveyed lines, and that a limitation of time be fixed by Congress, in which claims of this character shall be filed and proven up, and I respectfully call attention to the suggestion on this subject in that report, as I am yet of the opinion that the recommendations therein made are proper and right, and should be carried out, particularly in regard to fixing a limitation upon the time for filing and prosecuting claims of this class. All the proceedings in these cases are ex parte in their nature, and the government has no attorney to represent it, where the title to millions of acres of land is involved, and the surveyor general is compelled to perform the duties of attorney for the government, and judicially determine the rights of the parties. The proper place for the investigation of these titles is in the courts, or by a commission, and if the present authority is continued in the surveyor general to investigate these titles, notice of day of hearing in each case should be given, and the United States district attorney should represent the government as against the claimants. While I do not shrink from any responsibility in the matter and will endeavor to perform my duty in the premises, both to the claimants and the government, yet it is an anomalous position to occupy, that of attorney for the government and judge between it and the claimants. Provision should also be made for the payment of witnesses for the government, in order that the real facts in every case may be truthfully reached. The records of the office should be kept at one place, and hence, in the event that it is deemed advisable, I recommend that the supreme court of the Territory be the proper tribunal to investigate these claims, with the right of appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States, by either the government or claimants. The original title papers in these cases are valuable, and should not be scattered among the several judicial districts of the Territory, but they should be securely kept at one place in the custody of the tribunal that is called to investigate the validity of the claims. The appointment of a commission would involve an additional cost of salaries for the same, also for clerks, &c., which would be avoided by constituting the supreme court of the Territory the arbiter in these cases, and while the adoption of these suggestions would add to the duties of the court, and, in a limited degree, to the expense over the present mode of adjusting these titles, yet the interests of the government would be more secure than they are at present, unless the surveyor general can have the assistance of the United States district attorney, and unless provision is made for the payment of witnesses who may be summoned on behalf of the government in the cases presented. AGRICULTURE, FRUIT, AND STOCK RAISING. In some portions of the Territory, adjacent to the mountains, fair crops are raised without irrigation, yet, as a rule, irrigation is necessary for the success of the agricalturist. The valleys are rich, and where there is sufficient water for irrigating purposes, they produce excellent crops. Grapes, plums, apples, peaches, pears, and apri cots, are grown in great abundance. The grazing range is unexcelled, and hence stock raising is principally and most suc cessfully engaged in. MINERALS. Since my last report some very large deposits of a superior quality of mica have been discovered about seventy-five miles northwest of Santa Fé, and are now being successfully worked. Large quantities of this mineral, in sheets from five to thirty inches square, have been taken from these mines the past summer. The veins are nearly horizontal, and are about five feet thick, the upper and foot walls being quartz. Experts who have examined the article pronounce it far superior to any mica heretofore discovered in the United States, and as they advance in on the vein the mica improves both in size and quality. The gold, silver, copper, and lead mines of the Territory have been operated the past year with somewhat renewed energy, and the result has been an increase in the amount of bullion produced. Grant County alone has produced, as estimated, $50,000 in gold, $476,000 in silver, and 2,000,000 pounds of copper, the past year. The yield of gold, silver, copper and lead in this Territory for the past year, estimating from reliable data, has been about as follows: The gold has been principally obtained from the placer mines in the several counties, and none of the mines have been worked to more than one-tenth their capacity, except possibly one or two of the silver mines in Grant County. Rich placer gold diggings and some very rich silver and copper lodes have been discovered, adjacent to and in the Sierra Blanca or White Mountains, immediately west of Fort Stanton, in Lir.coln County. The placer gold diggings in the Territory are rich, but owing to the extreme scarcity of water cannot be worked except during the rainy season of July and August, and during the winter, when melted snow affords facilities for washing the dirt. What is known as the "Ginn dry washer" has been pretty thoroughly tried in the separation of the gold from the sand and clay, but so far it has been unsuccessful, although I believe that the machine will, at no distant day, be improved upon, and a moderate success attained. The introduction of railroads, and the consequent influx of capital, will largely increase the mining operations in the territory, and will develop one of the richest mineral regions in the United States. There was but one mining claim reported as surveyed during the year, and one filing under the act approved March 3, 1877, for sale of desert lands in certain States, &c. A list of mineral deputy surveyors appointed under act May 10, 1872, is herewith submitted, marked "F." For a statement of the expenditures for salaries and incidentals, and the condition of the several appropriations for this district for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1877, I respectfully call attention to exhibits marked respectively "G," "H" and "I." CLIMATE. The climate of New Mexico is unsurpassed for its salubrity. The winters are mild and the summers not excessively warm. Through the courtesy of Lieut. S. C.Vedder, of the United States Signal Service, I learn that the mean maximum temperature at Santa Fé for the year ending June 30 last was 610.6; mean minimum temperature for same period was 369.4; mean average for the year, 49°; mean average humidity for same period, 51.8 per cent. ACCOMPANYING EXHIBITS. A.-Statement of executed surveys and their cost. B.-List of surveyed townships and contents in acres. C.-List of private land claims surveyed during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1877. D.-General map of New Mexico, showing surveys of public lands and private land claims. E.-Estimates for the ensuing fiscal year. F-List of nineral deputy surveyors.. I.-Statement showing condition of the several appropriations for New Mexico for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1877. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. J. A. WILLIAMSON, Commissioner of the General Land Office. HENRY M. ATKINSON, |