2. Congress, on the recommendation of the department, passed a bill creating the National Park Service.

3. By act of Congress two new parks, the Hawaii National Park, consisting of three separate tracts of land, two on the island of Hawaii and one on the island of Maui, Territory of Hawaii, and the Lassen Volcanic National Park, in northern California on the summit of the Sierras, were established.

4. Two new national monuments under supervision of the Interior Department, the Capulin Mountain in northeastern New Mexico and the Sieur de Monts on Mount Desert Island, Me., were established by presidential proclamation.

5. The General Land Office made a survey of the privately owned lands containing sequoia trees in the Sequoia National Park that are to be purchased under authority of Congress, and plans were perfected for obtaining these holdings.

6. Made final surveys and commenced construction of hydroelectric power plant in the Yosemite National Park which, when completed, will furnish sufficient power for lighting all camps, the new hotel, and all of the main roads and foot trails in the park, and for heating and cooking at the hotel and permanent camps.

7. Issued automobile guide maps of the Yosemite and Yellowstone National Parks.

8. Made final location surveys and commenced the construction of the new El Portal road in the Yosemite National Park.

9. Under a long-term contract for the development of the Yosemite two new hotels are under construction, one in Yosemite Valley and one at Glacier Point, and two permanent camps are being constructed in the valley and three in the upper country.

10. Executed long-term contract for development of Mount Rainier National Park on a profit-sharing basis with the Government, the concessionaires to erect immediately a hotel and thereafter, as rapidly as possible, camps and chalets in the park.

11. Established a free clinic at the Government free bathhouse at Hot Springs Reservation.

12. At the request of the Secretary of War arranged for the transfer of the guardianship of the Yellowstone National Park from military control under the War Department to civilian control under the Department of the Interior.

13. Completed development of the eastern entrance of the Yellowstone National Park and established automobile service between Cody and Lake Hotel.

14. Completed survey of road from Narada Falls to Cayuse Pass in Mount Rainier National Park.

15. Discovered and excavated a prehistoric pueblo structure in Mesa Verde National Park.

16. Made a survey of the sanitary conditions of hotels and camps in the various parks.

17. Continued furnishing public information on wide scale about the beauty and accessibility of national parks with purpose of directing travel thereto, publishing "National Parks Portfolio" and "Glimpses of our National Parks."

ABSTRACTS OF REPORTS OF BUREAUS AND OTHER ADMIN. ISTRATIVE UNITS OF THE DEPARTMENT.

OFFICE OF THE SOLICITOR.

The following table shows the number of matters received and disposed of during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1916, which were docketed or recorded. It does not, however, include a very large number of matters that are not formally docketed.

1 Under "Miscellaneous" are grouped such matters as "Opinions," "Indian matters," etc., as well as many other varied matters arising in the several bureaus of the department, and which, for one reason or another, may be referred to the solicitor's office for consideration.

Attention was called in last year's report to the fact that the total number of matters pending had been reduced from 5,140, October 1, 1914, to 1,907, July 1, 1915. It will now be noticed from the above table that this total has been further reduced to 1,228 on July 1, 1916. This substantial gain is largely due to the reduction in pension appeals, 1,388 cases being received and 2,123 disposed of during the fiscal year. This left pending but 127 cases which, with the incoming matters of this class, are assigned out for consideration within 30 days after receipt and are duly considered and promptly disposed of.

When the present administration came into office there were pending more than 3,000 of these pension appeals. On account of the advanced age of the claimant in many of the cases, it was realized that the valid claims must be passed upon promptly if the claimants were to receive any benefit, and the Secretary directed that every effort be made to dispose of the pending cases and to keep the work current. As will be seen, the 3,000 cases have now been reduced to 127, and the work is now current and no claim

ant has to wait for a decision in his case more than 60 days at the outside.

Another gratifying feature presented by this table is that while the appeals filed in public-land cases totaled 2,636, as against 2,420 during the year ended June 30, 1915, yet the number pending has been further reduced from 831 to 825. These cases are now reached in docket order for consideration within, approximately, 60 days after receipt, and are disposed of with such dispatch as careful examination of records and due consideration of all questions presented will warrant.

The increase of litigation in the Federal courts sitting in the District of Columbia, in which the Secretary is a defendant and in which he is defended by this office, is very marked. In last year's report, 21 cases were noted as pending June 30, 1915. On June 30, 1916, there were 47 cases pending distributed as follows: In the Supreme Court of the United States, 9; in the Court of Appeals, 6; in the Supreme Court of the District, 32. During the year there have been arguments and submissions, or some other form of disposition, in 26 cases. Of these, the department lost three, in all of which appeals were taken.

In the last report, three cases were reported as lost. One was lost by the final decision of the Supreme Court of the United States; and that is the only one of upward of 200 cases defended by the office during the last eight years which has been finally lost. The other two cases, last year reported as lost, were won this year in the appellate courts.

There is not only a marked increase in the number of pending cases, but in the variety and importance of the questions presented: The event by which a right vests in a railroad as to its indemnity lands; the authority to appraise coal lands; the right of the department to conduct proceedings testing the validity of mining locations where there is no application for patent; the construction of the proviso to section 7 of the act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat., 1095); the meaning of "classified civil service"; various phases of the soldiers' additional homestead law; the authority of the Secretary over certain Indian oil leases; Indian inheritance matters; construction of several acts relating to railroad land grants; rights in Indian enrollment cases; the nature of Indian title to lands possessed by certain tribes, etc. Many of the cases are of vital and far-reaching consequence in the administration of the affairs of the department.

The volume of work of the office during the year, including miscellaneous and docket matters, as well as the above court cases, has been very heavy; there are, however, no undue arrears, and the total of matters now pending is less than that shown in any annual report since 1910.

GENERAL LAND OFFICE.

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, 1916, is 19,043,152.92 acres, an increase of 2,181,938.23 acres, as compared with the area entered during the fiscal year 1915. The area patented during the fiscal year is 12,161,807.998 acres, a decrease of 863,619.978 acres, as compared with the fiscal year 1915. Of the above area, 7,723,738.23 acres were patented under the homestead laws, a decrease of 1,871,234.79 acres, not including as homesteads 20,551.83 acres patented as soldiers' additional entries.

Cash receipts and expenditures.-The total cash receipts from the sales of public land, including fees and commissions and sales of Government property for the fiscal year 1916, were $3,428,588.20 (1915, $3,786,319.54), a decrease of $352,669.08. The total receipts from sales of Indian lands were $2,000,516.17 (1915, $1,556,630.97). Other receipts aggregated $41,362.44. The total receipts of this bureau during the fiscal year 1916 were $5,470,466.81, as against $5,394,948.20 for the preceding fiscal year, an increase of $75,518.61. 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, 1916, were $830,190.99, an increase of $1,325.28 over the preceding fiscal year. The aggregate expenditures and estimated liabilities of the public-land service, including expenses of district land offices and surveys made from the appropriations for surveying the public lands outside of railroad land-grant limits, were $2,925,524.02, leaving a net surplus of $2,544,942.79 of receipts over expenditures. Disbursements from the following special deposit trust funds and reimbursable appropriations are not included in the above figures as receipts or expenditures: From deposits by individuals for surveying the public lands, $144,819.97; from surveying within land grants (reimbursable), $186,673.41; from opening Indian reservations (reimbursable), $14,994.12; from surveying and allotting Indian reservations (reimbursable) for surveying, $52,307.64; from surveying and allotting Standing Rock Indian Reservation (reimbursable) for surveying, $2,518.96.

Field Service. The number of cases examined and closed was about the same as in the preceding year, but the amount of money turned into the Treasury as the result was nearly $85,000 more; 142 civil suits were recommended as against 123 for the previous year; 93 indictments were secured as against 55 for the year previous.

Substantial and material progress has been made with respect to the oil situation in California. Investigations have been completed in a large number of cases, and proceedings directed involving over 15,000 acres. At the present time adverse proceedings are pending involving over 20,000 acres; also judicial proceedings involving over

168,000 acres to set aside railroad patents, alleged to have been secured with the knowledge that oil deposits were contained in the land. In one of these, the Elk Hills case, a decision by the circuit court of appeals upheld the judgment of the lower court in favor of the United States.

In Wyoming the oil situation has been carefully kept in hand, and judicial proceedings instituted on behalf of the Government in two

cases.

Twenty-four oil contracts, under the act of August 25, 1914, were entered into providing for the disposal of oil produced from lands in the California and Wyoming oil fields, pending the final determination of title thereto. The total number of such contracts made up to date is 33, and the amount of escrow deposits held thereunder is $419,174.36.

Public surveys.-The grand total of accepted surveys and resurveys during 1916 is 11,578,235 acres, an area largely in excess of the record for many years, except that of the year 1915.

Resurveys now form one of the most important activities of the surveying service, and in order to conserve the fund now available for this work and insure its expenditure in the manner most advantageous, resurvey applications are now only allowed on a very clear showing of the necessity therefor.

In the interests of better administration, the survey of Indian lands will hereafter be performed through the offices of the surveyors general, without the maintenance of a separate field supervision or office force.

In the survey of lands within railroad grants, authorized under the act of June 25, 1910, the work in the field reached a total of 3,030,000 acres. Since the passage of said act the total area surveyed thereunder is 11,000,000 acres, of which approximately 7,000,000 were surveyed since March 4, 1913.

Surveys in Alaska.-During the year all field and office work as to the coal areas in Matanuska, Bering River, and Nenana coal fields was completed in time for opening coal lands under the leasing act this season. Plats of township surveys, approved by the surveyor general and sent up for acceptance, amount to over 350,000 acres, which is about one-half of the total area of surveyed lands in the Territory. An appropriation of $50,000 for the prosecution of surveys in the Territory is recommended, and the continuance of the policy of group surveys under the present system of investigation, selection, and execution.

Coal leasing in Alaska.-Formal announcement of the opening of the coal fields of Matanuska and Bering River to leasing privileges was made May 18, 1916, resulting in six applications in the Matanuska field and two in the Bering River field, proposing a maxi

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