C.-Statement showing the amounts expended for salaries of surveyor general and clerks during fiscal year ending June 30, 1877. By appropriation for compensation of surveyor general for fiscal year 1877.. Sept. 30, 1876. To first quarter, ending September 30, 1876... Total $2,000 00 3,600 00 330 16 10 23 9,794 07 $1,332 32 1,425 00 1,425 00 1,425 00 322 84 9,804 30 15,734 46 D.-Statement showing the amount expended for rent of office and other incidental expenses, and condition of account during fiscal year ending June 30, 1877. By appropriation for rent of office and other incidental expenses for fiscal By appropriation to supply deficiency for fiscal year 1877. Total $1,500 00 200 00 $480 48 348 75 451 09 418 22 1 46 1,700 00 E.-Statement showing the description of land, area and number of miles, for which duplicate plats and transcripts of field notes have been transmitted to the department, and triplicate plats and descriptive lists have been furnished to the Land Office, during fiscal year ending June 30, 1877. F.-Statement showing the description and number of township maps and descriptive lists furnished the Western land office during fiscal year ending June 30, 1877. Townships and ranges all north of base line and west of 6th principal merid- When transian, State of Nebraska. mitted. Number. To Register Western Land District: Townships 21 to 24, ranges 33 to 40, inclusive; townships 17 to 20, ranges 37 to 40, inclusive; townships 25 and 26, ranges 30, 31, and 32. Townships 19 and 20, range 36 Apr. 14, 1877 Total number of plats 56 Descriptive lists. G-Estimate of sums required for the extension of public surveys in the State of Nebraska for fiscal year ending June 30, 1879. Standard lines. Fifth, sixth, and seventh guide meridians from the sixth standard parallel to north boundary of State; the seventh and eighth standard parallels from the fourth guide meridian to west boundary of State.. Exterior lines. Townships 21 to 24, ranges 41 to 48, both inclusive; townships 27 to 32, ranges 30 to 32, both inclusive; and townships 25 to 32, ranges 33 to 58, both inclusive... Subdivision lines. Seventy-five townships within above exterior lines coming under some one or more of the four classes of lands authorized to be surveyed in letter "E" of the honorable Commissioner of the General Land Office, dated August 23, 1876, to be selected after survey of standard and exterior lines Total SURVEYOR GENERAL'S OFFICE, District of Nebraska and Iowa, Plattsmouth, Nebr., July 31, 1877. JNO. R. CLARK, H.-Estimate of sums required for office expenses for fiscal year ending June 30, 1879. I.-Statement showing the names, duties, nativity, whence appointed, term of service, and rate of compensation per annum, of persons employed in the surveyor general's office of Nebraska and Iowa during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1877. Name. F.-Report of the surveyor general of Wyoming. SURVEYOR GENERAL'S OFFICE, CHEYENNE, WYO., SIR: In compliance with your instructions of April 3, 1877, I have the honor to submit herewith, in duplicate, my annual report of the surveying operations of the Wy oming district for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1877: PROGRESS OF THE PUBLIC SURVEYS OF WYOMING TERRITORY. The exterior township lines of twenty-eight different townships have been surveyed and established, the total length of which is two hundred and fifty-four miles seventyfive chains and twenty-five links; and fifteen townships, three of which are made fractional by the military reservations of Fort Laramie and Fort Steele, containing three hundred and thirty-six thousand four hundred and f acres, have been subdivided into sections, amounting, in length of lines, to eight hundred and eighty-two miles seventy-eight chains and sixty-five links; a detailed statement of which is given herewith in tabular form. The most eastern of these surveys are adjoining Fort Laramie military reservation, and south and west of that point, on Laramie River and some of its southern tributaries, and embrace lands on which settlements are already located, timber of good quality is found, and on some of which a heavy growth of grass and facilities for irrigation are reported by the surveyor. Some portions of this region, however, especially the timbered lands, are rendered broken by the intrusion of the eastern slope of the Black Hills Range of Wyoming. The middle portions of these recent surveys are adjoining and in the vicinity of Fort Steele and Rawlins, and are within the limits of the Union Pacific Railroad land grant. They comprise large bodies of coal lands, as reported in the field notes, and that mineral seems to constitute the principal value of these lands, the soil being generally inferior. The most western surveys, mainly exterior township lines, and also within the limits of the Union Pacific Railroad land graut, in the vicinity of Rock Springs and Green River City, are watered by some of the eastern tributaries of Green River, and also comprise large tracts of coal lands, on which several mines have been successfully worked, that near Rock Springs yielding a valuable article of coal. An appended table gives the area of these coal lands, as reported in each township subdivided, and makes an addition to the area of this class of mineral lands previously surveyed of twentyfour thousand five hundred and fifty-four and acres. The agricultural lands embraced in these surveys will probably be found to be more profitable for the raising of cattle and sheep than for farming purposes, as the dry and moderate climate is known to be very favorable to stock raising, without the usual expense and labor of accumulating hay in large quantities for winter feed, and the erection of barns and sheds. 100 The surveys have, by these late additions, been rendered continuous, through the southern portion of this Territory, from the east to the west boundary, and mainly within the Union Pacific Railroad grant. All of these new surveys are delineated on the accompanying map in red ink, and the position of the railroad, stations, streams, and other topography, corrected to conform to the field notes; and the locality of Salt Wells, Point of Rocks, and Bitter Creek Stations, and the Hallville and other coal mines, is indicated thereon. SURVEYS OF MINERAL LAND CLAIMS. The first survey of the Centennial soda mine, No. 37, suspended at my last report on account of inaccuracies, was, at the request of claimants, resurveyed August 26, 1876, and shows a conflict with soda mining claim No. 40, in Natrona mining district, Carbon County, of 10.15 acres. Three copper mining claims have also been surveyed in the Earnest mining district, Carbon County, and they are situated between the Grand Encampment and the North Platte Rivers, about forty-five miles south-southeast from Fort Steele and ten miles north of the south boundary of Wyoming. Being on unsurveyed lands, these three mineral surveys are made with reference to a common locating monument, previously established for that purpose. Specimens of the ore obtained from these mines indicate valuable deposits. CANCELED CONTRACT, SMALL APPROPRIATION, AND PAY PER MILE. Contract numbered 86, dated July 28, 1875, and awarded to John B. Thomas, United States deputy surveyor, was, by his request, and with the consent of his sureties and that of the department, canceled August 28, 1876, and the unexpended balance of the appropriation of March 3, 1875, out of which this contract was payable, viz, $2,975.13, reverted to the United States Treasury. The surveys of 1876 were greatly reduced by the lateness of the season in which surveys can be made, and the limited amount appropriated for that purpose. Two months of good weather were found to be insufficient for the completion of surveys in remote portions of the Territory and in a mountainous region difficult of accurate measurement; and though one contract was, with great risk, completed amid the early snows, on two others the deputies were compelled to abandon the field and request an extension of time to the end of the fiscal year, which was conceded to them. It is unfortunate for a corps of honest and faithful surveyors, whose toilsome profession is poorly remunerative at best, to have the price per mile so much reduced at a period when the larger portion of the Wyoming plains are surveyed, and the mountainous and timbered lands are just being commenced; and it is apprehended that there will be a difficulty in the retaining of this class of deputies, under compensation that leaves so little margin for profit. To insure good work, liberal pay is much more indispensable at the present stage of the public surveys of this district than ever before. AREA OF SURVEYS. Of the estimated total area of Wyoming, viz, 62,645,120 acres, the regular public surveys in sections comprise 7,533,400 acres, the subdivisions within the Shoshone Indian reservation 172,102 acres, mining claims 521 acres, and coal reservation 99 acres; amounting, in the aggregate, to 7,706,178 acres which have been surveyed previously to June 30, 1877. BOUNDARY SURVEYS. The survey of the north half of the eastern boundary of Wyoming from the forty-third degree of north latitude, or northwest corner of Nebraska, to the northeast corner of this Territory, at latitude 45° north, was recommended in my last report, and is now being established, under the instructions of the General Land Office; and the marking out of this line will soon decide important questions of civil and municipal jurisdiction, and form a basis for the surveys of mining claims in Crook County, which, with the county of Pease, has been lately defined as to boundaries; and their limits are delineated on the accompanying map. Some of the mining towns of the Black Hills gold region are sufficiently near to the territorial boundary to manifest a deep interest in this survey. PROPOSED SURVEYS. The accompanying estimates for the extension of the public surveys in Wyoming during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1879, are intended for the grazing and agricultural lands near Fort Laramie, which are now being settled, and as a hay reservation was lately eliminated from the military reservation; for extending the contiguous surveys across the North Platte River, as soon as officially notified of the extinguishment of the Indian title in the Sioux reservation lately effected by treaty; for the completion of such surveys within the limits of the Union Pacific Railroad land grant as comprise coal, settlements, water, and timber, and for the survey of valuable timber and mineral lands in and near the Medicine Bow Mountains, as desired by the settlers in the region of Laramie City. LAND DISTRICT BOUNDARY. As the line of ranges 93 and 94 west will, on account of offsets west for convergency, nearest coincide with the line of longitude 31° west of Washington, which is made the boundary line between the Cheyenne and Evanston land offices, and as longitude 31° west is not surveyed, it is respectfully suggested, in order to avoid the expense of making a double set of plats and descriptive lists for any townships that may be divided by this line of longitude, that the line of ranges 93 and 94 west of the sixth principal meridian be adopted as the dividing line in the distribution of plats and lists. OFFICE WORK. Of the aforesaid recent surveys contracted for by this office, and payable out of the appropriation of July 31, 1876, of $16,500, made for surveys during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1877, the original field notes of the exterior and subdivision lines having been returned by the deputies, were carefully and critically examined, and, after all necessary corrections and explanations were made, these notes were approved upon intrinsic evidence of correctness. The original plats of these township lines and subdivisions have been constructed on the required scale from the notes and placed on file, and a copy of each plat has been made and compared, and transmitted to the General Land Office. Copies of all the plats of subdivisions have also been made, compared, and transmitted to the proper local land office, and a list of these register's plats has been added to the schedule posted in this office. The original field notes of all the aforesaid surveys have been transcribed, compared, prefaced with title pages and index diagrams, and, with the plats and surveyors' accounts, transmitted to the General Land Office. Two hundred and sixty-six lists, descriptive of the corners, soil, timber, &c., of one hundred and thirty-three townships and fractional townships, including the subdivisions of 1876, have been compiled, carefully compared with the original field notes, certified, and transmitted to the proper local land offices and the register's receipt for the same placed on file. The descriptive lists of all the subdivisions in Wyoming have therefore been completed within the last eighteen months, as none had been delivered to the register previously. The original field notes of the resurvey of the Centennial soda mining claim, in the valley of the Sweetwater, and of the three surveys of copper mining claims above mentioned, have been examined and approved, plats in quadraplicate and transcripts of each survey made, and two copies of the plats of each survey, with a transcript of the original field notes, furnished to the claimants, one plat of each survey transmitted to the local land office, and the original plats and field notes filed in this office. A larger clerical force will probably be soon required to perform the increased office work on mining claims. Many of the Black Hills mines will doubtless be found to be in Wyoming. In the Sweetwater mines a shaft 150 feet deep employs twelve miners, and the quartz is said to yield $100 per ton. In another shaft an eight inch steam pump clears the mine of water, which is utilized by ten gulch miners in the same vicinity. A ditch of 1,000 inches flow will soon supply several hundred miners in the dry gulches, and 150 men are at work in the placer mines, while an equal number are mining in quartz. Placer miners sometimes earn $10 per day. Late discoveries in the placer and quartz mines of the Big Horn Mountains have proven still richer, and warrant the purchase of stamp mills to be transported a great distance over the plains. Applications for surveys of mines are frequently more urgent than the regular surveys, and require prompt official action. MISCELLANEOUS OFFICE WORK. The binding of the field notes of the late surveys has been deferred until the contracts of 1876, on which an extension of time was given, are completed and approved. Much of the time employed in the regular office work is required in preparing contracts and bonds in quadruplicate, special instructions to deputies, with two copies and a record of the same, surveyors' diagrams of the exterior boundaries of the surveys contracted for, surveyors' and quarterly accounts, and the record of same; estimates of the cost of survey and office work on lands inuring to the Union Pacific Railroad Company, requiring various and careful calculations; computations of fractional areas in subdivisions, official correspondence with the departiment and with United States deputy surveyors, and record of the same; the general and miscellaneous letters and office work; the additions and corrections on the commissioner's map of Wyoming, and the annual report in duplicate and recording it, all of which require accuracy and diligence. OFFICE ROOMS. The transfer of this office to the present new, neatly finished, and commodious apartments may be considered a prudent move, as it secures greater immunity from fire, and the four large rooms, opening into each other and into a common hall, afford a much better light for fine drawing. The lease, at $500 per annum, to the end of 1879, is at a lower rate than that of other and smaller rooms on the same floor. |