The greater part of the land yet to be surveyed in the State is mountainous and very d fficult to survey, and in my opinion the price should not be less than that submitted with my estimates for the coming year. I would respectfully call your attention to the necessity of providing for the early survey of the timbered lands of the State. In no other way can the timber be protected from great waste. The pioneer settler, who foregoes the comforts of civilization to build new towns and settlements on the froutier, must have timber; saw-mills must be brought in to saw it for him; wood must be cut to keep himself and family from the cold; and in the mining region large quantities must be used to timber mines and smelt the ores. During my residence of eighteen years in Colorado, many prosecutions have been commenced against parties for committing depredations upon government timber, and but few convictions have been secured; for in some cases the very judge and jury sitting in the canse were at the time being kept warm by fires made of wood cut from government land, and it is almost impossible to secure a conviction. If the lands were surveyed and sold, they would soon be in the hands of a large number of persons, whose interest would be to see that marauders were kept off, and they would also protect the timber from the destructive fires which destroy large quantities every year. The government would then realize the full value of the land. For incidentals: For rent, fuel, stationery, messenger, furniture, and other incidental expenses. Survey of 600 miles of standard lines, at $16................ For surveys: Survey of 3,000 miles of exterior township lines, at $14. $3,000 00 9,600 00 42,000 00 84,000 00 135,600 00 For survey of west boundary of Colorado, 280 miles, at $70 per mile..... 19,600 00 The above estimate has been carefully prepared with a view to the actual necessities of the service. The appropriation for clerks in this office has been for the past two years wholly inadequate, as the arrears of office work detailed hereafter will show. I am at a loss to know how to do the office work incident to the appropriation of $35,000 for the present fiscal year with but $3,000 for clerks. This amount is not sufficient to pay chief clerk and one draughtsman, and it will be absolutely necessary to have at least one transcribing clerk; and to do the work properly and bring up arrears I should have an assistant draughtsman and two transcribing clerks. In my opinion it is mistaken policy to allow the records of the office to get so far in arrears, as the time lost in hunting through records not properly indexed or tiled will over balance the expense of keeping them in order. The amount estimated for incidental expenses will be required, in my opinion, to pay rent, messenger, stationery, &c. The increasing number of mining claims, as well as the regular appropriation for surveys, requires large quantities of drawing paper, instruments, transcript paper, and other expenses incident to the work. The office is greatly in need of new and additional furniture. Some of the furniture has been in use sixteen years, and is necessarily in bad condition. The estimate for surveys is not in excess of what will be actually necessary to accommodate bona fide settlers, State selections, and furnish a basis upon which miners may definitely locate their mining claims. Under the act of Congress admitting Colorado as a State, over 350,000 acres of land are yet to be selected for State purposes, and the governor and commissioners, whose duty it is to make selections, are anxious that additional surveys be made, that they may be able to select lands soon after survey and before the best lands are taken. The survey of the west boundary of the State should be made at an early day, in order that the lines of survey may be closed thereon, to segregate the lands of the State from those of Utah, and to enable settlers to apply at the proper land office to enter their lands. The surveys which I propose to make are principally as follows, viz: Extend the second correction line northwest into the North Park, and run exterior and section lines, taking in settlements on the Big Laramie and Platte Rivers; survey the eleventh and twelfth guide meridian from the first correction line north, north to the north boundary; extend the first correction line northwest to the west boundary; survey the second correction line north from the eleventh guide meridian, east to mountains and west to west boundary of the State; survey exterior and section lines to include settlements on the Tampah, Little Snake, and other streams. The base line, first, second, and third correction lines south, should be extended west to the Indian reservation, and such exterior and subdivisional lines run as actual settlers require. 'The ninth, tenth, and eleventh correction lines north (New Mexico meridian) should be extended west to the Indian reservation; the first guide west should be ruu north to the reservation, and exterior and subdivisional lines should be run to include settlements on the Rio Dolores, San Miguel, Uncompahgre, the head waters of the Gunnison, Rio Grande, Rio Conejos, Rio San Juan, including the Pagosa springs. I believe it is economy for Congress to make liberal appropriations for our new and prosperous State, and the past has proven that it has been a paying investment. By examining the reports for the past five years, I find that the amount of land disposed of by the United States in Colorado by pre-emption, homestead, &c., at regular government prices, is four times the amount appropriated for surveys during the same period, and the amount disposed of for cash and land warrants is more than double the amount appropriated for surveys during the same period. In further reply to your letter, I have the honor to report arrears of office work as follows, viz: The descriptive lists of townships surveyed, which should have been sent to the local land offices with the triplicate plats, have not been prepared or transmitted for the past four years. A part of the field notes and plats of surveys for 1875, and all of those for 1876 and 1877, have not been arranged, bound, or indexed. The letters, records, and papers belonging to the office should all be overhauled and arranged in such a manner that reference can be readily made to the past business of the office. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, WM. L. CAMPBELL, Surveyor General of Colorado. A.-Statement of surveys made under the regular appropriation, and accounts of the several deputies, for the year ending June 30, 1877. B.-Statement of surveys made under the acts of Congress of May 30, 1862, and March 3, 1872, and the accounts of the several deputies and depositors for excess, for the year ending June 30, 1877. C.-Statement showing the number of townships surveyed during the year ending June 30, 1877, and the area of public lands contained in the same. D.-List of mineral claims surveyed in the State of Colorado during the year ending June 30, 1877, together with the amount deposited for office expenses for the same. No. of survey. List of mineral claims surveyed in the State of Colorado, &c.—Continued. Name of lode. Date of ap- Location. Amount of deposit. I.-Statement showing the condition of the several appropriations for the surveying service in New Mexico at the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1877. H.-Report of the surveyor general of Colorado. SURVEYOR-GENERAL'S OFFICE, Denver, Colo., 1877. SIR: In compliance with instructions contained in your letter of the 3d day of April, 1877, I have the honor herewith to submit my annual report, in duplicate, of the surveying service in Colorado for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1877, together with map showing the progress of surveys, and the usual tabular statements, as follows: A.-Statement of surveys made under the regular appropriation, and the accounts of the several deputies. B.-Statement of surveys under acts of May 30, 1862, and March 3, 1871, and the accounts of the several deputies and depositors. C.-Statement showing number of townships surveyed during the year, and the area of public land in the same. D.-Statement of mining claims surveyed during the year, together with the amount deposited for office expenses for same. E.-Statement showing amount of salaries paid surveyor general and clerks in his office for the year. F.-Statement of amount expended for rent, books, stationery, and other incidentals. The regular appropriation for surveys for the past year was expended principally in the southern and southwestern part of the State, on the headwaters of the Gunnison, Del Norte, and Las Animas Rivers. A portion was distributed through the mountain parks and valleys, but as the ap propriation for surveys was but $20,000, not one-quarter of the surveys were made that have been petitioned for by actual settlers. There are not less than one hundred townships in the State, containing bona fide settlers, who have occupied their claims from one to five years, which townships should be surveyed. In a number of cases special deposits have been made by settlers for survey of their townships, but as the grasshoppers have taken a large portion of the crops for the past three years farmers have not been in financial condition to advance money for surveys. The rich mining country in the southwestern part of the State has attracted not only miners but large numbers of farmers, who have settled upon the Gunnison, Uncompahgre, Rio Dolores, Animas, and other streams, and are crowding upon the Ute Indian reservation. In my opinion this reservation should be reduced in extent, and if the Indians can be transferred to some less settled part of the country it should be abandoned, for the reason that it withholds from market the rich valleys of the above-named streams and their tributaries, and retards civilization. The whites are driven from the reservation, and are not allowed to mine or farm any portion of it, while the Indians are permitted to occupy it or roam over other parts of the State at pleasure. If the reservation cannot be abandoned it would be of great benefit to the southwest porton of the State if it could be reduced in extent by making the 39th degree of latitude the south boundary. This would open up some of the finest agricultural and timbered lands in the State, and materially assist in de |
