7 No. 2.-Statement showing the amount expended for salaries of surveyor general and clerks during the year ending June 30, 1867. No. 3.-Statement showing the amount expended for rent of office and incidental expenses during the year ending June 30, 1867. NOTE. The quarter ending June 30, 1867, includes $37 50 chargeable to binding appropriation. RECAPITULATION. Salaries of surveyor general and clerks during the year. Total...... $544 49 426 96 431 21 415 39 1,818 05 $8,761 73 1,818 05 10,579 78 No. 4.-Statement showing the amount of revenue tax paid by the surveyor general and clerks during the year ending June 30, 1867. Quarter ending September 30, 1866. Total...... No. 5.-Statement showing the extent and cost of surveys executed in Kansas during the year ending June 30, 1867. Diefendorf and Cosgray... and Sleeper. $59 82 68 87 54 41 28 19 211 29 gives to a large amount of the population of that distant region a quarter section of land, which they have the right to select in preference to other settlers. Hence it becomes necessary both for the half-breed, and other settlers that these lands, at least so far as they are occupied, be surveyed at the earliest possible day, and the five thousand dollars asked for will do no more than to accomplish the desired object. Again, the settlements are far in advance of the surveys along the valley of the Missouri river from Fort Randall to Fort Sully, and such will be the fact when the ten thousand dollars of this fiscal year for surveys in the Missouri valley shall be exhausted. Again, it is an established fact that in and around the Black Hills of Dakota there is a vast amount of pine timber of excellent quality, which is now so much needed for building material all over Dakota elsewhere, and this timber is not over two hundred miles from surveys already made. I would recommend that five thousand dollars be appropriated for the purpose of extending the surveys to the Black Hills, and, as far as that sum would reach, make survey of said timbered lands. In view of the well established fact that there is a vast mine of mineral wealth in and around the Black Hills of Dakota, gold, silver, copper and coal, which would have been opened and worked this season but for military orders to the contrary, it would seem to be of the first importance to the government to make a liberal appropriation for surveys in this locality. I am informed that around Fort Laramie and all along the vicinity of the Union and Pacific ra lroad, where it is located on the soil of this Territory, there are now three thousand inhabitants, and by the commencement of the next fiscal year, at the present ratio, will have reached five thousand who now are and will continue asking for surveys in that locality. For the reasons already stated in connection with the productive soil and salubrious climate of this Territory, containing an area of 256,900 square miles, with nearly as much arable land as the other seven Territories combined, I was induced to ask the amount of appropriation named in my annual estimate, which I have no doubt your judgment will approve, and Congress pass by your recommendation. Papers accompanying and forming a part of this report: A.-Estimates for the surveying service in this district. B.-Abstract account of the incidental expenses of the surveyor general's office for the year ending June 30, 1867. C-Statement showing the number of townships surveyed in Dakota and area of land therein. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. Jos. S. WILSON, WILLIAM TRIPP, Commissioner General Land Office, Washington, D. C. A.-Estimate of appropriations required for continuing the public surveys in the Territory of Dakota, for sa'aries of the surveyor general and the clerks in his office, (as per act of March 2, 1861,) and for the incidental ezpenses of the office, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1869. For Survey of standard lines.... For survey of township lines. Total for surveys............ For incidental expenses of office.... 2, (* 9 (89 ,(«༥) རྣམ! 15, moc on $2,000 SURVEYOR GENERAL'S OFFICE, Yankton, D. T., August 19, 1867. B.-Abstract statement of the incidental expenses of the surveyor general's office for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1867. SURVEYOR GENERAL'S OFFICE, Yankton, D. T., August 19, 1867. C.-List of townships surveyed in the Territory of Dakota from July 1, 1866, SURVEYOR GENERAL'S OFFICE, Yankton, D. T., August 19, 1867. No. 18 C. SURVEYOR GENERAL'S OFFICE, Plattsmouth, Nebraska, August 27, 1867. SIR: Complying with your instructions, I have the honor to submit my report of the organization and official action, thus far, of this office. In obedience to the provisions of an act of Congress entitled "An act to remove the office of surveyor general of Wisconsin and Iowa to Plattsmouth, Nebraska," and in accordance with your instructions of April last, I proceeded. after having secured a building at Plattsmouth suitable for office purposes, to Dubuque, Iowa, and there obtained, from the custodian of the surveying archives of the State of Iowa, such furniture belonging to the office of the late surveyor general of Wisconsin and Iowa as I deemed advisable and necessary to transport to this place for the use of this office. As soon as the plats, field-notes, records, and other papers connected with the surveys in Nebraska, on file in the office of the surveyor general at Leavenworth, Kansas, were separated from those of Kansas, and the necessary copies prepared, I brought them also to this place, and, when properly arranged, notice was given, as directed by you, that the surveyor general's office for the district of lowa and Nebraska was open and ready for business. All surveys in Nebraska contracted for by the surveyor general of Kansas and Nebraska have been completed in the field and office; and transcripts of the field-notes, plats, diagrams, and descriptive lists have been transmitted to the proper offices. The Indian troubles, which for a long time past have disturbed the peace of our frontier country, increased to such an extent at the opening of this season that it soon became evident that no surveys could safely be prosecuted in the field in this district without the protection of a military escort. I therefore, in June last, made formal application to General Augur, commanding this department, for such protection. This, I regret to say, he was unable to give me until about the first of August, and then only to the extent of forty men-sufficient, as was thought, for three surveying parties. I have contracted for the extension of the following standard lines, viz: the second guide meridian west, from the third standard parallel north to the fourth standard parallel north; the third, fourth, and fifth guide meridians west, from the second standard parallel north to the fourth standard parallel north; the second standard parallel north, through ranges twenty-five to forty, inclusive; third standard parallel north, through ranges seventeen to forty, inclusive; and the fourth standard parallel north, through ranges nine to forty, inclusive, all west of the sixth principal meridian. I have also under contract, and being subdivided, townships five and six of ranges twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen; townships five, six, seven, and eight of ranges seventeen and eighteen; township eight of range nineteen; and fractional townships eight, of ranges fifteen and sixteen, all west of the sixth principal meridian. Other deputy surveyors are ready to take the field if proper escorts can be obtained. These General Augur has kindly promised me at the earliest possible moment; but the lateness of the season, combined with the fact that the Indian attacks seem increasing in number and ferocity, forbid the hope that more than one other party can be maintained in the field at present. I am reconciled to this fact by the belief that a speedy adjustment and settlement of the Indian question seems probable. It is hoped that the Indian commission, now on the frontier and making the final effort for a peaceful solution, will succeed. If they fail, the military power of the nation will, doubtless, at once be evoked, the savage obstacles to American progress be thrust aside or destroyed, and civilization, having gathered momentum from the delay, will once more resume its peaceful march across the continent. In the further extension of the surveys, that of first importance is the estab lishment of the western boundary of this State, and so much of the southern as forms the northern boundary of Colorado. Settlements of considerable importance and thriving towns have sprung up with great rapidity along portions of this line, which is also near the line of the Union Pacific railroad. In many instances it is impossible, without this survey, to determine whether these towns are within the limits of the State of Nebraska or the Territory of Colorado; hence civil organizations, and the establishment of law and order, are delayed. The wonderfully rapid progress of the Union Pacific railroad, now stretching across the State from east to west, also demands increased and increasing energy in the extension of the public surveys along its line. The cabin of the pioneer farmer and the shop of the pioneer tradesman are already thickly scattered along its route, and the interests of the settlers, the railroad, and the country alike demand the speedy survey of the lands adjacent. The usual statements and estimates accompanying this report are as follows: A. Schedule showing the condition of the surveys under the appropriation for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1868. B.-Statement showing the salary and incidental expense account for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1868. C-Estimates of sums required for the extension of surveys in the State of Nebraska for fiscal year ending June 30, 1869. |