Wyoming Territory.-The surveys made during the year ending June 30, 1878, are reported by the surveyor general as follows: One hundred and eighty-two miles of standard and meridian lines; exterior lines of 52 townships, in length 451 miles; also 1,050 miles in subdivding 19 townships, four of which are within the Union Pacific Railroad grant.

The number of acres surveyed is 392,717, which, added to the area previously surveyed, makes 7,926,173 acres, in 381 townships.

Two contracts for surveys under appropriation of March 3, 1877, are not yet completed.

The area of coal lands surveved in 1877 is reported as 27,454 acres, which, added to previously surveyed coal lands in the Territory, makes 262,824 acres.

Twenty-six descriptions of desert-land claims were received from the Cheyenne office, and one claim from the Evanston office, with an aggregate area of 9,286.25 acres.

Many new settlements of stock raisers and farmers are reported in the valley of the North Platte, on Bear River, Medicine Bow, and Laramie Rivers.

Besides miscellaneous work, there were prepared in the office 19 original township plats and the same number of duplicates and triplicates for the General Land Office and local land offices respectively, and for the latter there were also prepared 38 lists descriptive of corners, quality of soil, &c., in the 19 townships. Diagrams of the surveys of standard and exterior lines and transcripts of all the field notes of surveys were prepared and sent to the General Land Office.

The amount paid for salaries during the year was $6,487.98, of which all but $238.46 was paid out of the regular appropriation, the latter sum having been paid out of special deposits for office work.

The sum of $1,500 was appropriated for rent and other incidental expenses of the office. Of this amount $945.45 were expended, the remainder, $554.55, reverting to the United States Treasury.

The estimates submitted for the year ending June 30, 1880, amount to $58,900, of which $46,400 is for surveys, $10,500 for salaries, and $2,000 for contingent expenses.

The surveyor general remarks that he has discontinued the services of his principal and assistant draughtsman and transcribing clerk on account of a deficiency in the appropriation for this year.

I add a statement of the areas surveyed in the States and Territories, severally considered, both of public lands and private claims, during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1878:

Survey of Dakota and Wyoming boundary.

By act of March 3, 1877, in addition to the appropriation for general surveys before stated, the sum of $7,000 was appropriated for the survey of that part of the eastern boundary of Wyoming which is common to Dakota, and is that part of the twenty-seventh meridian of longitude west of Washington Observatory, lying between the forty-third and fortyfifth degrees of north latitude. By direction of the department, a contract for the work was made by this office on April 6, 1877, with the designated astronomer and surveyor, Rollin J. Reeves. The survey was begun on June 6, 1877, and was finished August 1, 1877. It was found satisfactory and was approved December 10, 1877. This boundary was fixed by act of Congress approved July 25, 1868 (15 Stat., p. 178), and extends through the Black Hills and through that part of the lands recently ceded to the United States by the Sioux Indians and lying between the forty-third and torty-fifth parallels north latitude. The initial point of the survey was the monument on the east boundary of Wyoming, and common to and marking the northwest corner of Nebraska and the southwest corner of Dakota. The beginning corner stands on a nearly level open prairie, covered with bunch grass, on an elevation of 3,886 feet above the sea level. From this point the astronomer proceeded due north to the intersection of the forty-fifth parallel of north latitude, which he established by astronomical observations, and reached at a distance of 138 miles and 32 chains from the starting point.

Up to the thirtieth mile of the boundary the country is mostly open prairie and grazing land. At 30 miles and 71 chains the South Fork of the Cheyenne is intersected, and after crossing this stream the soil is poorer. From the forty-second mile, where the Black Hills were reached, the line runs over a rough and mountainous country as far as the one hundred and seventh mile. From there to the end of the line the country is open broken prairie. Between the fifty-second and seventieth miles the line crosses many deep, rocky cañons.

The two highest points on the line are at distances of 78 miles and 923 miles, respectively, from the initial point; the elevation at the former being 6,526 feet and at the latter 6,436 feet; the general elevation of the Black Hills being about 6,000 feet above sea level.

The Wyoming-Dakota boundary is marked chiefly by mile posts of cottonwood, pine, or cedar, and with pits and witness trees, when such trees were near enough to note their distance and bearing. The posts are marked on the north face "1877," on the east "Dakota," on the west "Wyoming," and on the south the number of miles the post stands north of the initial point.

At the approximate terminal point of the intersection of the twentyseventh meridian west longitude with the forty-fifth parallel north latitude, a temporary post of cottonwood was planted and three pits were dug. The post was marked on the east "Dakota," on the northwest "Montana," on the southwest "Wyoming," and on the southeast “45 north latitude."

By order of the Secretary of War, an escort was directed to be furnished to accompany the surveyor, and some twenty soldiers and an officer were detailed for that purpose. When the party had gone through the Black Hills, and were nearly through the survey, on July 21 the Indians attacked them, and the escort not being sufficient to repulse the attack, the surveyor reports that he lost all his provisions, wearing apparel, and carefully-written notes of the survey, with maps, thus compelling him to rewrite his notes from the memoranda of the chainmen.

After several days' delay and receiving a re-enforcement of soldiers, the survey was completed.

The cost of the survey was $7,000, the sum appropriated by Congress for the purpose.

Resurvey of the boundary between the State of Arkansas and the Indian Territory.

The act of Congress of March 3, 1875 (18 Stat., p. 476), provided for the resurvey of the boundary line between the State of Arkansas and the Indian Territory, and this work was concluded during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1878, having been commenced and to a great extent prosecuted during the previous fiscal year.

The eastern boundary of that portion of Indian Territory which divides the lands of the Choctaw Nation from the State of Arkansas is 120 miles 62 of a chain in length. Its position is defined by the first article of the treaty between the United States and the chiefs and headmen of the Choctaw Nation which was concluded at the city of Washington January 20, 1825, and which reads as follows:

The Choctaw Nation do hereby cede to the United States all that portion of the land ceded to them by the second article of the treaty of Doak Stand, as aforesaid, lying east of a line beginning on the Arkansas one hundred paces east of Fort Smith, and running thence due south to Red river; it being understood that this line shall constitute and remain the permanent boundary between the United States and the Choctaws; and the United States agreeing to remove such citizens as may be settled on the west side to the east side of said line and prevent future settlements from being made on the west thereof.

In accordance with the foregoing, the boundary was originally surveyed in the year 1825, and the lines of the public land surveys of the State of Arkansas were closed thereon in 1827. As the land-marks were growing dim from age, the boundary was retraced, by order of the gov ernment, in the year 1858. This work was accomplished by Deputy Surveyors A. H. Jones and H. M. C. Brown, acting under instructions from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. By this retracement it was discovered that the line as originally established was not meridional, as intended and required by the treaty, and that its divergence to the west, as the line proceeded southward from the Arkansas, had led to a serious encroachment upon the Indian lands.

By the act of Congress of March 3, 1875, before mentioned, the line as originally surveyed and marked was declared to be the permanent boundary, and the honorable Secretary of the Interior was authorized to provide for a second retracement of the line, to be marked in a distinct, and permanent manner. For this work and the retracement of the Eastern Cherokee boundary line the act of appropriation of March 3, 1877, provided the sum of $11,880, a portion of which was intended to cover the cost of planting suitable iron posts at the end of each mile of either boundary.

The honorable Secretary of the Interior having designated Henry E. McKee as a suitable person to retrace the boundary lines, a contract, accompanied with full instructions, was entered into under date March 12, 1877, and the work of retracement of the Choctaw boundary was commenced by him on April 16, 1877, and completed on the 24th of May following. The contract and instructions requiring that the true treaty line should be run and temporarily marked for purposes of computation, that work was executed in parts of June and July of the same year.

The northern extremity of the Choctaw boundary originally rested upon the south bank of the Arkansas River, but in consequence of

changes produced by the currents, that point is now situated upon a sand bar in the stream, and is at times inaccessible. Foreseeing the loss of so important a monument, the Army officers at that time stationed at Fort Smith took pains to preserve full evidence of its location by planting a large post at a safe distance from the bank of the river. This means of reference was made use of by Deputies Brown and Jones, in 1858, and, as they certify, the point so designated was found to agree with other landmarks of the original survey. In order to perpetuate the line as thus preserved, the last aforementioned deputies, in accordance with their instructions, erected a permanent stone monument at a point 26.15 chains south of the corner common to the Choctaw and Cherokee lands, which monument is known and referred to as "initial point."

This initial monument was the starting point of the retracement of the Choctaw boundary by Deputy McKee, upon the completion of which a meridional or true treaty line, commencing at the same initial point, was extended thence to the north bank of Red River. This latter line was run but not permanently marked, its sole object being to determine the quantity of land embraced between it and the established boundary, in order that the Indians might be properly compensated for the area of land unintentionally added to the State of Arkansas by the original survey of 1825. This line was connected, as the instructions required, at frequent intervals by lines running west to the permanent boundary. In the retracement of 1858 a meridian was projected astronomically to a point six miles south of the initial monument and a measurement made thence west to the boundary. A similar measurement between corresponding points of the retracement of 1877 shows practical coincidence with that recorded in the retracement notes of 1858. The area embraced between the treaty line and the actual boundary was found to be 137,500.12 acres.

Numerous landmarks of the retracement of 1858, consisting principally of witness trees and the remains of mounds marking the mile points, were found by Deputy McKee, and at intervals tree marks of the original survey were discovered.

The boundary line is now marked at each mile by an iron post octagonal in form, 5 feet long and 4 inches in diameter, cast hollow, with a shell of half an inch, appropriately marked on four sides by raised letters and figures cast thereon. The posts are set at the depth of 22 feet below the natural surface of the ground. A conical mound 14 feet high and sloping to a base of 5 feet diameter is raised about the post. Adjacent to the post pits are dug in line and on either side, and wherever practicable, the post is witnessed by bearing trees suitably blazed and inscribed.

The deputy engaged in the last retracement reports no important encroachment upon the Choctaw lands by individuals other than cases of the extension of cultivated fields of Arkansas across the boundary line by common consent of parties united in interest by intermarriage of whites and Indians.

The lands along this boundary, excepting those in the valleys of the principal streams, are described as being rocky, rough, and in some cases mountainous. Many tracts noted in the retracement of 1858 as cultivated fields have since been abandoned. The country is well supplied with pure water, and is regarded healthy. The mountain regions abound in pine timber, which is, however, too remote from market to be of present value. No deposits of valuable minerals were noticed during the progress of the surveys.

Upon the completion of the Choctaw boundary, the deputy surveyor proceeded, in accordance with law and instructions, to restore that portion of the eastern Cherokee boundary which lies between the northwest corner of the State of Arkansas and the northeast corner of the Choctaw lands.

This boundary was defined by a convention concluded at the city of Washington May 6, 1828, which required its establishment upon a direct line extending between the above-mentioned points. By direction of the Office of Indian Affairs this line was originally run in 1831, and it became the legalized boundary, though subsequent observations have revealed the fact that the line curves slightly to the westward, encroaching to that extent upon the Indian lands.

Subsequent also to the original survey of this boundary the line between the States of Missouri and Arkansas was resurveyed, and the monument which marks the northwest corner of the State of Arkansas was moved 4 chains 83 links to the southward from its original position. In accordance with the provisions of a second treaty, concluded July 19, 1866, the boundary was resurveyed under direction of the Office of Indian Affairs. This work was accomplished under the supervision of two commissioners, one of whom was chosen by the United States and the other by the Cherokee Nation. This line, run in the year 1871, proved to be erroneous, from the fact that the initial monument of the Choctaw boundary heretofore described, which was placed at a safe distance south of the Arkansas River, was taken as the southern terminal point of the Cherokee boundary. This error carried the line of 1871, at its point of greatest departure, about 10 chains west of the legally established boundary.

The resurvey of 1877 had, then, a threefold object: First, the re-establishment and permanent marking of the original line; second, the determination of the quantity of land embraced between the established boundary and a true treaty or direct line; third, the obliteration of all evidences of the survey of 1871.

The resurvey of the boundary proper was commenced at the re-established monument at the northwest corner of the State of Arkansas, July 12, 1877, and the field work, including the obliteration of the landmarks of the line of 1871, terminated on the 25th of August following. The distance from the northwest corner of Arkansas to the post on a sand bar in the Arkansas River which marks the corners of the Choctaw and Cherokee lands was found to be 76 miles 72.14 chains. The bearings of sections of line between the different mile posts were found to vary from south 6° 57' east to south 10° 11′ east; whereas the true bearing of a direct line extending between the points named proved to be south 7° 45′ east. The area of Indian land thus improperly transferred by the original survey to the public lands lying in the State of Arkansas amounts to 2,539.54 acres.

The original line was identified at many points, usually from one to three miles apart, by reference to original witness trees, all other evidences of that survey having disappeared. This boundary line is marked in the same permanent manner as the Choctaw line, already described.

The face of the country along the eastern Cherokee boundary is generally broken, possessing an abundant supply of timber of inferior quality for mechanical purposes. The principal body of prairie land lies in the vicinity of Maysville, a village of about 500 inhabitants, situated some six miles south of the Missouri and Arkansas State line. The western limits of the town are identical with the established boundary. The most productive lands lie in the narrow valleys of the principal streams