The areas of public lands surveyed during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1877, aggregate as follows:

The following table exhibits the progress of surveys and the disposal of public lands since 1866:

Public lands set aside for military reservations, town site and salmon fishery purposes during the year ending June 30, 1877.

IN MONTANA.

Missouri Valley.-By President's order of February 19, 1877, section 31, township 13 north, range 19 west, was reserved for military purposes. Tongue River.-By request of Secretary of War January 20, 1877, the Secretary of the Interior directed a temporary reservation of 20 miles square at the mouth of Tongue River. Survey is to be made by War Department, and President's order obtained.

IN NEBRASKA.

Camp Robinson.-President's order of November 14, 1876, reserved a tract of 4.679 acres on White River, at the mouth of Spring Creek, near Red Cloud agency.

Camp Sheridan.-Also, by order of November 14, 1876, a tract of 1,503 acres, near and a little north of Spotted Tail agency.

IN ARIZONA.

Camp Apache.-Formerly was within the White Mountain Indian reservation, but by the President's order of January 26, 1877, was restored to the public domain, and by order of February 1, 1877, was declared a military reservation. Area, 7,421.14 acres.

Camp Thomas.-President's order of May 18, 1877. Area about 10,487 acres. This reservation is partly within the limits of Camp Goodwin, which was reserved in 1867, and has not been restored to the public domain.

IN WYOMING.

Fort Fetterman.-President's order February 9, 1877, declared a new wood reservation, containing 2 square miles, south by east of Fort Fetterman and 35 miles from it by road.

Military reservations enlarged.

IN ARIZONA.

Camp Verde.-By President's order of August 17, 1876, Camp Verde reservation was enlarged so as to contain 9,293.79 acres, including that reserved March 30, 1870, but not including the post garden reservation of October 24, 1871, recommended by the War Department to be restored to the public domain.

IN UTAH.

Fort Cameron.-Was enlarged by President's order of April 13, 1877, so as to contain in all 15 square miles.

Military reservations reduced.

IN WYOMING.

Fort Laramie.-By act of Congress approved August 14, 1876 this reservation is reduced to its original limits of 54 square miles.

IN DAKOTA.

Fort Sully.-President's order of January 17, 1877, reduces it so as to leave out that portion west of the east bank of the Missouri River.

Fort Totten, within the Indian reservation for the Cut Head band of Yanktonais Sioux.-By direction of the Secretary of War this reservation was reduced, July 28, 1876, to the following limits: First, to include all the islands in Devil's Lake; second, the tract bounded on the east by the line dividing ranges 64 and 65 west, on the south by the Cheyenne River, on the west by the line dividing ranges 65 and 66 west, on the north by Devil's Lake.

IN FLORIDA.

Fort Brooke.-By President's order of January 22, 1877, the War Department resumed control over a portion of this formerly relinquished reservation, including the Government buildings, the spring, and right of way thereto.

IN COLORADO.

Town-site reservation.

Pagosa Hot Springs.-By President's order of May 22, 1877, one square mile, including the Pagosa Hot Springs, in Southwestern Colorado, was reserved as a prospective town site.

United States fishery reservation in California.

McCloud River.-This reserve, ordered by the President, December 9, 1875, upon survey is found to embrace the following legal subdivisions, viz: S. E. of N. E. and N. E. of S. E. of section 22; also the N. W. and N. W. 1 of S. W. 1 of section 23, township 34 north, range 4 1 west, Mount Diablo meridian.

SURVEY OF CHEROKEE LANDS IN NORTH CAROLINA.

By act of Congress approved June 23, 1874, there was appropriated $15,000 for the survey of the lands of the Eastern Cherokee band of Indians in North Carolina. Of this amount, $791.35 was paid to Francis A. Douy, special agent of the Department, who made a preliminary examination and report upon the claims of the said Indians to lands in North Carolina, in 1874.

In March, 1875, by direction of the honorable Secretary of the Interior, a contract was entered into with Maj. S. Temple, for the survey of the lands of said Indians as described in the award of the arbitrators in the case of "The Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians vs. William H. Thomas and others," &c., made in October, 1874, and confirmed by the United States circuit court in November following.

The amount of the appropriation paid to the special agent left $14,208.65, which has been paid to the surveyor for surveys of the Indian lands. In addition to this amount paid him for surveying, there has been paid to him $2,159.27, the same being a deficiency appropriation by act approved March 3, 1877.

The work of the survey has been done under instructions from this office and by direction of the honorable Secretary of the Interior, and has consisted in surveying and marking the outboundaries of what is known as the "Qualla boundary," which is a tract containing some fiftyone thousand acres, in Swayne and Jackson Counties. This tract has been marked off into townships, and within and near the Qualla boundary there have been surveyed and marked individual tracts or farms to the number of 481, including seventeen tracts inside the boundary, which are claimed and partly settled upon by white people claiming title under the State laws of North Carolina, although but one of these seventeen tracts was declared by the arbitrators in the award to be owned by white persons, within the general boundary claimed by and decreed to the Indians.

Finding these white settlers there, with title from the State, and finding the Indians also in possession of part of the disputed lands, the sur

veyors marked off their lands and left it to the Department to decide who are the lawful owners.

Mr. Temple has also surveyed and marked fifty-three individual tracts for Indians in the Chevah country, in Graham and Cherokee Counties. There still remain unsurveyed in the Chevah country, in Cherokee County a few individual tracts, mentioned in the award of the arbitrators; also forty three tracts taken for the Indians in satisfaction of certain judgments, as authorized by act of Congress approved August 14, 1876. For the survey of these lands an estimate of $4,000 was submitted to Congress, in February, 1877, by the Office of Indian Affairs, which estimate was reduced in the appropriation bill to $1,500, and was made payable out of the Indian trust fund. In consequence of the limited amount of the appropriation, no contract has been entered into for the completion of the survey of said lands.

SURVEY OF ALLEGANY INDIAN RESERVATION OF CATTARAUGUS COUNTY, NEW YORK.

The survey of the Allegany Indian reservation, owned and occupied by a portion of the Seneca Nation of Indians, and which is situated in the southwestern part of Cattaraugus County, in the State of New York, was completed on the 16th of January of the present year. The special commissioners authorized by act of Congress February 19, 1875, (Stat., vol. 18, p. 330,) have, in compliance with the requirements of law, made returns which, upon due examination, haye met with the approval of this office.

The duties of the commission, so far as the boundaries of the reservation are concerned, consisted in the restoration of the original boundaries, as established in the year 1798, by authority of the State of Massachusetts, which State at that date controlled the pre-emption rights of the lands in question. From the same source, the rights of Robert Morris were acquired, which, under the sanction of Congress, were by him conveyed to the Senecas in the year 1797.

The reservation is briefly described in the instrument by which these lands, with others, were conveyed, as "a piece or parcel of forty-two square miles at or near the Allegany River."

The location of this "piece or parcel" of land, as determined by the original survey made in the year 1798, placed the lands of the reservation in a position embracing the Allegany River, for a distance of nearly forty-one miles, approaching to and receding from the banks of the stream at distances varying from one-fourth of a mile to two miles.

In addition to its population of 900 Indians, the 800 tracts or subdivisions of the reservation, which have been surveyed under the direction of the special commission appointed under the act of 1875, are occupied by about 4,000 white inhabitants, who acquire their rights of occupancy by leases, which are in some cases authorized by the Seneca Nation, and in others based upon the individual authority of different members of the tribe.

Several large manufacturing establishments have been attracted to the locality by the water power in the vicinity of Salamanca, which is considered second to no other in Western New York.

At this point lumber machinery is in operation, having a capacity of 5,000,000 feet of sawed lumber per annum. This product, together with articles manufactured therefrom, and the chemical extracts from barks useful for tanning purposes, are shipped in large quantities to remote parts of the country.

The New York and Erie Railroad, following the valley of the Allegany, enters the reservation at the village of Vandalia, and traverses it for a distance of 11.66 miles. Upon this line are also the villages and stations of Carrollton and Great Valley. The eastern terminus of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad, and its point of connection with the Erie Railway, is at West Salamanca. Upon this line the village of Red House is situated. This road occupies the reservation for a distance of 12 miles, leaving it at a point 3 miles west of the last named village. The Rochester and State Line Railroad diverges from the New York and Erie at Salamanca and crosses the reservation boundary line in the distance of 14 miles from that point. The Bradford branch of the New York and Erie leaves its main line at the village of Carrollton, and passes over 23 miles of the Indian country.

The topographical map prepared by the special commission shows that this tract, which appears to have been chosen by the Indians with reference to its value as fishing and hunting grounds, is not well adapted to the purposes of agriculture, as much of the surface is subject to overflows, while other portions are broken, approaching to mountains in character, some of the higher lands reaching an altitude of 600 feet above the level of the river. The total area of land and water in the reservation has been found to be 30,166 acres.

Section 2 of the act authorizing the survey, (U. S. Stat., vol. 18, p. 330,) provides

That the President of the United States shall appoint three commissioners, whose duty it shall be, as soon as may be, to survey, locate, and establish proper boundaries and limits of the villages of Vandalia, Carrollton, Great Valley, Salamanca, West Salamanca, and Red House, within said Allegany reservation, including therein, as far as practicable, all lands now occupied by white settlers, and such other lands as in their opinion may be reasonably required for the purposes of such villages, and they shall cause a return of their doings in writing, together with maps of such surveys and locations duly certified by them, to be filed in the office of the county clerk of the county of Cattaraugus, in said State, there to be recorded and preserved. The boundaries of said villages so surveyed, located, and established shall be the limits of said villages for all the purposes of this act.

The law also requires

That it shall be the further duty of the said commissioners to cause all lands within such villages now leased, as herein before mentioned, to be surveyed and defined as near as may be, and to cause the same to be designated upon the maps of such villages herein before mentioned and provided for.

The act further provides in specific terms for the preservation of rights which have been acquired, from time to time, by both races now occupying the soil.

The members of the special commission, Messrs. Joseph Scattergood of Pennsylvania, John Manley of New York, and Henry Shanklin of Kansas, received notifications of their appointment by letters dated March 23, 1875, and, on their acceptance of the trust, proceeded to the discharge of their duties without unnecessary delay. Their letters asking fuller instructions than those embodied in the act of Congess, having been referred to the Office of Indian Affairs, the honorable Commissioner of that bureau construed the terms of the fifth section of the act as above quoted as requiring a survey of each lot of the reservation, where the same is separately occupied or separately leased. The honorable Commissioner further recommended that "all matters of detail be proper subjects for the exercise of discretion by the commission, who shall endeavor to execute the law according to their best judgment, and report their action as required by the Department."

There being no specific appropriation under the act creating the com