LETTER OF THE COMMISSIONER OF THE GENERAL LAND OFFICE TRANSMITTING ANNUAL REPORT FOR 1881. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, October 25, 1881. SIR: I have the honor to submit the following synopsis of the annual report of this office for the fiscal year ending with June 30, 1881, viz: Abstract of operations under the laws relating to the survey and disposal of public and Indian lands during the fiscal year ending with June 30, 1881. Cash sales: Private entries Public sales.... Timber and stone lands. Pre-emption entries Desert lands Mineral lands. Coal lands Excesses.. Abandoned military reservations Total Homestead entries.. Timber culture entries. Locations with military bounty land warrants issued under acts of 1847, 1850, 1852, and 1855.. Agricultural college scrip locations Supreme court scrip locations Valentine scrip locations Sioux half-breed scrip locations. Chippewa half-breed scrip locations. Locations with Porterfield scrip... Lands certified or patented for railroad purposes to States: Alabama.... Iowa Minnesota Kansas To corporations: Acres. 666, 229. 11 2,279.40 42, 987.92 721, 146, 26 108, 560. 02 27, 189.68 4,975.58 12, 339. 06 1,910. 21 1,587, 617. 24 5,028,100.69 1,763, 799.35 55, 662.36 360.00 28, 253.74 392.15 2, 519. 27 800.00 16.86 383.23 73, 321.58 4F3, 466.63 281, 277.28 211, 992. 04 15, 880.00 1,760.00 1,370.45 3,964. 14 18,237.06 569, 001. 18 10, 128, 175. 25 1 Which added to the sales of public lands makes a grand total of..... Cash receipts: From sales of public lands *From sales of Indian lands. Homestead fees and commissions.. Timber culture fees and commissions.. Fees on military bounty land warrant locations Fees on locations with different classes of scrip. Fees in pre-emption and other filings... Fees in mining applications and protests.... Fees on timber land entries..... Fees for reducing testimony to writing, by local officers Fees on state selections.. Fees on donation claims Fees for transcripts, furnished by the General Land Office, during the fiscal year of 1881 Total 10, 893, 397. 05 $3,534, 550 98 1,006, 691 63 556,766 16 154,739 35 1,484 00 17.00 59,366 00 28,310 00 3,330 00 47,625 24 3,581 27 4, 199 63 1,415 00 6,727 90 5,408, 804. 16 Surveyed but not heretofore reported 10,561, 775 Surveyed during the fiscal year ending with the 30th of Leaving acres of public and Indian lands yet to be surveyed, inclusive of private land claims surveyed at the close of the fiscal year ending with the 30th of June, 1881. The surveys during the past fiscal year show an increase of 6,058,759 acres over those executed during previous year. This extraordinary showing is mainly attributable to the great demand for surveys under the deposit system, and to which reference is hereinafter made. The sales of public lands as compared with those of the previous fiscal year, show a decrease of 3,898,974.60 acres, while the aggregate of cashi receipts, under various heads, is greater by $2,508,642.56. During the year there were received 83,864 letters, and 68,427 were written and recorded, covering 60,325 pages of record books, and during the same period there were issued and transmitted 56,979 patents. This amount embraces patents for private land claims, mining claims, lands granted for railroad purposes, swamp lands, Indian lands, and for lands sold under the pre-emption and homestead laws. There were also audited, adjusted, and reported to the First Comptroller of the Treasury 2,800 accounts, embracing accounts of surveyors This money is deposited by the receivers of public moueys in the United States Treasury, to the credit of the Indian funds, for the benefit of the Indians, under treaty stipulations. general, deputy surveyors, registers and receivers, special agents, &c., covering 13,350 pages of record. In addition to the clerical work performed in the several divisions of the office, the following is a list of papers accompanying the annual report. 1. Statement showing the number of acres called for by military bounty land warrants located in the several land States and Territories. 2. Decision rendered by the Secretary of the Interior in regard to the question of jurisdiction over the assignments of warrants after their issue and delivery by the Commissioner of Pensions. 3. Condition of business relating to revolutionary bounty land scripVirginia military district in Ohio-warrants under act of July 27, 1842, and Porterfield warrants. 4. Tabular statement showing condition of bounty land business since the commencement of operations to the close of the fiscal year last past. 5. Decisions and rulings relating to desert lands. 6. Decisions and rulings under the timber culture acts. 7. Decisions and rulings under the homestead laws. 8. Withdrawal of lands in the States of Wisconsin and Minnesota for reservoir purposes. 9. Condition of military reservations-Fort Ripley, Dalles, Fort Kearney, and Fort Harker. 10. Indian lands; Osage trust and diminished reserve lands; absentee Shawnee lands. 11. Statement showing disposal of Indian lands in Kansas. 12. Indian reservations: Pawnee, in Nebraska; Sac and Fox and Otoe and Missouria Reservations. 13. Decisions relating to private land claims in California, New Mexico, and Missouri. 14. Construction of act of June 15, 1880, affecting heirs or legal representatives of Israel Dodge, deceased. 15. Table showing the apportionment to the several surveying districts of the sum of $300,000, appropriated for the survey of public lands by act of Congress approved June 16, 1880. 16. Abstract of surveying operations in the sixteen surveying districts under the supervision of the respective surveyors general. 17. Table exhibiting the comparative progress of surveys, number of surveying districts, land districts, cost of surveys, number of acres surveyed, and number of acres disposed of during the five years ending with June 30, 1881. 18. Surveys under the deposit system, authorized by sections 2401, area remaining unsurveyed in each of the land States and Territories at the close of the fiscal year. 24. Estimates of appropriations required for surveying the public meral, deputy surveyors, registers and receivers, special agents, &c., vering 13,350 pages of record. In addition to the clerical work performed in the several divisions of he office, the following is a list of papers accompanying the annual eport. 1. Statement showing the number of acres called for by military bounty land warrants located in the several land States and Territories. 2. Decision rendered by the Secretary of the Interior in regard to the question of jurisdiction over the assignments of warrants after their issue and delivery by the Commissioner of Pensions. 3. Condition of business relating to revolutionary bounty land scripVirginia military district in Ohio-warrants under act of July 27, 1842, and Porterfield warrants. 4. Tabular statement showing condition of bounty land business since the commencement of operations to the close of the fiscal year last past. 5. Decisions and rulings relating to desert lands. 6. Decisions and rulings under the timber culture acts. 7. Decisions and rulings under the homestead laws. 8. Withdrawal of lands in the States of Wisconsin and Minnesota for reservoir purposes. 9. Condition of military reservations-Fort Ripley, Dalles, Fort Kearney, and Fort Harker. 10. Indian lands; Osage trust and diminished reserve lands; absentee Shawnee lands. 11. Statement showing disposal of Indian lands in Kansas. 12. Indian reservations: Pawnee, in Nebraska; Sac and Fox and Otoe and Missouria Reservations. 13. Decisions relating to private land claims in California, New Mexico, and Missouri. 14. Construction of act of June 15, 1880, affecting heirs or legal representatives of Israel Dodge, deceased. 15. Table showing the apportionment to the several surveying districts of the sum of $300,000, appropriated for the survey of public lands by act of Congress approved June 16, 1880. 16. Abstract of surveying operations in the sixteen surveying districts under the supervision of the respective surveyors general. 17. Table exhibiting the comparative progress of surveys, number of surveying districts, land districts, cost of surveys, number of acres surveyed, and number of acres disposed of during the five years ending with June 30, 1881. 18. Surveys under the deposit system, authorized by sections 2401, 2402, and 2403, United States Revised Statutes. 19. Survey and subdivision of Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Indian Reservations in Dakota. 20. Military reservations declared reduced or enlarged during the fiscal year. 21. Lists of surveyors general and their residences. 22. Principal meridians and bases. 23. Tabular statement showing the areas of the land States and Territories; the extent of surveys of public and Indian lands; total area of land surveyed from the beginning of the surveying system, and the area remaining unsurveyed in each of the land States and Territories at the close of the fiscal year. 24. Estimates of appropriations required for surveying the public |