Undoubtedly the work of the division will be largely increased, not only by reason of calls made upon this office for papers and information relating to claims already asserted, but by the provisions of sections 16, 17, and 18 of the said act establishing the court of private land claims, recognition is given to a class of small holdings, not to exceed 160 acres in each case, by persons who, or whose "ancestors, grantors, or their lawful successors in title or possession," became citizens of the United States by reason of the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, etc. It is estimated that there are from fifteen to twenty thousand claims of this character; and it will devolve upon this division to adjudicate all such claims which are presented and perfected within the time fixed by the statute, and to carry them into patent. I quote from the surveyor-general's last annual report as follows: In regard to private land claims, besides making a resurvey of the Las Trampas grant, reported No. 27, which has reduced the area of that confirmed claim from 46,461 to 28,131.66 acres, this office has been very busy in putting the Spanish documents in the archives in such shape that they will be available for the information of the land court and in comparing and correcting the records of Spanish documents that had been made under previous administrations. Four hundred and fifty folio pages of such records have been examined and compared, of which 350 pages have been fully corrected. Seventy-five additional pages of Spanish have been recorded. The act of Congress approved March 3, 1891, entitled "An act to establish a court of private land claims and to provide for the settlement of the private land claims in certain States and Territories," will donbtless result in good benefit to this Territory. Sections 16, 17, and 1 of this act provide for the securing of titles to stall holdings of land through the agency of the land officers of the government. This class of cases is many times more numerous than are those that will come before the land court. As less than 20 months remain of the time within which claims of this class must be filed, it is important that the department, as soon as possible, pass upon the meaning of the law and explain its provisions to the people. It is evidently the intention of the law to enable the people to get title to the little irregularly shaped pieces of land which they have occupied and cultivated from time immemorial. This is accomplished by sections 16 where the land is unsurveyed, but the greater part of the settled portions of the Territory are surveyed land. How can a landholder on surveyed land comply with the law? As a sample of the manner in which land has become divided up during generations and is now held in the Spanish settlements throughout this Territory, I have prepared the following diagram of a portion of the township lying immediately west of the city of Santa Fé. The section and quarter-section lines are indicated by dotted lines and the boundaries of the different owners by full lines. These little strips of land, the smallest of which is but 20 varas or 55 feet wide, aro held only by the title of uninterrupted or peaceable possession, reaching back 60 years or more. These lands were segregated from the Mexican domain and are held by the right of prescription under the “* laws, usages, and customs of Spain and Mexico." The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo covers such cases and obliges the United States to respect them. To disregard them now would be to confiscate their homes and commit a wanton injustice. How can Cosme Carillo, for instance, who owns a strip of 50 varas or 4 rods wide, amounting to 40 acres, on which are his house and his little cultivation near the river and running back across three sections over the hills where he gets his firewood-how can this landholder have a survey of his strip made, connecting his lines with the corners of the public survey, and by tiling such survey and making proof of the facts enter this strip at the local land office! If he can do so full instructions should be issued to the register how to proceed in such cases. If he can not under the law enter his land, it is earnestly requested that the department ask for such an amendment of the law as will enable him to do so. It is unworthy of the government to tender to this people justice and free titles to their lands and then couple with this liberal offer conditions that they can not com ply with, and further enact that their homes shall be confiscated at the end of two years if these impossible conditions are not complied with. Justice requires that this law be amended as soon as possible, so as to allow the entry of lands in p shapes in which they are actually held. The appropriation asked for preserving the Spanish archives in this office is needed now even more than it was when my last estimate was made. The act of March 3, 1891, to establish a court of private land claims, renders a more perfect system of indexing, as well as more extensive recording, than has hitherto been possible under the inadequate appropriations, an imperative necessity. There will probably be great activity in the way of taking steps to perfect title to Spanish and Mexican grants from now on, and this office, unless its effectiveness is to be destroyed to a great extent, must have an appropriation large enough to insure prompt attention to the demands of the court of private land claims and to the inquiries of claimants and other interested parties. With my present clerical force it is with the greatest difficulty that I have been able to keep pace with the current work of the office, and to bring up to date the work that has been left undone in the past under the present conditions is impossible. Notwithstanding the progress that has been made during year just past in comparing, correcting, and recording Spanish archives, there is a vast amount of this class of work still undone. The appropriation for clerk hire should not be less than the sum estimated. It must be remembered that the work which must be done in this office to carry out the provisions of section 10 of the act of March 3, 1891, will necessitate a large increase in the clerical force of the office. Section 16 of the same act, providing for the survey of holdings of 20 years' duration as separate legal subdivisions in township surveys hereafter to be made, will also multiply the work to be done by my clerks. The situation of this office because of the insufficient appropriations for clerk hire has been recognized by the General Land Office, and it will be plain to you that an office which has been obliged to work an hour extra each day for several years that the current work may be dispatched, must be furnished with more clerks as the duties of the surveyor-general are increased. It is hard to estimate the cost of surveying private land claims confirmed by the court, as that will depend on the number of cases brought before it and the length of time required for consideration of the cases which will be pending. In view of the great volume of business that is awaiting the organization of the court, I am of the opinion that a smaller estimate of the cost of surveying confirmed claims can not safely be made. Because of the great uncertainty which will be found to exist as to the location of the boundaries of many of these claims, it is more than likely that preliminary surveys will have to be made that the court may arrive at an intelligent conclusion respecting the exact location and boundaries of claims under consideration. It is therefore my opinion that such an emergency should be provided for. For the good of the surveying service in New Mexico, it is to be hoped that Congress may appreciate the exigency of the case, and that the appropriations made may be commensurate with the demands of public business. Referring to the statement by the surveyor-general for New Mexico of the difficulties to be met, and which appear to be insurmountable as the law now stands, in adjusting that class of small holdings intended to be provided for by sections 16, 17, and 18 of the aforesaid act of March 3, 1891, and especially those claims over which the public surveys have been extended, it being impossible to describe but a few, if any, of them by legal subdivisions, it is therefore respectfully recommended that Congress be asked at it its next session to enact such further legisla tion as will suffice to carry out more fully the evident intention of the said act in that regard. Proper provision should be made for surveying such irregularly shaped claims, not exceeding 160 acres, as embrace lands already surveyed by the United States under the rectangular system and for the closing of the lines of the public surveys upon such claims. Undoubtedly the time within which these original Mexican settlers or their legal successors in interest may file their claims under existing law should be extended. Provision ought also to be made for the publication by the land department, in Spanish and English, of such portions of the law as affect this large number of small farmers who have prescriptive rights only in the lands they occupy and cultivate in the States and Territories enumerated in the sixteenth section of the act. CALIFORNIA SPANISH ARCHIVE DEPARTMENT. I quote the following from the surveyor-general's annual report: In the archive department the work of compilation, reported in my last annual report, is still being carred on, and if no interruption takes place will be completed in about 2 years. As the government has expended about $20,000 already in bringing the work to its present stage, it would be a matter of much regret should it become necessary to suspend the work for lack of sufficient appropriation, the necessity for which should not arise. The importance of this department, as shown by the many applications for examination and copies of its valuable contents, becomes more apparent daily, and I very much desire the completion of the work now in progress, in order that the copies being made may be recorded, and thus take the place of the originals, which from constant handling are fast becoming more and more dilapidated. It has been reported to me that there are many of the ancient Spanish and Mexican archives existing in the southern part of this State which have never been placed in this office, as required by law. Should this prove to be the case I shall take steps to have them brought within the custody of this office. LOUISIANA. From the surveyor-general's annual report I make the following extract: Last year I called attention to the fact that citizens were unable to obtain patents on at least 5,900 private claims, solely because this office did not possess a sufficient number of clerks to prepare plats of survey and at the same time meet the many other requirements of the office. SATISFACTION of confirmed CLAIMS UNDER SECTION 3 OF THE ACT OF JUNE 2, 1858. During the year just closed this office has adjusted sixteen of these claims, and I again call your attention to the reference made in my last report to the remarks of my predecessor, found on page 448 of the bureau report of 1888. Pages of field-notes copied for official and individual use............... Surveying returns: Plats and corresponding transcripts of field-notes of surveys of public lands E.-SURVEYING DIVISION. The work performed in this division during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891, was as follows: Letters disposed of during the year. Letters remaining on hand July 1, 1891 115 4,726 4,217 4,695 146 6,599 1,286 1,965 223 446 665 Remaining on hand July 1, 1891. Reports of examinations of surveys: Special agents' reports on field work of surveys pending July 1, 1890.. Special instructions (in lieu of contracts) received during the year.. 32 167 Special instructions acted upon during the year.... 32 Public lands surveyed in the following land States and Territories up to June 30, 1890, during the past fiscal year, and the total of the public lands surveyed up to June 30, 1891; also the total area of the public domain remaining unsurveyed within the same. a The figures given for Indian Territory include the area of the Cherokee Outlet, which is 9,790 square miles, or 6.265.6.0 acres. b The figures given for Oklahoma Territory include the area of the former Public Land Strip, 5,738 square miles, or 3,672,320 acres. e Counted in former reports and hence not added in this column. d This est.mate is of a very general nature and affords no index to the disposable volume of land remaining or the amount available for agricultural purposes. It includes Indian and other public reservations, unsurveyed private land claims, as well as surveyed private lind claims, in the district of Arizona California, Colorado, and New Mexico; the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections reserved for common schools, unsurveyed lands embraced in railroad, swamp land, and other grants; the great mount on areas; the are is of unsurveyed rivers and lakes; and large areas wholly unproductive and nu available for ordinary purposes. The area of land in the unsurveyed portion of the public domain suitable for homes and subject to settlement under the laws of the United States is of comparatively small proportions. |