same, in quantity not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres, at the price of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, within two years from the passage of this act, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior: Provided, however, That both the odd and even numbered sections of said lands shall be subject to settlement and sale as above provided: And provided further, That the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections in each township of said lands shall be reserved for State-school purposes, in accordance with the provisions of the act of admission of the State of Kansas: Provided, however, That nothing in this act shall be construed as in any manner affecting any legal rights heretofore vested in any other party or parties." The full effect of this resolution became the subject of controversy, it being held on the one side that all the lands ceded by the treaty were opened to settlement, while on the other it was contended that the railroad rights were protected by the last proviso. The terms of the resolution are express as to the rights of actual settlers, while these terms were held as recognizing the rights also of the railroad companies as affirmed by the decision, dated November 8, 1867, of the late Secretary. In this view, instructions were prepared for the district land offices to the following effect: That the said resolution is designed to protect and secure the rights of bona fide settlers of the class contemplated by the resolu tion, who may prove up and pay for their claims prior to 10th April, 1871, except where a valid adverse right exists; that it further recog nizes the grant to the State, for school purposes, of the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections, and were designed to protect the sights of the railroad companies under the provisions of the treaty as interpreted by Secretary Browning. The officers have accordingly been directed to regard as set apart for the railroad companies the lands which had been previously withdrawn, and to allow no pre-emption filings thereon; but where settlers could show bona fide settlements prior to the withdrawal, such prior settlements were protected by the act of March 27, 1854, "for the relief of settlers on lands reserved for railroad purposes;" to reserve the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections for school purposes, having due regard, however, for the rights of settlers coming within the terms of the resolution of March 3, 1857, (Stat., vol. 11, p. 254,) wherein it is provided that where settlements are made upon such sections prior to survey the settlers shall have the right to purchase as if such tracts had not been previously reserved for school purposes.

The district officers were ordered to give public notice of thirty days that, upon a fixed day, they would be prepared to receive declarations of settlement, and where parties desired proof of settlement, with payment for their claims.

These instructions received the approval of the honorable Secretary, and have been transmitted to the officers at Humboldt, Kansas.

DUTY OF THE GENERAL LAND OFFICE IN REGARD TO INDIVIDUAL INDIAN RESERVATIONS.

In the earliest period of our history the principle was adopted, in dealing with Indian tribes, of interdicting cessions by them to individuals, and of requiring that the transfer of the usufructuary claim should be made to the United States. This rule is coincident with the policy which had been observed in the English colonies, and with the procla mation, in the year 1763, of the King of Great Britain. Our relations in this respect are forcibly presented in the able and elaborate opinion of

the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Johnson vs. McIntosh, (8 Wheaton, Supreme Court Reports.)

In numerous Indian treaties, however, the United States have agreed to grant multitudes of individual reservations, with stipulations, in some, that the title shall be a fee simple to the reservee; in others, that the fee shall pass, yet with the condition that a sale by the patentee shall not become effective except upon the approval of the executive. Pursuant to such stipulations, it is the duty of the General Land Office to issue the patents; such issues, however, being purely a mechanical act based upon verified returns from the Office of Indian Affairs.

Patents in the aggregate have been issued by this office to such individual reservees for nearly three millions of acres, under treaties with the Shawnees, Kickapoos, Ottawas, Senecas, Kaskaskias, Peorias, Piankeshaws, Weas, Yanktons, Wyandots, Sacs and Foxes, Chippewas, Stockbridges, Winnebagoes, Delawares, Omahas, Iowas, Kansas, Poncas, Pawnees, Pottawatomies, New York Indians, Miamis, Choctaws, Creeks, Osages, Otoes, Cherokees, Quapaws, and mixed bloods.

FOREIGN TITLES-FRENCH, SPANISH, BRITISH, AND MEXICAN.

The policy of the United States, in the adjustment of such titles, has been one of unexampled liberality, securing to parties the lands to which they claimed titles from the lawful authorities of government which once held sovereignty over territory now within the limits of the republic.

The practice of the government has been to extend confirmation to all claims founded on titles in form, orders of survey, and even to premises to which no written title is recorded, where the claimants had actual settlements before change of sovereignty.

The liberality of our government is shown in the acts of congressional confirmation, and in the decisions of the United States judicial tribunals. Thus, for example, in the case of Soulard et al. vs. The United States (4 Peters, page 511) the Supreme Court held, that even if there had been no stipulation in the treaty by which Louisiana was acquired protecting the inhabitants of the ceded territory in the free enjoyment of their property, "the United States, as a just nation, regard this stipulation as the avowal of a principle which would have been held equally sacred, although it had not been inserted in the treaty;" and in the same case the principle is enunciated that "the term property, as applied to lands, comprehends every species of title, inchoate or complete. It is supposed to embrace those rights which lie in contractthose rights which are executory as well as those which are executed. In this respect the relations of the inhabitants of Louisiana to their government is not changed. The new government takes the place of that which has passed away."

In the case, also, of Delassus vs. The United States (9 Peters, page 117) it is asserted that, although the right of property, whether inchoate or by complete title, had not been protected and secured by treaty, yet "this right would have been secured independent of the treaty. The sovereign who acquires an inhabited country acquires full dominion over it; but this dominion is never supposed to divest the vested rights of individuals to property." And in the case of The United States vs. Percheman (7 Peters, page 51) it is held that, "even in cases of conquest, it is very unusual for the conqueror to do more than to displace the sovereign and assume dominion over the country. The modern usage of nations, which has become law, would

be violated; that sense of justice and of right which is acknowledged and felt by the whole civilized world would be outraged if private property should be generally confiscated and private rights annulled, on a change in the sovereignty of the country. By the Florida treaty, the people change their allegiance-their relation to their ancient sovereign is dissolved-but their relations to each other and their rights of property remain undisturbed. Had Florida changed its sovereign by an act containing no stipulation respecting the property of individuals, the right of property in all those who became subjects or citizens of the new government would have been unaffected by the change. It would have remained the same as under the ancient sovereign."

References to the same import might be multiplied, but the immense number of claims, under nearly every phase of title, which have been confirmed by our government from an early period of its existence, shows, in practice, its scrupulous observance in this respect of the pub lic law and treaty stipulations.

The claims of this kind in Louisiana, Florida, Missouri, Arkansas, Alabama, and Mississippi, presented to boards of commissioners, are numbered by thousands, covering many millions of acres; and in Cali fornia alone, acquired by the treaty of 1848 at Guadalupe Hidalgo, Spanish and Mexican claims, to the number of eight hundred and thir teen, were presented, covering immense areas of the valuable agricul tural lands in that State; and although only about half the claims acted upon by the board of land commissioners have been reported to this office for patent, yet the patents already issued cover an area of nearly five millions of acres.

The surveys of all such titles are in strict accordance, in measurement, form, and extent, with the land system of the government from which the titles are derived, and are incorporated with the United States rectangular method, presenting, as it were, mosaic irregularities in connection with our rectangular surveys.

GEOLOGICAL AND MINERAL INTERESTS.

Preliminary measures have been taken, as indicated in the last annual report, for a collection in this office illustrative of the geology and mineral wealth of the national domain, and of the country at large. To this end chambers have been set apart in the General Land Office, with such an arrangement of the illustrations as will give, at a glance, an idea of the resources of the several political divisions of the republic.

The collection includes a series of all the ores, native metals, useful minerals, coals, salts, sulphur, mineral waters, limestones, marls, native fertilizers, fire and potter clays, and building materials; also specimens throwing light on the geological structure of the country, such as fossils and lithological or rock specimens, arranged on a scientific and systematic basis, with a view of specially exhibiting those minerals which are capable of application to art and manufactures. It is in contemplation to collect, as opportunity may offer, models of all mining and metallurgical machinery, implements, apparatus, and specimens of all the various products of metallurgical processes, such as regulus and mat, slag, and other furnace products; dressed and concentrated ores, amalgam, and tailings; with sections of models and working plans of mines, to illustrate the principles and practical application of mining engineering; such collections being generally arranged either to represent, as a branch of history, the whole series of natural inorganic substances which possess a definite composition, and which together constitute the

mineral kingdom, or on a more utilitarian principle, the latter having regulated the selection and arrangement of the cabinet organized so favorably in the General Land Office.

Agriculture, mechanical arts, and mining, indeed all the forms of labor, are the true foundations of public wealth and prosperity, each of them, upon attaining controlling importance in national affairs, being entitled to receive from the government such recognition by statistical investigation and legislation as the importance of the interest may demand, in order to stimulate new influences into such channels as will best promote the public weal. Every new mining field in operation has thus added its force to the important enterprises first inaugurated on the Pacific slope.

The discovery of auriferous deposits in California was followed by results of national importance. The volume of circulating medium having been largely increased, the values of merchandise were changed; old channels of commerce were found inadequate to existing demands, and thus induced the construction of new and more rapid ones, while a vast field of industry called forth a numerous and energetic population devoted to mining pursuits, thus affecting the whole country to no inconsiderable extent, and giving it new impetus, passing as it were into a new horizon, released from antiquated ideas and incumbrances, and entering upon a destiny the ultimate result of which will prove abundantly successful and beneficial in the realization of anticipations so vital in their character. Toward the accomplishment of these ends the general government has recognized the new influences, and has accordingly, in a liberal and prudent manner, adapted its policy and legislation to the perfection of those means best suited to develop and utilize the resources of the republic.

Among the general interests none were deemed more important than those connected with the public-land system of the United States, and which, under peculiar and general legislation, has rapidly assumed great prominence, owing to the various questions arising from discoveries and natural changes not contemplated when the land system was inaugurated. Hence it becomes a subject of importance to ascertain the extent and value of mineral treasures hidden beneath the surface of the country, and also to learn what success had attended the various modes of exploita tion. With this object in view, applications have been sent to governors of States and Territories, as well as to the different scientific institutions and to the corps of land officers, asking their co-operation in such measures by forwarding data and specimens, which, on being classified, become perpetual and invaluable guides to all interested.

The new States and Territories have promptly furnished various and rich materials, consisting of ores and minerals, which have already proven of value to miners and others whose interests are affected by the development of these hidden sources of wealth.

The cabinet formed in the department has assumed a character of the highest importance, and embraces many specimens heretofore unknown to science in the locality where they were discovered.

Ores of gold and silver.-In the amount and value of gold and silver ores the United States exceeds all other countries. The Western States and Territories have furnished several new and very interesting minerals. Of the tellurium ores, many of which are rich in gold and silver, or associates of the precious metals, only one, the tetradymite or telluride of bismuth, had been found in this country as a rare associate of gold ores, and exists in Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia.

According to Dr. F. A. Genth's investigations, (Silliman's Journal, Sec.

II,) all the tellurium minerals formerly known in mineralogy, with the exception of sylvanite or graphic tellurium, have been found in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties, California, with several new species-the calaverite, a tetratelluride of gold, and the melonite, a sesquitelluride of nickel.

Among some fragments from Highland, Montana, which are in our collection, is a new mineral-the montanite, a tellurate of bismuth, associated with the pure tertelluride of bismuth or tertradymite. The second variety of tertradymite, that containing sulphur, besides the tellurium we have, is a broad foliated specimen from "Uncle Sam's lode," near Helena, Montana. It is associated with the new mineral, montanite, quartz, and a minute quantity of tourmaline, containing five per cent. of sulphur, and corresponding with the formula Bi, S+2 Bi Te3. From specimens of precious metals in this office it is ascertained that the gold and silver mines occupying the entire valley of the Rio Grande are perhaps the most valuable in this country-a fact also established in the history of that part of Mexico when under Spanish dominion, at which time the hills and valleys of the region now included in New Mexico embraced a flourishing population of thriving miners, indicated on the old maps by two or three towns, where only one small village is found at the present day. So for as the mines are concerned, they and their owners were ruined by unchecked Indian depredations. The yield of the ore from these regions is frequently from three to five hundred dollars to the ton, but a few of our specimens yield by assay over $19,000 per ton. Many experts who have visited the mines express an opinion that the value of the silver exceeds that of the gold deposits.

Among the silver specimens we have are many of special interest; yet the lack of a suitable chemical laboratory, with furnace, and our limited means, have prevented a satisfactory and thorough examination.

Ores of copper.-The varieties of copper ores include native ore, (some of it in large masses and unusually well crystallized,) the black oxides, gray sulphurets, copper glance or vitreous copper, the green carbonates, the silicates of copper, and copper pyrites, in which there is a large percentage of sulphuret of iron. At the Hanover mine, near Hill's River, and at Santa Rita mines, Grant county, New Mexico, a very remarkable and apparently valuable deposit of virgin metallic copper occurs, which is so pure that it may readily be hammered on the anvil into any desirable shape. The ores of this metal are auriferous, and celebrated in that region, having been worked as early as the year 1780, and have yielded vast quantities of copper. These mines are located six miles east of Fort Bayard, in a country abounding in fuel, fertile, and well watered, but heretofore subject to the incursion of Indians, being in the range of the Gila and Mimbres Apaches.

These mines are among the most valuable of the Territory, containing large amounts of native copper, with easily reducible carbonates and oxides, and are apparently inexhaustible. We have a very remarkable specimen of copper glance from Archer County, Wichita Mountains, Texas. It is pseudomorphous, after wood or vegetable substances, closely resembling similar pseudmorphs found in the Kupferschiefer stratum of the Permian formation at Frankenberg, in Hessia, and at other European localities. It contains 55.44 per cent. of metallic copper, a little malachite, oxide of iron, and carbonaceous matter, and shows the chemical changes which have taken place at different periods in the structure of mineral veins. It exists in that locality in great abundance, so that the mere collection of it would prove remunerative without mining.