167. Mineral surveyors are required to make full examinations of all placer claims at the time of survey and file with the field notes a descriptive report, in which will be described

(a) The quality and composition of the soil, and the kind and amount of timber and other vegetation.

(b) The locus and size of streams, and such other matters as may appear upon the surface of the claims.

(c) The character and extent of all surface and underground workings, whether placer or lode, for mining purposes, locating and describing them.

(d) The proximity of centers of trade or residence.

(e) The proximity of well-known systems of lode deposits or of individual lodes.

(f) The use or adaptability of the claim for placer mining, and whether water has been brought upon it in sufficient quantity to mine the same, or whether it can be procured for that purpose. (g) What works or expenditures have been made by the claimant or his grantors for the development of the claim, and their situation and location with respect to the same as applied for.

(h) The true situation of all mines, salt licks, salt springs, and mill sites which come to the surveyor's knowledge, or a report by him that none exist on the claim, as the facts may warrant.

(i) Said report must be made under oath and duly corroborated by one or more disinterested persons.

168. The employing of claimants, their attorneys, or parties in interest, as assistants in making surveys of mineral claims will not be allowed.

169. The field work must be accurately and properly performed and returns made in conformity with the foregoing instructions. Errors in the survey must be corrected at the surveyor's own expense, and if the time required in the examination of the returns is increased by reason of neglect or carelessness, he will be required to make an additional deposit for office work. He will be held to a strict accountability for the faithful discharge of his duties, and will be required to observe fully the requirements and regulations in force as to making mineral surveys. If found incompetent as a surveyor, careless in the discharge of

his duties, or guilty of a violation of said regulations, his appointment will be promptly revoked.

Approved March 29, 1909.

R. A. BALLINGER,

Secretary.

S. V. PROUDFIT, Acting Commissioner.

No additional regulations have been issued or changes made to March 4, 1911.

Manual of Instructions for the Survey of the Mineral Lands of the United States

TO UNITED STATES MINERAL SURVEYORS.

SIRS: These regulations are chiefly compiled from the practice of the various surveying districts, no changes or additions being made, except where necessary to secure uniformity and to conform to present interpretations of the law.

You are expected to strictly comply with these instructions, and no survey will be accepted or approved by the surveyorgeneral until all the requirements herein have been fully met. Very respectfully,

Approved, October 6, 1908.

FRANK PIERCE,

First Assistant Secretary.

FRED DENNETT,

Commissioner.

GENERAL INFORMATION

APPOINTMENTS

1. Under section 2334, United States Revised Statutes, the United States surveyor-general "may appoint in each land district containing mineral lands as many competent surveyors as shall apply for appointment to survey mining claims."

2. Capable persons desiring such appointments should there

fore file their applications with the surveyor-general for the district wherein appointment is asked, who will furnish all information necessary.

3. Mineral surveyors may, at the same time, be appointed in more than one State or land district. (20 L. D., 163.)

4. The surveyors-general have authority to suspend or revoke the appointments of mineral surveyors for cause. The surveyors, however, will be allowed the right of appeal from the action of the surveyor-general in the usual manner. The appeal must be filed with the surveyor-general, who will at once transmit the same, with a full report, to the General Land Office. (20 L. D., 283.)

5. Neither the surveyor-general nor the Commissioner of the General Land Office has jurisdiction to settle differences, relative to the payment of charges for field work, between mineral surveyors and claimants. These are matters of private contract and must be enforced in the ordinary manner, i. e., in the local courts. The department has, however, authority to investigate charges affecting the official actions of mineral surveyors, including combinations to fix prices for survey work, and will, on sufficient cause shown, suspend or revoke the appointment of the surveyor. 6. Where error in the original survey appears to be the fault of the mineral surveyor who made the survey, he should be required to make the necessary corrections in the field as speedily as practicable; and upon his failure or refusal, without satisfactory reason, to comply with instructions within a specified time, he should be called upon to show why his appointment should not be suspended or revoked for willful neglect or incompetency. In the event he fails or refuses to comply with the instructions, the mineral claimant will be notified and given a reasonable time to apply for an amended survey.

7. These instructions are subject to the limitations of section 2324, United States Revised Statutes, so far as the same refers to local laws and customs.

8. The Commissioner of the General Land office is ex-officio United States surveyor-general for Arkansas and Florida, and all surveys in Oklahoma are made under his direction as Commissioner.