C. Statement of expenditures on account of incidental expenses during the samo period.

D.-Statement of public surveys executed during the year ending June 30, 1870. E.-Estimates of appropriations required for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1872. Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Hon. JOSEPH S. WILSON,

T. RUSH SPENCER,

Commissioner of the General Land Office, Washington, D. C.

Surveyor General.

DR.

A.-Private land and mineral claim survey deposits in account with the United States.

Св.

B.-Statement of expenditures in the office of the surveyor general of New Mexico for salaries during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1870.

C.-Statement of incidental expenditures in the office of the surveyor general of New Mexico fiscal year ending June 30, 1870.

$360 00 270 00

E.-Estimates of the surveyor general of the appropriations required for the surveying service in New Mexico for the fiscal year ending June 30,

1872.

On salary account

For salary of surveyor general..

For salary of chief clerk.

For salary of translator and interpreter.

For salary of computer of surveys....

For salary of two draughtsmen, $1,800 each...........

For salary of two clerks, $1,750 each..

On contingent account

For rent of office, stationery, fuel,' messenger, &c.....

On surveying account

For public surveys, base, meridian, standard parallel, township, and subdivisional lines..

SURVEYOR GENERAL'S OFFICE,

Santa Fe, New Mexico, August 20, 1870.

No. 17 H.-Report of the surveyor general of Colorado.

SURVEYOR GENERAL'S OFFICE,

Denver, Colorado Territory, August 24, 1870.

SIR: I have the honor to submit the official operations of this office for the year ending June 30, 1870.

A.-Statement showing the surveys made during the year ending June 30, 1870, under the regular appropriation.

B.-Statement showing the surveys made under the act of Congress approved February 25, 1869, on the Vigil and St. Vrain grant.

C.-Statement containing the names and number of the mineral claims, together with the area, and amount deposited to pay for the same, surveyed under the act of Congress approved July 26, 1866.

D.-Statement containing the number of townships surveyed during the year ending June 30, 1870, and the area of public land contained in the same.

E.-Statement containing the amount of salaries paid the surveyor general and clerks for the year ending June 30, 1870, and incidental expenses of the office for the same period.

The labor of this office was largely increased by act of February 25, 1869, and also from a large increase of the application for mining surveys, and which still continue to increase.

The completion of two railroads in this Territory has caused a large increase of settlers, and the country is rapidly filling up. Several large colonies have been located in this Territory. The one at Greeley, about 52 miles north of Denver, is on the line of the Denver Pacific Railroad, where they have laid out a town, and have under cultivation a large amount of land. This colony consists of 500 members.

The German Colonization Association have located themselves in Wet Mountain Valley, in the southern portion of the Territory. They comprise about 300 persons. They have made quite a number of improvements, and still continue to do so.

The Territory of Colorado offers superior inducements to settlers, and, indeed, no portion of the United States can offer so fine a field for the agriculturist and grazer. Cattle, sheep, and horses graze over its fine pastures the whole year, requiring no food to be cured in summer for their sustenance in winter. The climate is delightful, summer and winter.

The counties of Park, Lake, and Summit comprise an area of at least 30,000 square miles, and are but little settled, the surface divisions of which are mountains, valleys, and parks, the North, Middle, and South Parks comprising the greater part of the eastern portion. They are divided by the Sierra Madre, the whole of Park and a portion of Lake Counties lying on the eastern slope. The mineral belt, as developed, will average 30 miles in width, and extends in a northeasterly direction. These counties are well watered by the South Platte and Arkansas Rivers, affluents to the Mississippi, and the Grande and Gunnison Rivers, affluents to the Colorado, on whose numerous tributaries are situated the principal gulch and placer mines. Dense forests of ever

green timber cover a large portion of this country, making excellent lumber, as well as timber for building, mines, and other purposes, and being of vast importance for mining and manufacturing interests.

One of the most important resources of the valleys and parks is the superior pasturage of native grasses, which are estimated to cover one-half of the entire surface, and will furnish an abundance of excellent pasturage.

The agricultural portions are confined to valleys and parks, and are of sufficient extent to support a large and prosperous agricultural and mining population. All the grains and vegetables most useful in domestic economy are cultivated here with great

success.

Hot and mineral springs are numerous, the hot springs in the Middle Park and Arkansas Valley attracting the most attention for their size and superior medical properties. The salt springs in the South Park, flowing from the surface of the ground, are capable of furnishing an unlimited amount of excellent salt, and, being situated in the midst of an extensive pastoral region, and in close proximity to the mineral belt, their value and importance to future interests of this section cannot be well overrated. The placer mines of this district are distributed over a large extent of country, and are not surpassed in richness and extent by any in the Territory. With an abundance of water, and every natural facility for working, they will furnish an extensive and inexhaustible field for profitable enterprise for many years.

The Rocky Mountain coal field: Its western outcrops extend along the foot-hills, being nearly inverted and undulating under the great plains eastward. This fact has been established by the shaft at Leavenworth, in Kansas. Detached portions of this great coal field are found in the South Park, the Middle Park, and the San Luis Park. In the South Park it has been opened and developed, showing a seam of about 5 feet of fair coal. Seven seams have been discovered on the plains, ranging in thickness from 1 to 15 feet.

Eastward from Denver, and about 12 miles from its outcrop, on an anticlinal axis, a small shaft has been sunk, and at a depth of 116 feet a seam of coal of 4 feet in thickness, was found. Developments are being made and there is no doubt that the great plains have an unlimited quantity of fuel for ages. These deposits are estimated to cover an average of 30,000 square miles in this Territory alone, while the total area of the known or explored coal fields in the civilized world, independent of our American coal fields, is less than 20,000 square miles. Overlying these coal seams are fine beds of Leonite ore, from which a very fine iron could be made, and at no distant day must Colorado take her position as a great manufacturing State. Her great facilities must render her one of the most valuable sections of this great country; and no portion of the United States offers greater inducements for the manufacturer, miner, stock-raiser, and farmer than the Switzerland of America.

No efforts on a large scale have been made in the cultivation of trees. About 3,000 have been set out in the city of Denver, and are growing rapidly. They are chiefly cottonwood, and are of two varieties, distinguishable by the broad and narrow leaf. The box elder has been planted to some extent, and does very well. In relation. to the tea culture, no efforts have been made to cultivate it, although I have no doubt in the southern part of the Territory it could be cultivated with success. Vegetables of all kinds develop to an extraordinary size, and no doubt at some day the beet will be cultivated for its sugar with great success.

For sheep, and wool-growing also, our opportunities are unequaled, and these mountains, both along their base and within their foot-hills and their valleys, are capable of being made one of the greatest wool-producing sections of the country, the cheapness with which it can be produced being equaled only by the fineness of its quality. Already much has been done in this branch of production, and during the present season over 2,000,000 pounds of wool have been shipped to eastern markets at a profit, and is an evidence of what will be done in the future.

The present season has been one of unexampled prosperity. The crop for 1870 is larger than for any preceding year, and, upon a careful estimate, will reach the following figures: Wheat, 675,000 bushels; corn, 600,000 bushels; oats and barley, 550,000 bushels; vegetables and potatoes, 500,000 bushels; which, with the hay and dairy product will have a market value of not less than $3,500,000. The average yield of grain to the acre is far above that of the older States. Wheat can safely be placed at 30 bushels per acre, oats and barley at 35 bushels, corn at 30 bushels, and potatoes at 100 bushels.

The product of bullion will reach about $4,000,000 during the year ending June 30, 1870, and I have do doubt will continue to increase largely. New developments and a reduced cost of treating ores must necessarily stimulate the production.

Hoping this may meet with your approval, I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Hon. Jos. S. WILSON,

W. H. LESSIG, Surveyor General of Colorado

Commissioner General Land Office, Washington, D. C.