omissions the deputy has been advised, and as he is now on the ground, it is presumed that they will be soon supplied.

III. Swamp land donated by the act of 1850.

The act of Congress of 3d March last, confirming to the States the swamp and overflowed lands within their limits that had been selected and reported to this office prior to that time, put an end to the system of contests that were referred to in my last report. The work under this head has therefore been confined to acting upon and transcribing for transmission the numerous lists sent in by the agents of different counties. Previous to the passage of the above mentioned act I had prepared and certified to you lists of swamp lands in Missouri, as follows:

Four lists from the district of Springfield, embracing 547,535.14 acres. One list from the district of Warsaw, embracing....

Making a total of...............

4,226.70

551,761.84

ઃઃ

For the State of Illinois no selections were received during that period. Since the passage of that act the number of lists sent in have greatly increased. In 1854 I was instructed that the descriptions of soil contained in the original field notes were not to be considered final as against the States; but that I should receive and consider the evidence which the State authorities might produce in favor of their selections, and that wherever by such evidence the lands were shown to be wet, swampy, or overflowed, within the meaning of the law, they should be approved to the States, regardless of any contrary description of the character of such lands that might be given by the field notes. The effect of the act of 3d March, in connexion with the above instructions, was virtually to remove from the executive department all control over the agents of the States in making their selections. Wherever the lists transmitted to this office contained evidence that the lands therein reported were within the meaning of the grant, I could not do otherwise than report them to you. The manner in which these selections were being made formed the subject of a special. report from this office. In answer thereto I was directed to again compare the agent's selections with the original plats and field notes, and from such comparison prepare two lists, one showing the lands which, according to the above evidences, were truly within the purview of the act, and the other to embrace the tracts that were of a contrary character. Both lists were then to be transmitted to you for consideration. Under this instruction six lists of selections have been examined. They embrace an aggregate of 258,715.92 acres, and of this quantity there are only 3,869.52 acres that are described by the field notes as being within the meaning of the swamp grant. Eight other lists, recently received from the counties, are now being examined; they embrace about 400,000 acres, and are found to contain even a greater proportion of dry land than those already compared. These selections are all in Missouri.

In addition to the lists already enumerated I have prepared and transmitted a list for the Jackson district, embracing 42,266.60 acres, being the entire area of two townships in the southeastern portion of the State, lately surveyed under the proposition of the Hon. Samuel Caruthers, to which reference was made in the second heading of this report.

It seems to be a matter of impossibility to bring to a close the work under this head without special and direct legislation to that end. None of the acts prescribe any limits of time in which the States may avail themselves of the provisions of the original grant. This office is instructed to receive and consider all selections that may be reported to it in due form; and there is nothing to prevent such reports being made for an indefinite period of time to come.

IV. Survey of towns and villages in Missouri named in the acts of 13th June, 1812, and 26th May, 1824.

During the year there have been recorded and transcribed for return to the recorder of land titles plats and descriptions of surveys of one hundred and thirty-four confirmations to lots within St. Louis; and of one hundred private confirmed claims to lands within and adjoining the town of St. Charles. I have also had prepared and transmitted to the proper authorities plats and descriptions of fifty-four tracts or parcels of land that have been designated and set apart to the town of St. Charles for the support of schools therein, in pursuance of the provisions of the acts named in this heading. This action in and about closes the assignments of school lands. All the tracts of land belonging to the several towns and villages named in the aforesaid acts, which the records show were "not rightfully owned or claimed by any private individual" on the 13th June, 1812, have been surveyed and set apart to the use of schools, as directed by the act of 1824. In this city, however, there are two cases still pending: one of an erroneous and unauthorized survey that I felt it my duty to annul, and which is now under consideration by the honorable the Secretary of the Interior; and the other of an application from the president and attorney of the board of public schools to have designated and set apart, for the support of said schools, certain parcels of land that are situated within the limits of grants to individuals by the authorities of the Spanish government, and confirmed to those individuals by the act of Congress of 4th July, 1836; and which applications I refused for the reasons given in my report on the subject of 2d June last, transmitting the appeal of the schools from my decision. As the work under this head during the next year will be confined to the termination of the records of surveys within St. Louis and St. Charles, no appropriation of funds is deemed necessary. The item is, therefore, omitted in the estimates of funds accompanying this report.

V. Records of land titles under the act of 12th June, 1840.

Pursuant to your instructions of 6th January last, the whole of the available force of the office was detailed for the purpose of completing

the records relating to lands in Illinois, so that they may be ready for delivery to the authorities of that State by the 30th of June.

The letters from the Commissioner of the General Land Office to the surveyor general, relating to lands in Illinois, were recorded, compared, corrected, durably bound, and indexed.

The records of the Illinois township plats were compared with the originals, the certificates to them written, and the whole work on them completed. The records of the field notes of the State were also thoroughly examined. It was found that parts of many townships had been omitted in records formerly made, or mislaid since that time. Indexes were discovered to have been erroneously made, and whole volumes wrongly bound. These errors were corrected, the omissions supplied, and the whole of the records completed, and bound in volumes for transmission to the State authorities. A general index, on a diagram of the State, showing the number of the volume in which the field notes, both original and recorded, are to be found was prepared. A similar index to the original and records of township plats was also made. The field notes of recent surveys and resurveys have been recorded, indexed and bound, in their proper places. The records relating to Illinois, with the exception of private claims, may be considered as in a condition to be transferred to the authorities of that State, under the law. Of the private surveys, plats and descriptions of three hundred and forty-nine have been made, recorded and indexed during the year. There remains to be made the plats and descriptions of twenty-three surveys in the district of Kaskaskia and of one hundred and nine surveys in the district of Vincennes. The exhibits of private claims have kept pace with the records of the surveys. It cannot well precede the record and secure the correctness so necessary to the work. Those for the Indian reservations, and lots in the village of Peoria have been completed. The legislature of Illinois have not as yet made arrangements for the reception and proper disposition of the archives to be transferred by this office, as required by the act of 22d January, 1853, amendatory to the act of 12th June, 1840. The attention of the proper officers of that State has been called to the subject, and it is presumed that the necessary law will be enacted at the next session of their general assembly.

In addition to the work already enumerated, there have been recorded five volumes folio post paper, containing the letters from the General Land Office to the surveyor general from 1833 to 1856. By the accompanying statement "C" you will see that thirteen township plats (five in Illinois and eight in Missouri) have been recorded or constructed; and that forty-two plats of townships (eight in Illinois and thirty-four in Missouri) have been copied either for the General Land Office or for the use of registers, to supply the place of those that have been worn out and defaced by long use; making an aggregate of fifty-four plats.

VI. Miscellaneous Work.

The field notes of recent surveys and resurveys have been transscribed for preservation at the seat of government.

The accounts of the office have been recorded up to and including the second quarter. Those for the third quarter are awaiting to be adjusted by the department.

The record of letters and public notices from the office embrace six hundred and sixty-five pages of letter paper.

Descriptive lists of corners established by recent and resurveys have been sent to the registers of the proper district.

Plats of seven islands lately surveyed have been sent to your office and to the registers. Copies of forty-one township plats have been furnished to the register of St. Louis, upon his order therefor. In pursuance of your instructions, I had prepared and transmitted to the surveyor general for Kansas and Nebraska plats and descriptions of corners along and adjoining the Missouri river, extending from the mouth of the river Kansas to the boundary line of the State of Iowa, so that the surveys in Kansas and Nebraska might be properly connected with the existing surveys in this State.

The plats and descriptions of twenty-eight surveys of Indian reservations in Illinois were transmitted to your office.

The survey of the location under a New Madrid certificate, No. 284, was made, approved and recorded, in pursuance of an application of the owners thereof. As promised in my last report, the survey of unsurveyed New Madrid locations formed the subject of a special communication from this office. In that communication I suggested the propriety of having such surveys made at the expense of the United States, with a view to finally closing the action of the executive department on them. Your answer was, that you did not feel authorised to order the surveys at the cost of the government, but that I should designate, as near as possible, the position of each claim on the township plats, and there let the matter rest. As this designation had already been made, there remains nothing for me to do, except await until such times as the claimants may see proper to apply for the survey of their lands.

There were issued during the year thirteen certificates (Nos. 24 to 36) of purchase of land by registers. These purchases are, in each instance, noted on the township plats. Two certificates of relocation. for valid interferences, with confirmations by the act of 1836, have been issued, and six have been delivered to the claimants.

I have also received from you and delivered to the proper owners four special certificates of new locations, issued by your office in pursuance of acts passed at the last session for the relief of individuals.

There were platted, transcribed and recorded, of private surveys of all descriptions, six hundred and forty-one; of these, three hundred and forty-nine were in Illinois, and of the others two hundred and thirty-four were of confirmations to town or village lots, four of the general series of surveys in Missouri, and fifty-four were assignments to schools under the acts of 1812 and 1824.

Plats and transcripts of private surveys were returned to the recorder, viz of the general series thirteen, and of town and village lots ninety-two.

Under your instructions I had made a survey of the tract of land at the southern portion of this city, known as the reservation for a marine hospital and powder magazine, for the purpose of constructing

a diagram thereof that would indicate the portion of that tract which was claimed by the public schools of this city as having been vacant land in 1812. This diagram was prepared and transmitted to you, together with a report of such facts bearing on the question as are to be found of record in this office and in that of the recorder of land titles. The answer to that report is an order from your office to designate and set apart a certain portion of the tract for the support of the schools, in pursuance of the provisions of the several acts of Congress relating thereto. The order is but just received; it will be carried out at once.

The surveys in the Grande Prairie and Cul de Sac common fields, that were executed by Wm. H. Cozzens, esq., have been recorded and returned to the recorder of land titles, in pursuance of the decision of the department.

VII. Estimate of funds needed for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1859.

In view of the approaching closing of the office by turning over its archives to the State's authorities, under the act of 12th June, 1840, the amount of estimates is considerably lower than in former years, and the items confined to the salary of the surveyor general, the salaries of clerks, and the incidental expenses of the office. The former appropriations for surveys of erroneous and defective lines and for terminating the record of the surveys of village and town lots not being exhausted, are deemed sufficient to bring these branches of the service to an end.

I have attempted to forward the business of the office so as to have the records ready for delivery at the times fixed by your instructionsthat is, those for Illinois on the 30th June past, and for Missouri one year later-but have been unable to accomplish the desired purpose for many reasons. Among these are: the record of Illinois private land claims that had not been contemplated, but after examination was deemed absolutely necessary for a proper understanding of their condition; the new and vexatious cases raised on account of the claims of the St. Louis schools to lands within the general survey of the city; the unexpected labor in swamp lands; the record of the remaining private surveys in Missouri, which has become tedious, because nearly all of these remaining surveys are burdened with interferences, and their final disposition was, on that account, delayed to the present time, when the difficulties must be overcome; the surveys in southeast Missouri, the instructions for which are subsequent to those for closing the office; and the examination of the records with the originals, the necessary references to both in order to make them agree and to insure their correctness. To these causes are to be added a considerable amount of labor which can hardly be enumerated, but yet has to be performed, and which could not have been estimated when the time for said closing was determined.

Under the circumstances, therefore, I respectfully request that the estimates be recommended to Congress, in view of their being eventually necessary to complete the business of this land district. In the meantime I shall continue to urge its business to as speedy termination as the work already on hand, and the unlooked-for work that may