Sulphur Springs Railway Company.-October 11, 1900, authority was granted this company to locate and survey a line of road between Hickory and Davis, Chickasaw Nation, Ind T., via Sulphur Springs, provided the company would relinquish any right it might have acquired by its articles of incorporation in the matter of establishing electric-light plants. November 1, 1900, the office acknowledged receipt of a copy of a resolution of the board of directors of the company waiving any right under its charter to build its road except in accordance with the authority granted October 11, 1900.

February 8, 1901, the office transmitted to the Department maps of definite location along two sections, showing the survey of road from Hickory to Davis, and March 28 the Department returned, approved, under act of March 2, 1899, the map showing the survey of the section from Hickory to Sulphur Springs, and, disappoved, the map showing the survey from Sulphur Springs to Davis. Special Agent Taggart was designated by the Department to appraise the damages arising from the survey and location of the line from Hickory to Sulphur Springs. June 29, 1901, he submitted corrected schedules showing the tribal damages awarded by him for the above-described right of way, which were approved by the Department July 9. The company has been requested to remit the amount shown on the schedule to be due, $881.46.

Western Oklahoma Railroad Company.--Application was filed in this office December 19, 1900, for permission to survey and locate a line of road commencing at a point near Hartshorne, on the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad, to Ardmore, Ind. T., under the act of March 2, 1899, and accompanying the application were filed maps of definite location of sections 1, 2, and 3, showing the line of survey, commencing at a point near Hartshorne and extending thence southwesterly. January 5, 1901, W. J. Scott, president, in behalf of the Denison and Northern Railway Company, filed a protest in this office against favorable action on the application of the Western Oklahoma Railroad Company. A hearing was held February 4, 1900, in the office of the Secretary of the Interior, the Denison and Northern Railroad being represented by Henry E. Davis, esq., and the Western Oklahoma Railroad by Messrs. C. B. Stuart, J. W. McLoud, and Francis I. Gowen. By direction of the Department all the papers, maps, etc., filed in this office were submitted to the Department February 27, 1901, and March 1 the Department approved the maps of definite location of sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the Western Oklahoma Railroad Company, showing the line of survey of the railroad from a point near Hartshorne to Ardmore.

Inspector Cyrus Beede and Special Agent E. B. Reynolds were designated to assess the damages arising by reason of such survey and location, under instructions of this office dated March 9, 1901. Their

joint report of May 20 showed a total award for tribal damages of $20,157.22 and for individual damages of $2,505.52. A schedule was also submitted showing the names of individual occupants dissenting from the award of damages and with whom amicable settlement could not be effected by the railroad company, with a description of the lands occupied by each; also certain instruments evidencing the payment by the railroad company to the several individual occupants of the amounts awarded each except in the cases where amicable settlement could not be effected. The schedule of tribal damages and schedule of individual damages for which settlement was effected were approved by the Department July 9, 1901, and the office was directed to collect the amount for tribal damages and to pay the same to the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations as their interests might appear. The president of the company, Francis I. Gowen, was requested by this office, July 23, to remit the amount of tribal damages shown to be due the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes. It has not yet been received.

May 16, 1901, there was filed in this office a map showing the selection of station grounds made by the company at Ardmore, Ind. T. The map was forwarded to the Department May 18, and was returned to this office, approved, May 21, and Inspector Cyrus Beede was designated to assess the damages arising from the selection. The inspector appraised the damages in the sum of $313.25, and on July 11 the office was directed to collect that amount from the railroad company, which amount was remitted by voucher July 19.

June 28, 1901, maps showing selections of station grounds at the following-named points were filed in this office: Wild Horse, Kiowa, North Fork, Coalgate, Windy Hill, Blue, and Russet, and on July 3 map of station grounds selected at Wapanucka. The maps were transmitted to the Department July 11 and returned to this office approved July 17. Agent Shoenfelt, of the Union Agency, was designated to appraise the damages arising from the location of these station grounds. August 2, 1901, there were filed in this office maps showing the selection of station grounds at Tishomingo and Mansville. The map of station grounds at Mansville was approved by the Department August 9. The map showing the grounds at Tishomingo was returned to the com pany August 7 for correction.

Watonga and Northwestern Railroad Company.-Application was filed in this office February 21, 1901, by C. E. Ingersoll, president, for permission to survey and locate a line of road extending from a connection with the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad near Geary, Okla., northerly to a point near Watonga, Okla.; it was accompanied by maps of definite location designated sections 1 and 2, showing the survey of the line. The maps were returned to this office by the Department, with instructions that the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad Company be required to relinquish any rights it might have acquired by

reason of making a survey along a similar route. This relinquishment was filed April 5. All the papers were transmitted to the Department April 13, and on April 16 the Department approved the application and the maps of definite location. Accompanying the maps were instruments executed by Indian allottees purporting to convey to the Watonga and Northwestern Railroad Company a right of way through their respective allotments. These instruments were accepted by the Department as receipts evidencing the payment by the railroad company to the Indian allottees of the amounts named therein.

Washington and Great Northern Railway Company. July 5, 1901, Thomas R. Benton, attorney for this company, filed in this office an application for permission to survey and locate a line of road through Indian allotments in the north half of the Colville Indian Reservation, Wash. The application was transmitted to the Department July 10, and July 13 the request of the company was granted. July 18 the office notified the company, through its attorney, that authority had been granted by the Department for it to survey and locate a line of road along the route described in its application, but that such authority did not permit any construction work to be undertaken until after maps of definite location should have been approved. Agent Anderson, of the Colville Agency, had telegraphed the office July 15 for information relative to the rights of the company in the matter of the construction of a road through Indian lands, and July 22 he telegraphed that the company had commenced construction upon certain Indian lands. The agent was instructed by telegraph July 29 and July 31 that no construction work should be permitted, and he was directed to stop any such work then being undertaken by the company. August 13, 1901, the company, through its attorney, filed in this office maps of definite location showing the survey of its lines of route, as follows: 1. From a point on the located line of said company's road on the west line of sec. 20, T. 38 N., R. 37 E., which point is 17.14 miles southerly from the intersection of said road with the international boundary line, to a point on the northerly bank of Columbia River in lot 12, sec. 26, T. 37 N., R. 37 E., Willamette meridian, a distance of 26.71 miles from the international boundary line, and a distance of 9.57 miles from the point of beginning above named.

2. From a point on the international boundary line, which point is 1,340 feet east from the center of Kettle River, to a point on the east line of sec. 36, T. 39 N., R. 33 E., a distance of 14.53 miles.

3. From the point last named to a point in unsurveyed land designated as station "Zero," which point is 3,300 feet south and 4,436 feet west from the southwest corner of sec. 31, T. 37 N., R. 33 E., Willamette meridian, a distance of 16.73 miles.

The routes described in paragraphs 2 and 3 parallel and cross, and in some places are coincident with, the approved line of the Republic and Kettle River Railway Company from the town of Republic northerly to the international boundary line. The latter company has filed in this office a protest against the approval of the map of definite loca

tion of the Washington and Great Northern Railway Company. The protest and maps will be transmitted to the Department at an early date.

PIMA INDIANS IN MARICOPA COUNTY, ARIZ.

Last year this office received information that 100 Pima Indians in two villages had resided for twenty-five years on secs. 1 and 12, T. 1 N., R. 4 E., Maricopa County, Ariz., and that outsiders had recently filed upon those lands, which were highly cultivated, and had cut valuable timber. Immediate action was urged to prevent approval of these filings, and thus preserve the rights of the Indians and avoid further destruction of their property.

September 8, 1900, this office recommended that an inspector visit these Indians and ascertain the character and value of their improvements and what were their irrigation facilities and rights. This was done, and the inspector reported that the lands had been occupied by the Indians for more than twenty-seven years, and that they had cultivated from 200 to 400 acres on section 12, and made other improvements. On recommendation of this office, the General Land Office was directed to cancel the entries made on section 12 and to allow no more filing thereon by white men. When the cancellation of the entries shall have been made, of which this office has not yet been advised, it is proposed by Executive order to withdraw sections 1 and 12 from entry by white people.

MISSION INDIANS ON WARNER'S RANCH.

The Supreme Court of the United States, in an opinion rendered May 13, 1901, decided adversely to the claim of some Mission Indians to retain occupancy of a tract in southern California known as Warner's ranch or Agua Caliente.

The effect of this decision will be to dispossess about 200 Indians of the lands they claim to have held for generations. Under the auspices of the Attorney-General an agreement was reached with the attorneys for the Downey estate whereby the Indians will be permitted to remain in possession of the lands until the next session of Congress, when, it is hoped, legislation for their relief may be enacted.

As a temporary expedient, all vacant lands in T. 10 S., R. 3 E., San Bernardino meridian, California, were, on June 11, 1901, withdrawn from settlement and entry and set aside for the use of the Indians until such time as Congress may provide the necessary legislation permanently reserving those lands. It has since been ascertained, however, that the vacant lands in that township are practically worthless and that such small areas as are adapted for agriculture will not support more than a few families. It will therefore be necessary for the

Government to provide other lands for the Indians affected by the decision, and, as it is reported that they will go from their former homes practically empty handed and penniless, relief in the way of necessaries of life must needs be afforded them. This matter will be made the subject of a special communication.

The titles of the cases are Allejandro Barker et al., plaintiffs in error, v. J. Downey Harvey, administrator of the estate of John Downey, deceased, and the Merchants' Exchange Bank of San Francisco (No. 209) and Jesus Quevas, alias Jesus Cuevo et al., plaintiffs in error, v. Harvey, administrator (No. 210), the plaintiffs in error being Mission Indians. The cases were reported as follows:

These cases were brought by defendants in error in the superior court of the county of San Diego, Cal., to quiet their title to certain premises in that county. Decrees rendered in their favor were carried to the supreme court of the State and by that court affirmed (126 Cal., 262). To such affirmance these writs of error have been sued out. The facts in the cases are so nearly alike that it is sufficient to consider only the first. The land in question is within the limits of the territory ceded to the United States by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, February 2, 1848 (9 Stat., 922). Generally speaking, the plaintiffs claim title by virtue of a patent issued to John J. Warner on January 16, 1880, in confirmation of two grants made by the Mexican Government. On the other hand, the defendants do not claim a fee in the premises, but only a right of permanent occupancy by virtue of the alleged fact that they are Mission Indians (so called) and had been in occupation of the premises long before the Mexican grants, and, of course, before any dominion acquired by this Government over the territory; insisting, further, that the Government of Mexico had always recognized the lawfulness and permanence of their occupancy, and that such right of occupancy was protected by the terms of the treaty and the rules of international law. The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided in Article VIII as follows:

ARTICLE VIII. Mexicans now established in territories previously belonging to Mexico and which remain for the future within the limits of the United States, as defined by the present treaty, shall be free to continue where they now reside or to remove at any time to the Mexican Republic, retaining the property which they possess in the said territories, or disposing thereof and removing the proceeds wherever they please, without their being subjected on this account to any contribution, tax, or charge whatever.

Those who shall prefer to remain in the said territories may either retain the title and rights of Mexican citizens or acquire those of citizens of the United States, but they shall be under the obligation to make their election within one year from the date of the exchange of ratifications of this treaty, and those who shall remain in the said territories after the expiration of that year, without having declared their intention to retain the character of Mexicans, shall be considered to have elected to become citizens of the United States.

In the said territories the property of every kind now belonging to Mexicans not established there shall be inviolably respected. The present owners, the heirs of these, and all Mexicans who may hereafter acquire said property by contract shall enjoy with respect to it guaranties equally ample as if the same belonged to citizens of the United States.

Article X, as originally prepared, was stricken out by the Senate, but in the protocol signed by the representatives of the two nations at the time of the ratification, on May 26, 1848, it was stated:

2d. The American Government, by suppressing the tenth article of the treaty of Guadalupe, did not in any way intend to annul the grants of lands made by Mexico in the ceded territories. These grants, notwithstanding the suppression of the article of the treaty, preserve the legal value which they may possess, and the grantees may cause their legitimate (titles) to be acknowledged before the American tribunals.

Conformably to the law of the United States, legitimate titles to every description of property, personal and real, existing in the ceded territory are those which were legitimate titles under the Mexican law in California and New Mexico up to the 13th of May, 1846, and in Texas up to the 2d March, 1836. (Ex. Doc. No. 50, H. R., Thirtieth Congress, second session, p. 77.)