stances disconnected therewith. Also, timbered land-precipitous hills, cañons, gulches, or mountain slopes-which, though unfit for farming purposes, is in many places valuable on account of affording timber for building and fencing materials that will be of much importance to settlers on contiguous lands, and would find a ready sale if it could be surveyed and brought into market. But as these fractions of land lie scattered between mountains and along their bases, where the face of the country generally presents the most formidable obstructions and impediments to the deputy surveyor, the present prices of surveying are no adequate inducement for him to search out and engage in the surveys of those fractions of land. Consequently some such fractions may remain unsurveyed many years. The greatest part of the most valuable lands in Oregon has been taken by actual settlers under the donation laws; and many settlers having located their claims on the 16th and 36th sections, the superintendents of schools selected other lands in lieu of what was so taken, and two townships, or lands equivalent thereto, were taken for university purposes. After these grants came the pre-emptionists, who have been selecting the best of what remained. Now there is but little vacant good land west of the Cascade mountains, and Oregon being on the eve of entering the Union, when the new State, under the act of Congress approved September 4, 1841, will be entitled to 500,000 acres of the public domain, it is evident that the selection of this grant must be principally made east of the Cascade mountains. These facts, in addition to the reasons assigned in my last annual report in favor of extending this surveying district east of the Cascades, seem to render it meet that there should be such an extension of the surveys. An estimate has accordingly been made to cover, in part, the expenses of the work, which will be found in statement C. Of the lands within the limits of the Coast reservation, between townships Nos. 3 and 19 south, and between range No. 8 west and the Pacific ocean, there are various reports and conflicting opinions as to their value. Cut off from the Willamette valley by the coast range of mountains, which are only crossed by trail paths, though believed to be not impracticable for good roads, and without any established communication by water, because of the generally supposed dangerous character of the channels of bays and rivers along the coast, the country would still invite the stock-farmer, and a sufficiency of grain and vegetables could be readily procured to supply all his wants, while the rivers and even small streams afford in abundance the finest salmon and a variety of other fish. The Tillamook country, lying around Tillamook bay, north and south of the base line, presents many inviting features. At this time, while the Willamette and other valleys are browned with drought, the vegetation of this region still presents much of the freshness of verdure common in spring. Fish of superior varieties, including oysters and clams, abound in the rivers and bays. There are as yet only fifteen families residing here, who have, however, in their short residence, tested the capacity of the soil and climate for producing grain, fruit, and vegetables, and find their labors most satisfactorily rewarded. Cereal grains especially have produced astonishing crops. After the completion of Mr. Snowden's contract, which he will accomplish in a few days, there will remain perhaps several townships of desirable land contiguous to his surveys, and which together will at no distant day form one of the best and most important counties in Oregon. It is proper here to state that Mr. Snowden has been delayed in the prosecution of his work by what continues to be one of the greatest annoyances of the deputy surveyor, viz: the difficulty of employing at a living price suitable hands who will remain with him through the execution of his contract. He is constantly liable to be, and not unfrequently is, left in the field without a full complement of men to continue his work. He must then resort to distant towns or settlements in quest of other hands, who make their own terms, and the delays and losses thus incurred frequently bring with them most disastrous results. The surveys this year completed and returned, and those in progress, include the coal region on Coos bay. So far as developed by mining operations, it is included in townships Nos. 24, 25 and 26 south, of range No. 13 west. The country is mostly hilly or mountainous, and covered with a dense forest of fir, spruce and cedar. The coal is found in beds from four to eight feet thick, and seems to extend throughout the district, and the numerous indentations of the bay afford remarkable facilities for its shipment; but owing to a lack of the usual appliances at the entrance of the harbor little progress has been made in the business. The article is of good quality, though considered by geologists to be of tertiary formation. All the southern portion of Oregon extending north to township No. 26 south, in the Umpqua valley, and the beach diggings at Randolph, on the coast, are the site of active and profitable gold mining; but it is only in the valley of the Rogue river and its tributaries that the permanent investment of capital has established the character of a mining district. Elsewhere the business has been prosecuted without any great outlay, and with rather primitive machinery. Little attention has been paid to locating gold mines with the surveys, because the vocation of the miner seldom conflicts with that of the husbandman, and chiefly because in the absence of diggings they are unknown to the deputy surveyor, and when abandoned they have lost their importance. In 1854 one of those public agitations which mark our social features was occasioned by the discovery of abundant minute grains of virgin copper, which rumor transmuted into gold. The locality is township No. 18 south, of range four west, in the south part of Willamette valley. Although the specimens obtained were comparatively worthless, experience or accident may develop it in valuable quantity. At this time another excitement prevails in consequence of the discovery of lead near the headwaters of the north fork of the Santiam, about forty or forty-five miles southeast of this place, and where it is reported on credible authority that the mineral exists in extensive beds. Miners are now engaged in exploring their extent and in testing its quality. But a matter of more general benefit and intrinsic importance to the people of this Territory, and which lessens the enormous expenses of masonry and plastering, is the production of lime in the Umpqna and Willamette valleys. A good article of lime is burnt in the former valley (in townships 23 and 24 south, range 5 west) in quantities sufficient to supply the demands of the surrounding country; and in the latter limestone is found in township 6 south, range 1 east, in extensive beds, and is being successfully burned and supplied to purchasers at the kiln in any quantity. It forms a superior cement. Limestone boulders producing a dark lime are also found at low tide in the Columbia river, near Astoria; and several other discoveries of lime have recently been made, which may eventually lead to the finding of quarries, so that the whole Territory, which was but recently reputed to be destitute of limestone, will yet yield within its borders enough for all practical purposes. The operations in this office since my last annual report have consisted to a great extent in examining the field notes of the surveys of private land claims. As these notes (many of which have been returned several years ago) contained numerous inaccuracies and many material errors, which rendered it necessary to summon the deputies who have made the surveys to make the requisite alterations and corrections, a great deal of time and labor were indispensable to reduce the notes to a proper condition to be approved, platted and recorded. While this work of former surveys has been progressing, the returns of recent surveys also needed attention. Seven hundred and fifty claims have been surveyed during the year, and eight hundred and eight have been examined, platted and approved. In addition to these, the field notes of nearly six hundred claim surveys have been examined, which only await corrections by the deputies who executed the work to receive their approval. Of the notes of claim surveys which were returned to this office several years ago, a large number still remains to be examined, corrected and approved. Every effort in my power will continue to be exerted in prosecuting this examination to the earliest possible completion. The correspondence with settlers, growing out of these surveys alone, consumes no inconsiderable portion of time. Yet all inquiries and demands on this office, whether connected with this branch of business or other matters pertaining to the interests of settlers, or the duties of this office, have been uniformly met with the most prompt attention. Not having been empowered to hasten the surveys of private land claims not taken by legal subdivisions, the work in many townships goes on tardily, because settlers still withhold their requests for surveys. Various reasons might be assigned for this course of settlers, but the effects are the same. The completion of claim maps, to be forwarded to the General Land Office and to registers, is retarded; superintendents of schools cannot make sales of fractions of school lands contiguous to unsurveyed claims; nor can the registers arrive at a knowledge of the areas of such tracts to accommodate preemptionists; and from the same cause the recently advertised sales of public lands could not be made in this Territory. It would certainly facilitate business if authority were given to require of settlers en titled to survey that they should make their "requests" within a given number of days from date after the expiration of their four years' residence and cultivation, else deputy surveyors would be commissioned to execute the surveys forthwith at the settlers' cost. Further delay occasions only further difficulty, inconvenience, labor, and expense. Two hundred and seventy-five settlers under the donation laws have made final proofs of their claims at this office since the 17th of September, 1856. All these have been sent to the land office at Oregon City. I am advised by Hon. L. F. Mosher, register at Winchester, Oregon Territory, that 1,995 settlers' notifications, under the same laws, are on file in his office; on 383 of these final proofs have been made. Of the number of notifications on file in the register's office at Oregon City, and on how many of them final proofs have been filed, no official information is at hand; but the number of claimants there exceeds 6,000. Hence the whole number of settlers claiming or holding lands under the donation laws in Oregon is not far from 9,000. On the 30th June, 1856, I advised you of the fact that there were in this office about 3,600 pages, or what was equivalent to six volumes, of recorded field notes of surveys which had not been compared. These, and all excepting about 500 pages of those that have been recorded since that period, have now been carefully compared with the original notes, and all necessary corrections properly made. A volume of transcripts of field notes, nearly full, has also been compared, and will be transmitted to your office immediately after its completion. In addition to the recording of field notes of former surveying contracts, the notes of two large contracts of exterior and subdivisional lines, returned since the 16th of last September, have been recorded; but, besides other notes returned since that time, there are yet on hand, to be recorded, the notes of eight old contracts, which embrace about 60 townships. There have been made from the field notes of surveys compared and transmitted to registers, since my last annual report, sixty descriptive sheets; and there have been draughted, since said report, four maps of coast meridian; twelve maps of exterior township lines; one hundred and eleven maps of subdivisions; and eighty-five maps of private land claims; all of which are more particularly described in the annexed statements. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, JOHN S. ZIEBER, Surveyor General of Oregon. Hon. THOMAS A. HENDRICKS, No. Date. Contractors' names. Description of lines. A.-Statement showing the condition of surveying contracts not closed September 17, 1856. The 2d standard parallel north, 900 Remarks. Work examined in the field and found |