During the year a report on the construction of water-power plants in different countries of the world during 1939 was compiled with the cooperation of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce of the Department of Commerce for publication in the Encyclopedia Britannica's 1940 Book of the Year. Reports on construction of water-power plants were received from 44 countries in time to be included in the report. Reports continue to come in from other countries, and to date about 70 countries have reported. Owing to present war conditions probably no attempt will be made to obtain reports of power-plant construction in foreign countries in 1940.

A compilation was made of the capacity of water wheels and water-power plants previous to 1921, the date of the Geological Survey's first comprehensive report of the capacity of water wheels in the United States by States. The compilation included reports of capacity of water wheels for 1869, 1879, 1902, 1912, and 1917. The statistics on developed water power for each of those years were based on census reports of manufactures for 1869, 1879, 1889, 1904, 1909, 1914, and 1919, reports of electrical industries for 1902, 1907, 1912, and 1917, and reports of mines and quarries, drainage and irrigation for various years. The figures for total capacity of water wheels by States for selected years from 1869 to 1917, with the records already published beginning with 1921 and continuing to date, will give a complete picture of the water-power development in the United States for the past 70 years and will be a valuable addition to information now available.

CONSERVATION BRANCH

The work of the Conservation Branch involves surveys and investigations for an inventory of the water and mineral resources of the public domain, supervision of private operations for development of power and production of minerals from public and Indian lands and naval petroleum reserves, and supplying information and advice to numerous land-administrative agencies of the Government.

These activities were maintained throughout the year but not on the comprehensive and detailed scale that the work warranted, owing to inadequate funds. The amount of field supervision required, which has become greater each year, again increased materially. On public land alone 235 operating properties were added to the number under supervision. Mineral production during the year from public and Indian lands and naval petroleum reserves under supervision had an estimated value of $80,000,000, and the revenue accrued therefrom amounted to about $8,000,000. Compared with this substantial revenue, the cost of supervision is small.

In addition to their regular activities members of the Branch were engaged in conservation work on related Public Works projects.

MINERAL CLASSIFICATION DIVISION

The office activities of the Mineral Classification Division were directed largely to determining the areas subject to inclusion in plans for unit or cooperative development submitted by holders of Government oil and gas prospecting permits and leases; to consideration of permits in such plans subject to leases; to consideration of oil and gas leases to be exchanged for outstanding oil and gas prospecting permits; to action on applications for rights-of-way over public lands for irrigation works, oil and gas pipe lines, highways, and other purposes; to preparation of reports on initial applications for oil and gas leases; to determination of interests in Federal land included in assignments recommended for approval by the Department; and to classifying lands as to their mineral character, including coal, oil, and gas, that are embraced in applications for surface rights under the nonmineral public-land laws.

For mineral classification, information was obtained on the occurrence of coal in New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming; of oil and gas in Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wyoming; and of phosphate in Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming. Geologic conditions were examined at 5 dam sites in Oregon and 1 dam site in Washington.

In the work of the Division, 7,118 cases requiring technical consideration were disposed of during the year; 820,782 acres in New Mexico and 251,251 acres in Utah were restored from coal withdrawals; and 128,165 acres in Utah were classified as coal land and 188,349 acres as noncoal land. In addition, a revision of the definitions of the known geologic structure of 12 producing oil and gas fields and the initial definition of 12 new fields were prepared and promulgated.

The aggregate area of the outstanding definitions of the known geologic structure of oil and gas fields on June 30, 1940, amounted to 1,378,526 acres in California, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming.

WATER AND POWER DIVISION

The work of obtaining basic information on the water-power resources and storage possibilities of public lands and of making it available for use in the administration of public-land laws and to Federal and other agencies engaged in planning, constructing, and operating water-power projects was continued in the field but on a decreased scale owing to exhaustion of the funds made available by

the Public Works Administration. River-utilization surveys covering 165 miles of streams and tributaries and detailed surveys at 11 dam sites were made. Surveys of mineral leaseholds embracing an area of 4 square miles were completed. Preparation of reports on geologic conditions at dam sites examined in the field during the preceding year and an experimental geophysical examination of one potash leasehold were continued.

Office activities included action resulting in the addition of 18,598 acres to outstanding water-power reserves in 12 public-land States and the elimination of 23,685 acres from such reserves in 5 States, with a net decrease in the total reserved area in 22 States and Alaska to 6,685,489 acres. The addition of 2,524 acres to reservoir-site reserves made a total of 137,172 acres withdrawn. Field supervision, in conjunction with the Water Resources Branch, of power projects for the Federal Power Commission involved supervision of construction and operation on 160 projects, continuation of studies of cost accounting on 9 of these projects, and investigations and reports on 3 of the projects. Field supervision of power projects holding permits and grants from the Department of the Interior involved 216 projects.

MINING AND OIL AND GAS-LEASING DIVISIONS

The work of the Mining and Oil- and Gas-leasing Divisions consists of inspectional and regulatory supervision of mineral prospecting and development on public and Indian lands and naval petroleum reserves.

The Mining Division is charged with supervision of all operations for the discovery and development on public land of deposits of coal, potassium, sodium, phosphate, and oil shale; in New Mexico and Louisiana of sulfur; on certain land grants of gold, silver, and mercury; and on restricted, allotted, and tribal Indian lands of all minerals except oil and gas. This supervisory and regulatory work during the fiscal year was accomplished through six field offices at Denver, Colo., Billings, Mont., Carlsbad, N. Mex., McAlester and Miami, Okla., and Salt Lake City, Utah, and through a cooperative agreement approved May 4, 1935, with the Department of Mines, Territory of Alaska.

The work of the Oil- and Gas-leasing Division includes inspectional and regulatory supervision of all operations for the discovery, development, and production of petroleum and natural gas on public land of the United States, on naval petroleum reserves, and on all Indian land subject to departmental jurisdiction, both tribal and allotted, except the Osage Reservation, Okla. The work was accomplished during the year through 16 field offices and suboffices at Los Angeles and Taft, Calif., Roswell and Farmington, N. Mex., Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Ardmore, Holdenville, and Drumright, Okla., Den

ver, Colo., Casper, Midwest, and Thermopolis, Wyo., Billings and Great Falls, Mont., and Salt Lake City, Utah.

Public land. The number of public-land properties under supervision of the Mining Division at the end of the year was 684, an increase of 1 since June 30, 1939. Coal properties in 14 States and Alaska decreased 8, to 567; potash properties in 2 States decreased 7, to 21; sodium properties in 7 States increased 32, to 78; phosphate properties in 3 States were again 7; sulfur properties in 1 State decreased 16, to 11. The decrease in coal properties resulted indirectly from the Secretary's instructions of January 24, 1934, and that in potash properties from the Secretary's Order No. 914 of April 5, 1935. The Secretary's Order No. 1294 of July 2, 1938, restricted further issuance of phosphate leases and permits. In prospecting for the above-named minerals 21 boreholes were drilled during the year. Accidents to employees working in mines under departmental lease are generally fewer than in competitive mines not on Government land, and of the 70 awards to coal and potash mines made by the Joseph A. Holmes Safety Association for the calendar year 1939, 8 were made to departmental lessees. The use of safety appliances and safety clothing is increasing generally throughout mines on Government land.

The number of public-land properties under supervision of the Oiland Gas-leasing Division decreased about 24 percent, to a total of 6,504, involving 8,055,845 acres in 20 States and Alaska. Drilling activity on public land during the fiscal year included the commencement of 468 new wells and the completion of 472 wells, of which 361 were rated as productive of oil and gas and 111 as barren. The total number of public-land wells under supervision on June 30, 1940, was 9,338, including 4,779 capable of oil or gas production. Production of petroleum from public land in the fiscal year 1940 was about 5 percent more than in the preceding year; production of gas decreased about 9 percent; and production of natural gasoline increased about 7 percent.

The Division continued to assist in the preparation of unit or cooperative plans of operation and development and in reviewing and revising the engineering and royalty features of such plans after their submission. At the end of the year a total of 1,680 plans of unit or cooperative development for oil or gas pools, fields, or areas involving public land had been filed with the Geological Survey, of which 120 had been given final approval by the Secretary of the Interior, 1,554 had been rejected, withdrawn, or suspended, and 6 were pending final action. During the year 15 unit agreements were filed, 36 acted upon, and 9 approved by the Secretary of the Interior.

Indian land.-The number of Indian-land properties under supervision of the Mining Division during the year was 241 in 12 States. These properties involved 42 lead and zinc leaseholds in the Quapaw Reservation, Okla., with aggregate royalty accruals of $610,359.77, an increase of 16 percent over that of the preceding year; 51 coal leaseholds on segregated Choctaw and Chickasaw land and restricted allotted land in Oklahoma, with an aggregate production that increased from 268,503.78 tons in 1939 to 355,350.56 tons in 1940, and revenue accruals from royalties, bonuses, and sale of coal lands amounting to $46,332.60; 1 leased purchased tract, 1 unleased purchased tract, and 1 asphalt lease on segregated land in Oklahoma and 138 properties in 11 Western States, of which 14 were agency coal mines, 24 coal leases, 49 individual Indian coal mines, and 51 metalliferous leases and nonmetalliferous leases other than coal leases.

Oil and gas supervision involved 4,519 leaseholds, 4,332 wells, and aggregate bonus, royalty, and rental accruals estimated at $2,000,000 for Indian beneficiaries in 8 States and 33 different tribes. The cooperative duties involved royalty accounting; appraisals of bonuses, royalty offers, and pollution damages; assistance to lessees of Indian land on operating problems; and assistance to agency officials and tribal councils on technical phases of leasehold development and administration.

Naval Petroleum Reserves.-On behalf of the Navy Department supervision was continued during the year over operations for the production of oil and gas within Naval Petroleum Reserves Nos. 1 and 2, in California, and for the conservation of shut-in production within Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 3, in Wyoming. Production from 286 wells on the reserves aggregated 3,832,002 barrels of petroleum, 2,295,023,000 cubic feet of natural gas, and 10,118,638 gallons of natural gasoline and had an aggregate royalty value of $938,499.86.

PUBLIC WORKS PROJECTS

Under the supervision of the personnel of the Conservation Branch, expenditures aggregating $14,352.72 were made during the year from Public Works funds allotted for field investigations and conservation work. On 10 projects $9,303.92 was expended for river-utilization surveys of power and storage resources of important streams in 10 States. On 3 projects, $5,048.80 was expended in 3 States to plug and abandon or condition for use as a source of water numerous wells that had been drilled for oil and gas on public land and improperly abandoned or merely deserted, and to fill, bulkhead, or otherwise safeguard abandoned mines or openings on Indian land.