Aviation leases.-Under specific authority of Congress, 320 acres were leased to the town of Parco, Wyo., for a period of 20 years as an aviation field. Under the general law providing for aviation leases, 16 applications were filed and further action awaits compliance with the regulations by the applicants or reports from the Department of Commerce.

Fur farming.-Consideration was given to 160 applications for leases for fur farming in Alaska; 10 leases were granted, 2 were canceled, and the remainder of the applications await reports from the field.

Grazing leases in Alaska.-Seventy-nine applications for grazing leases were filed, but action in the majority of the cases awaits reports from the field.

State, county, or city recreational areas.-Twelve withdrawals were made for recreational classification aggregating 69,089 acres, based on 1 municipal, 4 county, and 7 State petitions. Two tracts have been purchased under the law by the State of Oregon. Four withdrawn areas have been released, having been found not chiefly valuable for recreational purposes.

National forests.-There are now 150 national forests embracing 184,564,953 acres, of which a little over 86 per cent is public land. Changes made effected a gross addition of 1,121,258 acres to national forests and the exclusion of 960,124 acres therefrom.

Railroad rights of way.-Two hundred and seven railroad rightof-way applications were received. Forty-three were approved, 2 canceled, and requirements made in 123 cases.

Stock water reservoirs.-Eighty-five reservoir declaratory statement applications were received. Requirements were made in 15 cases, and 66 were otherwise disposed of.

All other rights of way.-Five hundred and sixty-three irrigation and miscellaneous right-of-way applications were received, which, together with 65 brought over from the previous year, made a total of 628. Under action taken 20 cases remained on hand at the close of the year.

Forfeitures.-The number of approved rights of way of all kinds which were awaiting office action July 1, 1928, was 51, which, together with 1,017 received, totaled 1,068. Of these, proof of construction was accepted on 95, there were canceled by relinquishment or default 146, requirements were made in 721 cases, and 75 were otherwise disposed of. Five forfeiture suits were recommended and 23 decrees of forfeiture obtained as a result of previous recommendations. Thirty-one suits are pending in the Department of Justice.

Hydroelectric power.-Seventy-one hydroelectric power project applications were transmitted to the General Land Office by the

Federal Water Power Commission, involving public lands and lands within national forests in 11 States and the Territory of Alaska.

United States reclamation projects.—Original homestead entries on reclamation projects pending at the beginning of the fiscal year were 138, and there were 427 received. One hundred and seventythree were examined and accepted, 41 canceled, and claimants were called upon for additional evidence in 79 cases. One hundred and eighty-seven reclamation homestead entries were approved for patent.

Reclamation withdrawals and restorations.-During the year there were promulgated 15 orders of withdrawal and 46 orders of restoration under the reclamation act. The outstanding item was the withdrawal for the Colorado River storage, or the Boulder Dam project, of 2,746,360 acres in Arizona, 237,440 acres in California, and 105,680 acres in Nevada.

State irrigation districts.-Since the passage of the acts of August 11, 1916, and May 15, 1922, applications by 72 irrigation districts for approval have reached the office. During the year 5 applications were approved, 2 rejected, and 1 is awaiting further evidence on behalf of the districts. Since the date of the acts applications by 58 districts, embracing a gross area of 2,432,258 acres, have been approved; and applications by 14 districts, embracing a gross area of 274,688 acres, have been finally rejected. Interlocutory action on all districts during the year involved a total of 402,914 acres.

Private irrigation projects.-During the past fiscal year 13 reports were received as the resuit of investigations of private irrigation enterprises and State irrigation districts upon which claimants and applicants under the desert-land law were depending for their water supply, making a total of 1,401 such projects reported on since the adoption of the regulations of September 30, 1910.

Desert lands.-The disposals are summarized as follows: Desertland entries approved, 529; canceled, 501; requirements made, 1,446; otherwise disposed of, 739; pending at close of the year, 212.

Carey Act.-Carey Act withdrawals, segregations, and patent applications aggregating 1,379,871 acres were considered and either interlocutory or final action was taken upon 1,373,296 acres thereof The total area now segregated and unpatented is 733,806 acres.

Pittman Act.-Three hundred and forty-nine Pittman Act applications and permits were before the office for action; 80 were approved, 89 canceled, requirements were made in 100 cases, and 17 were otherwise disposed of.

Swamp lands.-During the past year there were patented under the swamp land act 11,033 acres to the several States entitled thereto.

Withdrawals and restorations.-During the year 6,022,954 acres of public land were withdrawn or placed in a state of reservation by either Executive or departmental order, and 716,337 acres theretofore withdrawn or reserved were restored to entry or other proper disposition.

Contests.-Two thousand five hundred and eighty-nine contest records were received and decisions were rendered in 2,517 cases.

Indians and Indian lands.-Fee patents to the number of 1,208, involving 177,643 acres, and 887 trust patents for 95,804 acres were issued. A very considerable amount of data was furnished to the Court of Claims in connection with suits brought by various Indian tribes.

State grants and State selections.-Title was conveyed to various States covering 169,927 acres involved in indemnity school selections and 2,914 acres of quantity selections. Conveyances amounting to 6,690 acres were made to the States with a reservation of certain mineral deposits. The act of January 25, 1927, granting mineralized school sections to the various States, greatly increased the work of adjudication of indemnity school-land selections, as it was necessary to determine whether title passed to the State under the original granting act as nonmineral land or under the act of 1927 as mineral land, and whether the State is entitled to indemnity on account of the mineral character of the land or for other reasons. School sections.-Three hundred and seventy-four adjudications of school sections were made and it was held that title remained. in the United States as to 13,251 acres, that 124,416 acres had passed to the States under the original grant, 40,608 acres under the act of January 25, 1927, and that 14,079 acres had passed to the States in cases where the General Land Office declined to specify the act under which title had passed.

Railroad grants and selections.-Railroad and wagon-road selections were received during the year to the amount of 161,493 acres, and during the same period there were certified and patented in satisfaction of such grants 230,418 acres, the total acreage adjudicated being 367,827 acres.

Railroad adjustments.-The work of adjusting nine railroad land grants was completed. The act of June 25, 1929, directed the institution and prosecution of proceedings looking to the final adjustment of the Northern Pacific Railroad grant.

Oregon and California railroad lands.-Under the act of June 9, 1916, 101 sales of timber were held during the year involving 9,946 acres, containing 252,552,000 feet board measure of timber, for which $571,411.15 was received.

Town sites. During the year 2,181 town-lot cases were examined and 374 patents were issued for lots.

Government title to Harding town site sustained.-In the suit brought by the United States to eject Lewis G. Norton from land occupied in the town site of Harding, Fla., which had been pending for several years, involving about $400,000, final judgment was returned in favor of the Government by the Federal District Court of Florida.

Abandoned military reservations.-One hundred and fifty-nine cases involving abandoned military reservations were considered and 40 patents were issued.

Exchanges.-Ninety-two applications for exchanges under the act of January 27, 1922, were considered and patents were issued in 34instances.

Forest consolidations.—Under the acts of March 20, 1922, and February 28, 1925, authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to accept title to any privately owned lands within the exterior limits of national forests which, in the opinion of the Secretary of Agriculture, are chiefly valuable for national-forest purposes, and in exchange therefor to patent other lands in the same State, 726 cases were adjudicated, resulting in the issuance of patent in 65 cases and in adding 198,832 acres to the national forests.

Forest lieu selections.-Four hundred and sixty-one forest lieu selections were considered and 34 cases were approved for patenting, many of them being selections which had been awaiting final adjudication pending the survey of the selected land.

Riparian rights.-Forty-nine cases involving riparian rights were considered and patents were issued in 34 instances.

Scrip, warrants, etc.-One hundred and forty-three scrip cases were considered and 10 patents issued. Nine hundred and thirtysix cases involving soldiers' additional homestead rights, commonly called soldiers' additional scrip, were considered and 59 patents were issued. While there is not a large number of military bounty land warrants now outstanding, and these must be used in lieu of cash as payments on other entries or claims, there is much correspondence regarding matters of a historical nature in connection with these

warrants.

Repayments. Under the several acts governing repayments, there were stated during the fiscal year 210 accounts allowing repayment of $20,101.27, and during said period there were denied 158 claims for repayment.

Tract book notations.-The total number of notations for the year was 190,680. This includes 76,939 appeals and other miscellaneous cases, 774 Indian allotments, 8,224 final and cash certificates, 4,459 oil and gas applications, 233 coal applications, 13,230 original entries, and 479 plats of survey.

District of Columbia.-Patent for approximately 4 acres of land in Randle Highlands in the District of Columbia was issued to Byron E. Hamlin under resolution of Congress approved February 16, 1839 (5 Stat. 365).

Remaining public domain.-Exclusive of Alaska and the public lands included in Indian reservations, national forests, and national parks, and withdrawn for water power, stock driveway, and other public purposes, or withdrawn as valuable for mineral or for prospective mineral value or classified as mineral, the area of the public domain subject to disposition under applicable land laws on June 30, 1929, was 190,031,722 acres, of which 137,194,449 acres are surveyed, the remainder being unsurveyed.