The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-12-18
ANNUAL REPORT Of THE SEC.
RETAkY OF THE INTERIOR.
DEPARTMENT or THE INTERIOR,
Washington, Dec. 5, 1868.
THE PUBLIC LANDS.


1t will be seen from it that the quantity of
land disposed of during the last fiscal year, for
cash, by the location of bounty and land war;
rants as swamp and overlooked land, for rail-
road purposes, and under the homestead law,
was 2,966 689.48 acres, as against 1 377. 1922
acres disposed of during the previous fiscal
year, and during the first quarter of the present
fiscal year s74,s5o 66 acres, making the entire
quantity thus disposed of during the period
named 3,841. SAG. SO acres. The increase arises
chiefly from the operation of the homestead
law, under which alone 1, 400, 514 SO acres were
taken up since the LIST of January, 1868, when
it took effect.
The revenue derived from the sale of the
public lands during the last fiscal year amount
ed to $136, O77.95, being an increase of SILL
O29, So over the previous fiscal year. During
the quarter ending 3Oth September last the
sales amounted to $50 900 80, which is ST.
662 SO more than was realized during the quar-
ter ending September 80. 1862.
The progress being made in a gigantic expe-
riment of a railway to unite still more closely
the States on the Atlantic to those on the Pa
citic will soon attract settlement along its entire
route, and the Commissioner of the General
Land Office with wise forecast, has, with the
appreciation OF the department. slightly in
creased the usual surveying estimates in order
to meet the exigencies which will thus be
created.
In order to obtain the benefits of the act of
May 20. 1862, Ito secure hOmesteads to actual
settlers on the public domain" certain prclim-
mary acts are required to be performed before
the register or receiver for the district of lands
in which the settlement is proposed to be made
by the party applying in person. This require
ment of the law is thought to operate invid-
iOusly towards persons who are engaged in the
military and naval force of the United States,
and, to remedy the evil, it is respectfully sur-
gested that the law might, with propriety, be
so far modified as to permit the wife or other
proper representative of a person so employed
in the public to take the requisite preliminary
steps for the legal inception of his claim. I
also concur in the opinion expressed by the
Commissioner of public lands, that it is expe-
dent and proper to require persons claiming
the benefit of this law to pay the full commits
siOns of the Register and Receive: at the time
the entry is made, instead of deferring the pay
ment of ore half thereof until the final issue of
the certificate, at the end of five years.
THE INDIANS.
In view of the disturbing causes that have
existed, our relations with the various Indian
tribes are as favorable as could reasonably be
expected. The experience of the past few
years, however. clearly demonstrates the ne
cessity of important changes in the policy hith-
erto pursued towards them.
While the regions of country occupied by the
Indians remained uninhabited by the whites.
the plan of setting apart separate reservations
for different bands of the same tribe or for
small tribes possessing similar habits and Gus
toms. and privileged to roam over common
hunting grounds in quest Of the means of SUBJ
sistence, as in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota.
Kansas, and Nebraska, seemed wise and to
promise success, but as the country becomes
settled, their dependence upon game, and the
spontaneous productions of the earth become
more and more precarious, while the necessity
OF their keeping within the limits of their
reservations increases. The Indians are thus
left without their accustomed resources, and in
the midst of population with whose customs
and arts of life they are wholly unfamiliar.
They consequently become discouraged. and.
looking solely to their scanty annuities from
the government, or to begging and pilfering
for the necessaries of life, fall an easy prey to
the sharpers and whisky traders who gather
around their reservations for the purpose of