Arizona weekly citizen., 1886-01-23
SAN RAFAEL DE LA ZANJA.
The Full Text 0T the Cemmissioner's Re
 port Thereon.

southern portion of Pima county. While the document bears date of May 22ad, 1885, the report has never before been published in Arizona.
 DEPARTMENT or THE INTERIOR,
 GENERAL LAND OFFICE,
 WASHINGTON, D. C., May -, 1881
 THE HONORABLE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR.
 SIR:-On April 25, 1880, the Surveyor General of Arizona, Mr. WAsson, sub- mItted his report upon a private land claim known as Rancho San Rafael de la Zanja, which he found to be valid claim to four square leagues of land. A copy of so much Of the Surveyor Gener- ais report as relates to quantity Is en- closed herewith.
 ThIs report was transmitted by this office so the Department November 9, lSS0, for submission to Congress. On April II, 1882, in letter to the Secre- tary, in reply to a reference for report upon II. R., 336l, to confirm said claim, my predecessor expressed the opinion that the claim should be confirmed for sixteen square leagues.
 This opinion was non-concurred in by AAlC Al'us AVENANNoA1s hAAbs AAGAA -Tf. ANH-f in letter 10 Hon. R. Pacheco, chairman Committee of House of Representatives on Private Land Claims, declined to recommend a confirmation for a larger area than four square leagues.
 The report of the Surveyor General was accompanied by & plat of survey showing tine location and quantity Of four square leagues. Pending Con- gressional action, parties to whom the claim had been assigned by one of the original grantees, and who under such assignment claimed an individual tIt!e to the grant, applied for a survey of SIX teen square leagues. This application WAS refused by the Commissioner under the Secretary's decision, and appeal was taken to the Secretary, who on March 8, 1885. instructed the Commissioner, VIZ:
 There being an issue here taken as to the validity Of this claim for m extent greater than has been awarded by the Surveyor General, the duty to reserve the lands Is clearly incumbent on tins department; and if this can be best done by preliminary survey to fix their identity, the claimants paying the ex- penses, 1 am of the opinion It IS lawful and should be allowed"
 On March II, 1886, a copy of the Sec retary's letter WAS transmitted '" the Surveyor General with instructions to carry the same into effect III the due course of business.
 I am now in receipt of his letter of April 20, 1885, asking for instructions relative to the method of depositing for the cost of said survey.
 This letter has brought the subject of this grant and Of the order Of additional survey before me, and I sn not satisfied that l should proceed further m the matter of such survey, under the direc- tion of your predecessor, without at least submitting the case for your judgment and present instructions.
 The claim in question Is founded upon purchase made by ROusan Romero and citizens of Santa Cruz, at pubic sale Of four square leagues of land. Just four square leagues were applied for, appraised. offered and sold. It Is now claimed that the words Zen atrO sitlOs" used Tn the expediente, meant if pur leagues square. Surveyor Gener ral Was son ID his report does not find such con struction sustained Tn the recognized meaning of the language, nor under the laws, usages and customs of the Mex,cgn government. He cites the Spanish rules of measurement, and shows that tle original title papers purport ,o convey four "sItiOs granada mayor, and that this description invariably means four square leagues, and not four leagnes square. It may be observed that such Is also the established construction in the practice of this department and rulings of the courts.
 IL IS further alleged by claimants in the case that the land was mrasured for sixteen square leagues. and that grant, ees entered into possession of the larger quantity. The Surveyor General ex- presses the opinion that sn erroneous survey may innocently have been made. and assigns req Ons therefor. ReferrInE to a claim of similar nature, ID Tho case nf John Scholly, where a cOnntirat oa of twenty-five square lescues was asked for under a z ant for tive lsagues upon the ground that claimants had been put into possession of five leagues square, he quotes from the report of Hon. Ju- dah P. Benjamin to ihe United States Senate. strongly adverse to the claim for the larger quantity, Th.l Surveyor Geueral further says; An examination of the or ginal title papers in this case, in come ttio with the laws under which the land was petitiOned for. together with the ecords of co-terminous grants. conclusiyely shows that but four square leagues were asked for by the petitioner. and that only this quantity was Bpprais- ed, sold and given in tue grant"
 He also statesEthat themeasurement of sixteen square leagues extends to sum- ,f st,a DI-,y,r.-, ID. Mountains, and embraces perhaps the larger portion of the rich mineral dIs- trict generally known by the name of Patagonia, and that the grant being for grazing lands was not intended to em brace a mineral region.
 In his letter of April 2S. 1882, to Char man of the Committee on Prlyste Land Claims, the Secretary of the Interior concurred m the recommendation of the Surveyor General that the claim be con- tirmed for four square leagues, and sta ted that in his opinion the grant should control the survey, and not the survey the grant, and that the survey of the sixteen square leagues was a totally in- consistent interpretation of the grant upon the petition and papers, and that thisscould not have been intended. In his letter of MaTCh 8. 1885. authorizing a survey of the larger quantity of sixteen square leagues, the Secretary does not indicate any change of opinion, but his direction that an order for such survey be issued, Is based upon the assumption that IL Is Ihe duty of th's department to preserve the larger area claimed.
 A reservation of lands embraced in private land claims ID New Mexico and Arizona, IS under the law and the prac- tice of thIs office definitely established where the Surveyor General n the law ful and proper exercises of hIs duty and authority has lawfully and properly made and approved a survey of the al- legged claim. Three copies of the plats of such survey gre prepared. One is re- tained Tn his office, one transmitted to this office, The receipt of his copy by the Register and Receiver operates ss a notice to them of the reservation, and of the precise land reserved. and until such plat IS SO received there is no et. fective or actual reservation of land on account of such claim. Public lands are not reserved upon hypothesis, or the mere assumption of 0 claim, however valid, void or unrecognizsble. but under the laws and upon legally prescribed determinstive of the nature. snd extent of such claim.