The Anaconda standard., 1895-05-24
THEIR FIRST WORK
Commissioners of the Helena District
Start Out To-day.
CAMP AT SPOKANE RANCH
They Have a Good Outfit, Cook
and a Surveyor and Will Begin
at Once the Work of Classi-
flying the Mineral Lands.
CAMP AT SPOKANE RANCH

Special Dispatch to the Standard
| Helena, May 23.-Lyman +. Barnes. Ed
ward III. Movius and Miles Cavanaugh,
tho United States mineral land commits
sioners for the Helena district, will leave
this city tomorrow for the Spokane ranch,
considerable distance out into tho
Prickly Pear valley, where they will GO
into camp. This point will be their base
of operations for about a week, when they
will return to Helena for the purpose of
reporting their classifications OF the lands
examined during this, their first trip. The
commissioners are required to report on
the fifth of each month and it is their in
tention to reach Helena about the first of
each month in order to give an opportu-
nifty for those interested to present testi-
mony or evidence regarding lands exam
ined before classification is made. All
testimony and evidence of a documentary
character will be sent to Washington with
their report on the fifth of each month.
The Helena commissioners expect to do
but little work for the first few weeks as
they wish to get entirely familiar with the
work before trying to hurry matters
along. They will proceed to classify
lands that are on their face agricultural.
There is no doubt at all as TO the char
acter of the lands in the township they
will first examine. The commissioners
will be accompanied in all their trips by
a surveyor in the employ of the Northern
Pacific. This surveyors duty will be to
locate corners and lines. He will be under
the orders of the board and will have abb
solutely nothing to do with the actual
work of classification. 1t was only after
the state board of land commissioners
had approved the plan that the commits
sioners accepted the services of a North
ern Pacific employe. They need a sur
veyor, however, as he will expidite very
materially the work of classification.
The commissioners have a fine camp
ing outfit, which includes several tents
and all the conveniences tina Z 60 to make
camp life pleasant. Each commissioners
will have a saddle horse. There will be
six men in the party for, besides the three
commissioners and the surveyor, there
will be a cook and a man to look after the
camp and horses.
The commissioners will keep the peo :
pie posted as TO their whereabouts through
the newspapers and by a bulletin board
which they set up yesterday in the United
States land Office. The first notice to be
posted on the bulletin board is as fol-
lows:
1.-The board OF mineral land commits
sioners, in the land district of Helena,
Mont, will first examine and classify
lands in township 10 north, ranges l, 2
and 3 west beginning with the former).
"Notice will be here posted, on the re.
turn of the board to Helena, of the land
examined and about to be classified, and
of the time and place, when and where
evidence will be received in relation
/ 81, thnnUh hn hnard nil al
ceive any information or evidence while
in the field, if il is impracticable for the
parties to come before the board at Hell
ena.
"The board expects to return to Helena
| June prox., and will then so receive evil
dence and information relative to that
date, at room SO, Merchants bank build
| ing, Helena"