Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-12-19
WITHDRAWAL Of LANDS;
MANY MILLIONS SAVED
Geological Surveys CIassifica.
ton Of the Public Domain,
and the Results.

Varied activities Of the United States
geological survey are noted in the report
Of the director. Gen. Otis Smith. made
public today. The most important Of
these. however. deal with the classified
ton and withdrawal OF coal. Oil, and
phosphate lands and the location OF
water power sites.
The director says that under the old
| law the public coal lands were sold at
price ranging from SO to $50 an acre,
according to the proximity Of transpor-
| taion facilities. In the present classi-
ncauon the lands are sold by their tom
| mage production. This results not ONLY
IN the saving of a large amount Of
money to the government, but is de-
signed to keep the lands from falling into
the hands Of Spectators
Value Nearly $500, 10000
During the year 5Sls. 100 acres were
CLASSIFIED as coal land and were placed
! raising the price Of the lands held by
| almost $3OON0,OcO At the same time
! production under this valuation will not
be impeded. The new lands withdrawn
were principally in Montana, Wyoming
and In the newly discovered fields Of
| Utah and Arizona. These amounted to
In5noNO acres. and bring the total out
GIG acres.
This classification work involves an
enormous amount Of detailed work and Is
nased largely on previous researches OF
like purely scientific work. but proves
to be closely allied with the unitarian
process Of coal mining.
Inc geologic field work is now about
4
and valuation work. There remain 81.
100000 under the old classification to be
worked over. This work probably will be
finished during the coming year.
Ignite Land on New Basis.
There is large amount Of Ignite land
In North Dakota and South Dakota that
IS being reserved OH a new basis. The
Ignite Is very low grade coal, though
recent investigations have shown that 1t
Is very adaptable for gas engine fuel.
worth more for agriculture than for min
ing and has been sold for farming so
as not to hinder agricultural development
IN that region: Now. however. the ag-
ricultura1 land is sold and the mining
rights are reserved to the government.
The total Withdrawals Of oil land for
the year were 4.547.121 acres. There
were something over 100000 restored to
Utah and New Mexico, examination hav
ing shown that they were not oil lands.
as had been supposed. The director rec
ommends new legislation covering the
acquisition Of oil lands. as he says the
| present law is entirely inadequate.
Water-power Sites Withdrawn.
There was total withdrawal Of 1884,
600 acres in water-power sites during the
year. New legislation covering this class
! OF land Is recommended nj the report.
the director calling attention to the dam
ger Of good power sites falling into the
| hands OF spectators in another guise
The work OF classifying western phos.
phatc lands was pushed during the year.
The report points out that phosphate con.
stftutes very important part Of the ma
ton $ resources, and that while the world
supply OF such plant food Is scanty. the
United States appears to own the ma
jority OF It,
Bureau of Mines Commended.
Comment is made on the excellent work
| OF the new bureau Of mines established
| this year. This bureau deals with fuel
problems and mine accidents, while test
| Ing structural material has been trans
| ferred to the bureau Of standards.
Attention Is called to the map eneray-
ing and printing plant Of the survey,
! which Is characterized as one ~ the
best in the world. This plant last wear
printed and distributed 100000 mans.
| about five-sixths of which were on ca oh
| sales