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Show COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 59 last session of Congress to authorize the leasing of the land con-taining the deposits, the price offered being $58,000 for the 250 acres of limestone. An adverse report was made by the department on the bill for the reason that the consideration was not deemed adequate, and an amendment thereto was suggested to authorize the sale or lease of the lands under such regulations as the Secretary of the Interior might prescribe. Although the Tuscarora Indians own their lauds in fee, the Attor-ney General has decided that they can not lease the same unless authorized so to do by Congress. ALLOTMENTS. Uuring the year allotments have been approved to 651 Indians, covering 124,000 acres. This number of allotments approved during the year is small, due largely to the fact that before recommendations covering approval of lands allotted to lndians can be submitted a report must first be obtained from the Geological Survey to show whether the lands allotted contain any coal or other mineral or whether any power site or reservoir possibilities exist therein. While in a number of cases information already on hand at the Geological Survey enables that bureau to certify as to the character of the land allotted, yet in a large number of cases the Geological Survey advises that field exam-inations will be necessary before definite information can be furnished as to the'mineral or nonmineral character of the lands involved. For instance, on the Fort Peck Reservation the allotment work in the field has been completed, and 1,987 Indians have been allotted something over 700,000 acres. Partial returns from the Geological Survey show coal lands falling within 15 townships of this reservation aggre-gating 277,923 acres. Eighty-nine townships have been reported, in whole or in part, as noncoal, nonoil, and nonmineral. Ten townships remain yet to be reported on, and as data is not available to show the mineral or nonmineral character of the lands the suspension of the approval of the allotments will be necessary until field examinations have been made by the Geological Survey. This condition exists also in connection with lands in the Blackfeet Reservation, Mont., within which 2,623 Indians have received allot-ments in the field aggregating 822,984 acres. The field work in connection with allotments in severalty has progressed satisfactorily during the fiscal year, and in addition to the completion of allotment work on the Fort Peck and Blackfeet Reservations in Montana, it is expected that the allotment work at Fort Hall, Idaho, Yakima, and possibly the Colville Reservation, Wash., will be completed during the working season of the present calendar year. To May 30, 1912, 1,544 allotments of irrigable lands, |