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Show REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 87 greements with each other, and especially with their white neighbors whose lands border upon their allotments, are frequent. This office . furnished the General Land Office all the information in its possession pertaining to this matter and requested that if practicable a resurvey of the lands involved be contracted for. Recently that request was renewed and further infbrmation submitted respecting the old surveys. August 8, 189&, I was advised by that office that the facts disclosed in the several petitions and in the report of the U. S. deputy inspector ' on the matter do not constitnte sufficient cause for the annulment of the survey made in 1893 and the making of a new survey; and further, that it is believed that the survey which theIndians and white settlers petition for as a means to prevent endless trouble andlitigation would fail to have that beneficial result and mould cause greater di5- culties than are now present or impending. , It was stated that the cor-, rection of old and erroneous surveys by an official survey has seldom been found an effective and satisfactory adjustment of inequitable diGisions of public lands and of consequent trouble,^ among settlers, and that it has long been the practice of the Land Office to refuse action of the kiud asked for except upon written petition signed by every resident landowner or claimant within the area of land in qnes-tion, aocompanied by a written agreement signed by all such parties that they will accept and abide by the lines, corners, and areas result-ing from the official resurvey requested. Attention was also called to the fact that evenif such petition and agreement should be obtained by unanimousconsent of all resident owners a further difficulty would have to be met in the adjustment of their land titles, because the original patent dependent upon the originator superseded plat would be invalid as to lands with new lines and new areas; and as the Land Office has no power to compel settlers to retnm their pater1t.s in order.that they may be exchanged for nem patents based on the plats of resurvey, many of them would not bereturned to that office for that purpose. In fact the experience has been that settlers feeling aggrieved by the new survey have eveu refused to make an exchange of patents, notwith-standing the agreement they had signed. Moreover, in the event of a new survey, all new patents would ha\-e to be placed on the county records. As the lands referred to were generally settled and patented many years ago, the General Land Office reached the conclusion that. the proposed readjustment of lines is not only unwai~anted by the factg but also illexpedient and impracticable, and suggested that the diffi-oulties resulting from erroneous and careless surveys and from destrnc-tion of original corners should rest with the local authorities for adjust-ment. The Indians have been advised of this decision of the General Land Office and instructed to endeavor to settle their difficulties among themselves or before the local antl~oritiesin the best and least expen-siv* manner possible. |