| OCR Text |
Show Record General Land Office. I am finishing my fortieth year in the General Land Office. 4094 I am familiar with the instructions of the Department of the Interior, General Land Office, with reference to the method of making surveys of public lands. Sections 226 to 231, inclusive, of " Manual of Instructions for the Survey of the Public Lands of the United States, 1924", are the sections under which the public 4095 bordering on a river or other body of water are now meandered. In regard to the details that are outlined in the instructions, we are more specific in our last manual than the previous manuals con- tained. Manuals were issued in 1881, 1885, 1890, 1894 and 1902, and the manual here presented is known as the " Manual of 1916". As time has gone along, in the instructions which were issued for the surveying of the public domain, we have followed the decisions of the courts, particularly with reference to the details, and as 4096 our experience indicated the necessary for it. To my best recol- lection, the earliest manual that required streams whose right angle width was three chains and upwards to be meandered was about 1890. Before that, it had been left to the discretion of the sur- vayor. As I interpret the facts, it was necessary in 1890 to define the width under which stream should be meandered and thus 4097 segregated from the mass of the public domain. That instruction standardized the surveys. The chain we use is called the " Cunter's chain", 66 feet in length. Complainant's Exhibit 558, being sections 226 to 231, inclusive, and section 236 of manual of instructions for the survey of public lands, 1924, was received in evidence. 4099 Plaintiff's Exhibits 419 to 459, inclusive, being surveys made since the pleading map on the Colorado River, were received in evidence. 4100 Complainant's 559 to 604, inclusive, being oil permits granted by the United States on the Colorado, Green and San Juan Rivers, were received in evidence. In connection with these 4102 exhibits attention is called to complainant's Exhibits 465 and 466. |
