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Show REPORT OP THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 101 for street paving, then it is quite olew from the communications before me that the royalty of 60 oents per ton on the crude asphaltum is so excessive as to be prohibitive. Considering the pure asphaltum as being able to bear a royalty of 60 cents per ton, as suggested by the Choctsw and Chickasaw mineral trnsteas, and approved by Inspector Wright, then the royalty of 10 cents per ton on the omde would he dl out of proportion. * * But, as stated above, the office ia in aome donbt whether this crude asphalt or the ground sod crushed sand and stone is nned, with no other expensq for psving purposes. If thin be so, the Hxing of a royalty on the cmde, based on n certain fixed royalty for the refined, might operate nnjustly on the Choctaw and Chiokasaw nations, inasmuch m the srtioles might be mined in ita crnde state and put on the market for immediate uae after grinding and ornshiug and the nation8 deprived of their reasonable profits in royalty, an eompamd with the price of the refined and the ernde thus put on the market. For this reason, therefore, the office ia unable to make any recommendstions to the Department withoot further infomationonthis particular point, and it therefore suggests that Inspector Wright be instracted to ancertain whether the materialls of bitumen, sand, snd limestone mined in the Indian Territory are used for the purpose of plaving in it8 natural state. after being crushed end ground, and if so, the comparative value of this material, crushed mod groond, with that of refined ssphaltnm at the points where they are delivered for market. Pursuant to this recommendation, the Department, on June 29,1899, directed the inspector to procure all the information possible in regard to the particnlar componnds mentioned by the office, especially as to the nse of such asphaltnm material for paving purposes in its natural state. In response Inspector Wright, July 27, 1899, transmitted a communication dated July 10 from the Gilsonite Roofing and Paving Company, and another dated Jnly 12 from the Brnnswick Asphalt Company, and a report of July 26 from the Choctaw and Chickasaw mining trustees. In this correspondence it was shown that the bitu-minous limestone and bituminons sandstone mined in the Indian Terri-tory, when mixed together and ground in varying proportions according to the richness of each, respeotively, is used by the Gilsonite Roofing and Paving Company for paving purposes without any further admix-ture. The Brnnswick Asphalt Oompany, however, stated that it was necessary to add to this mixture from 4 to 11 per cent of refined asphalt to obtain the necessary chemical composition for good paving. It was a1&0 shown that the crude asphalt sold at $6 per ton in St. Lonis and at $5.50 per ton in Eansae City, while the refined asphalt, 99 per cent purity, sold in St. Lonis at $26 a ton. In this report of July 2i Inspector Wright renewed the former recom-mendations that the rate of royalty should be 10 cents per ton on crude asphalt and 60 cents per ton on refined. His report was transmitted to the Department by this office without remarks or recommendations, and the Department, in its letter to him of August 10,1899, directed that the regulations of October 7,1898, be amended so as to read: "On asphalt, 60 cents per ton on refined, 10 cents per ton on crnde asphalt, for each and eveq ton produced weighing 2,000 pounds." No action has been taken by the Department affecting the royalties prescribed in the regulations touching the leasing of other minerals than coal and asphalt in the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations. |
