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Rent, royalty, and bonuses accrued from mining operations on public lands

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On March 17, 1927, by Executive order, the administration of all naval petroleum reserves was vested in the Department of the Navy. Pursuant to a cooperative agreement engineering supervision was continued by the Geological Survey under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy.

Statistics of the production of petroleum, natural gas, and naturalgas gasoline from naval petroleum reserves are summarized as follows:

Royalty accrued from naval petroleum reserves

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Petroleum, natural gas, and gasoline produced from naval reserves

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Production from naval petroleum reserve No. 3, in Wyoming, was definitely suspended in January, 1928. Supervision on this reserve for the present is confined to observation of gas pressure and consultation with the Navy Department.

ACTIVITIES ON INDIAN LANDS

On behalf of the Indian Service, the mineral-leasing division exercises technical supervision over all oil and gas operations, except in the Osage Reservation, Okla., and over all mining operations on tribal and allotted Indian lands and on Indian reservations set aside by Executive order. For the performance of these functions field offices are maintained at Muskogee, Okmulgee, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Shawnee, Miami, and McAlester, Okla.; Farmington, N. Mex.; and Thermopolis, Wyo., and additional service is provided from other field offices of the conservation branch as needed.

The supervision of oil and gas activities in Oklahoma, exclusive of the Osage Reservation, includes 10,531 leases, covering 920,608.25 acres, on which there are 5,651 producing oil and gas wells, summarized by jurisdiction or Indian agencies as follows:

Oil and gas leases in Oklahoma exclusive of the Osage Reservation

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Outside Oklahoma supervision was exercised over oil and gas leases on tribal and restricted allotted Indian lands as follows:

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FIFTIETH REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

Coal. Supervision of coal-mining operations in 1929 included in Oklahoma 14 producing and 49 inactive leaseholds involving lands of Cherokee, Choctaw, and Creek Indians, which produced 80,101 tons of coal having a royalty and rental value of $11,684.14, and 36 productive and 32 inactive leaseholds involving segregated Choctaw and Chickasaw lands, which produced 560,979 tons of coal having a royalty value of $50,934.59. In Colorado it included 38 leases, 2 licenses, and 8 prospecting permits involving ceded lands of the Úte Indians, from which the rent and royalty, aggregating $11,516.63, was credited to the tribe, and 1 tribal lease involving land in the Southern Ute Reservation. Periodic inspection was made of operations at 2 coal mines each on the Southern Navajo and Western Navajo Reservations in Arizona; 1 coal mine each on the Northern Navajo, Eastern Navajo, and Zuni Reservations in New Mexico; and I leasehold involving land in the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in Utah.

In cooperation with the Oklahoma Geological Survey, the geologic examination of the coal resources of the Stigler-Muskogee district, Oklahoma, begun in 1927, was continued.

Lead and zinc.-Supervision of lead and zinc mining operations involved 50 departmental leases for 6,284 acres of restricted lands of the Quapaw Indians in Oklahoma. Production from these leaseholds aggregates 14.2 per cent of the zinc and 3.9 per cent of the lead mined in the United States. The royalty for the fiscal year, $848,219.49, was 9.63 per cent of the sale value of the ore mined. Zinc and lead were first mined on the Quapaw Reservation in 1902 in the old Lincolnville field; in 1907 the Commerce field was opened, and in 1914 the Picher field was discovered. Production has increased greatly since 1917 and now represents about 62 per cent of the total value of the lead and zinc produced in the Tri-State district. One lead and zinc lease under supervision on restricted Cherokee lands in Oklahoma was unproductive in 1928.

Miscellaneous minerals.-Inspectional and advisory service was provided in 1928 in connection with existing or proposed operations involving 2 iron-ore deposits on the Fort Apache Reservation and 2 asbestos mines on the San Carlos Reservation, Ariz.; 7 radiumore leaseholds on the Northern Navajo Reservation, Ariz.: 3 volcanic-ash leaseholds on restricted lands of the Five Civilized Tribes, Oklahoma; and 1 marl and 3 metalliferous leaseholds on the Pyramid Lake Reservation, Nev.

OTHER COOPERATIVE WORK

The division cooperated with the Bureau of Mines and Bureau of Standards in connection with tests of mine stoppings to withstand explosions of gas and coal dust; with the Bureau of Mines in its rock-dusting, ventilation, and experimental mine programs and its oil and gas technologic investigations; with the Bureau of Reclamation in reporting on the plant and coal mine at Williston, N. Dak.; with the National Research Council on the conservation of the scientific results of drilling and the improvement of drilling methods and equipment; with the Alaska Railroad in maintaining the Eska coal mine in condition for production; and with the General Land Office

and Bureau of Mines in extinguishing fires in coal deposits on the public domain.

In cooperation with the technical committee on the scientific classification of coals of the American Society for Testing Materials, the Bureau of Mines, and the fuel research laboratories of the Mines Branch, Department of Mines, Canada, many samples of subbituminous and low-rank bituminous coals were collected by the mining engineers of the Denver, Billings, and Salt Lake City offices. These samples were submitted to the Bureau of Mines, where slacking tests and analyses were made.

STATE BENEfits and cosT OF SUPERVISION

Leases and permits involving publicly owned mineral deposits have been issued in 21 of the States and Alaska. Such States receive under the act of February 25, 1920, directly, without expense to themselves, 37.5 per cent of all royalties, rentals, and bonuses derived from leases and permits within their respective boundaries and participate likewise in the benefits resulting from the expenditure of an additional 52.5 per cent of the funds, by the Bureau of Reclamation. Only 10 per cent of this money is retained in the Treasury of the United States.

Alaska, however, receives all net profits from the operation of Government mines as well as all royalties and rentals received from leasing operations. This money is deposited in a special fund and applied to the reimbursement of the Federal Government for the construction of railroads in that territory.

Since the inception of the mineral leasing acts a total of $61,340,631.84 has accrued from royalty, rent, and bonuses. More than 99.5 per cent of this amount has been paid into the United States Treasury. Twenty States and Alaska have benefited thereby without expense to themselves.

Preliminary estimates indicate that the cost of the supervisory work of the mineral leasing division averaged less than 3 per cent of the aggregate income from the leases on public and Indian lands in the fiscal year 1929. This indicates a slight increase in supervisory cost compared with 1928, chargeable principally to the decline in the total value of the minerals produced.

WORK ON PUBLICATIONS

TEXTS

BERNARD H. LANE, Editor

During the year 16,601 pages of manuscript were edited and prepared for printing by the section of texts, and 2,677 galley proofs and 14,814 page proofs were read and corrected. Indexes were prepared for 31 publications, covering 6,291 pages. Copy and proof or stencils for 1,262 pages of multigraph and mimeograph matter were read. At the end of the fiscal year four persons were employed in this section.

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