1914 (38 Stats. L., 681) provides that the coal deposits in certain lands within the former Fort Berthold Reservation shall be subject to disposition in accordance with the provisions of the coal-land laws and the proceeds therefrom shall be deposited in the Treasury of the United States and applied in the same manner as the proceeds from the disposition of lands. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs informs me that there is a great need on the part of the Indians on the Fort Berthold Reservation for funds to promote the industrial pursuits for which their lands are adaptable and the improvement of their homes. Many of the Indians on the reservation who in the past have made an effort at farming and stock raising are greatly handicapped because of the lack of proper implements with which to do their farm work or proper stock in sufficient numbers. Very few of them have the necessary implements with which to cultivate even a small farm. This reservation, perhaps, is better adapted to the raising of live stock than to farming, although a certain amount of farming and gardening can and should be carried on in connection with the live-stock industry. It contains good grazing land and there is room for the grazing of a large number of cattle and horses. A great many of these Indians are in extremely poor circumstances, especially among the old Indians, and such Indians can profitably utilize their funds for sup port. Many of the homes are built of logs chinked with mud, with dirt floors and sod roofs. Houses of this sort are not conducive to the best health of the occupants, and while they are fairly comfortable, the comfort is secured through the sacrifice of all principles of sanitation. The Indians have requested quite urgently that their funds be made available for their use, and it is believed the plan outlined in the proposed legislation, if carried out, will result beneficially to the Indians as a whole. I am further advised that the ledgers of the Indian Office show the following funds in the Treasury belonging to the Fort Berthold Indians, arising under the provisions of the act of June 1, 1910, supra: Fort Berthold Reservation 3 per cent fund... Interest on Fort Berthold Reservation 3 per cent fund. Total...... $705, 057.59 46, 647.83 751, 705. 42 There are approximately 1.154 Indians on the reservation, and dividing the amount of money now available equally among that number should give to each Indian approximately $650. In this connection your attention is invited to an amendment proposed by Senator Gronna to the bill (H. R. 10385) intended to accomplish a similar object. In view of the condition of the Fort Berthold Indians and their urgent need for assistance, I recommend that the proposed legislation be given favorable consideration by your committee and the Congress. Cordially, yours, Hon. JOHN H. STEPHENS, FRANKLIN K. LANE, Secretary. Chairman Committee on Indian Affairs, House of Representatives. 64TH CONGRESS, Į HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. No. 460. } STREAMS, SPRINGS, AND WATER HOLES ON PUBLIC LANDS IN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA. APRIL 1, 1916.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed. Mr. RAKER, from the Committee on the Public Lands, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany S. 1351.] The Committee on the Public Lands, to which was referred the bill (S. 1351) providing for the discovery, development, and protection of streams, springs, and water holes in the desert and arid public lands of the United States in the State of California, to render the same more readily accessible, and for the establishment of and maintenance of signboards and monuments locating the same, and for other purposes, having had the same under consideration, beg leave to report it back to the House with the recommendation that the bill be amended as follows: 1. On page 1, at the end of line 3, strike out the comma and insert the word" and." 2. On page 1, in lines 4 and 5, strike out the following: "and directed immediately to proceed by all necessary and proper means,' and insert in lieu thereof the following: "in his discretion in so far as the authorization made herein will permit." 3. On page 1, in lines 7 and 8, strike out the following: "what are known as the western deserts and." 4. On page 1, line 9, strike out the following: "in the State of California.' 5. On page 2, lines 15, 16, and 17, strike out the following: all disbursements made under this act shall be made by the Secretary of the Interior on vouchers approved by the Director of the Geological Survey." 6. On page 3, lines 3 to 8, inclusive, strike out all after the figure "4" and insert in lieu thereof the following: "That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to perform any and all acts and make such rules and regulations as may be necessary for the purpose of carrying the provisions of this act into full force and effect." H R-64-1-vol 2-13 7. Amend the title so as to read: An act providing for the discovery, development, and protection of streams, springs, and water holes in the desert and arid public lands of the United States, for rendering the same more readily accessible, and for the establishment of and maintenance of signboards and monuments locating the same. As thus amended the committee recommend that the bill do pass. S. 1351 is identical with H. R. 242 of the present Congress, except that the former is limited in its operations to the State of Californía. The Secretary of the Interior, in a letter to the chairman of the Committee on the Public Lands, reports as follows: Hon. SCOTT FERRIS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Chairman Committee on the Public Lands, House of Representatives. MY DEAR MR. FERRIS: In response to your request therefor I have the honor to report on H. R. 242 as follows: The bill provides for the discovery, development, and protection of streams, springs, and water holes in the desert and arid public lands of the United States, for rendering the same more readily accessible, and for the erection and maintenance of suitable and durable monuments and signboards at proper places and intervals along and near the accustomed lines of travel and over the general area of said desert lands, containing information and directions as to the location and nature of said streams, springs, and water holes, to the end that the same may be more readily traced and found by persons in search or need thereof. It also directs that suitable means be provided for conveniently bringing the water to the surface at said water holes, and for the preparation and distribution of suitable maps, reports, and general information relating to said springs, streams, and water holes. This bill is identical with S. 487 of the Sixty-third Congress, first session, and S. 1351 of the present Congress, except that the latter are limited in their operations to the State of California. S. 487. Sixty-third Congress, was the subject of departmental report dated May 3, 1913, in which it was stated that Congress might well consider the propriety of taking action of the type contemplated in said bill, but that if the action proposed is appropriate for the Federal Government to undertake it should not be confined to the State of California. This departmental report is printed in full in the report of the Senate Committee on Public Lands on S. 1351, dated December 17, 1915, Senate Calendar No. 7, Report No. 9, to which your attention is invited. In said report of May 3, 1913, it was stated that the duties which the bill imposes on the Department of the Interior can readily be performed with the present organization of the department if the necessary funds are provided; but it was suggested that, if the bill was modified so as to be general in its application, the amount appropriated be increased to $25,000, with which an adequate beginning of the contemplated work can be made. I would therefore emphasize the recommendations of the department in regard to this subject and suggest that section 2 of the proposed bill, H. R. 242, be so amended as to authorize the expenditure of $25,000 for the contemplated work. It is recommended that the bill as amended be enacted. Cordially, yours, FRANKLIN K. LANE, Secretary. Concerning this and similar bills introduced in previous Congresses, Secretary Lane has said: It appears that these bills express the desire of a number of citizens of the arid districts of the Southwest, who for years have endeavored to bring about action which would lead to the development and proper marking of watering places in American deserts. Because of the extensive mining developments, particularly in Nevada and Arizona, within the past two or three decades, there has been a great increase in the amount of travel through and across the more truly arid sections of our Southwest where the known and developed water supplies are scant and are often separated by wide waterless stretches. Travel through these districts by those who are not experienced in desert conditions is hazardous and many lives have been sacrificed, some of which at least might have been saved had the watering places been properly marked and signposts fixed at appropriate points. While action of the type contemplated in this bill is usually regarded as a function of local State and county authorities, I believe that Congress may well consider the propriety of undertaking it in the sparsely inhabited desert regions where the great body of lands are public lands which yield no taxes and, being practically uninhabitable, are likely to remain public lands and so continue to be unavailable as local sources of revenue. The following speak for themselves: BONES OF DESERT'S VICTIM FOUND NEAR SPRING-MAN DIES OF THIRST CLOSE TO WATER-SKELETON MAY NOT BE IDENTIFIED. [Special to the Express.] SAN BERNARDINO, April 4. Bleached by desert winds, the bones of an unknown prospector were found far out on the bleak plains in the "Willie Boy" country, and tell the story of another victim of thirst. The man had almost reached Surprise Springs. Whether in his delirium he did not know water was at hand, or was too weak to dig the sand out from the water hole, will never be known. Deputy Sheriff Reche, who was traveling the route over which he had aided in driving "Willie Boy" to his death, five years ago, found the skeleton. The man had been dead for weeks, and only the fact that he had three gold teeth gives the officers a clew to identification, and this is so meager a clew that the man probably will never be identified. Reche telephoned the report of the discovery from Banning. DRINKS HIS OWN BLOOD-MAN CRAZED BY THIRST IN DEATH VALLEY PLUNGES KNIFE INTO MOUTH TO MOISTEN TONGUE. [By direct wire to the Times.] RENO, NEV., July 14. Driven to the point of desperation in an effort to quench his thirst, an unknown prospector lost in Death Valley lanced the roof of his mouth for the relief his own blood furnished his parched throat. The man was found by Dr. Bulette and Edward Bevis, who were en route to the Keane Wonder mine across the sandy waste. When discovered he was demented, and as a last resort plunged the knife into his mouth in order to open an artery that would spread his life's fluid over his swollen tongue. The prospector could not give his name, but it was learned he had started from Skiddoo in an attempt to reach Rhyolite and had set his course across the desert which has already claimed so many victims. When he was found by the two mining men he was delirious and had nearly succumbed to the heat and thirst. He was lifted into the automobile, where it took one man to hold him in the seat. He raved and attempted to fight and the coagulated blood of his face and the blood-stained knife showed to what desperation he had been driven. He was conveyed to Rhyolite, and it is stated that he will recover. Thus far it has been impossible to learn his identity. There were no papers on his person and he had thrown away everything he had been carrying across the desert. The following is from an article written and published by Allan Kelly. THE VALLEY OF Fear-DEATHS IN THE COLORADO DESERT THIS YEAR. The list of known victims of the desert mounts up day by day. In three weeks, 11 dead prospectors were found and 8 others were raving maniacs when they were rescued. And the rescues, moreover, were accidental; other travelers simply hap pened to find the mad wanderers. M'RAE'S ADVENTURE. James McRae, a miner, attempted to cross Death Valley on horseback recently, He knew the way and the location of the water holes, and he carried a cask of water behind his saddle. But the horse dropped under the terrific heat, and McRae was compelled to abandon the animal and make the rest of the journey afoot. He filled his canteen from the cask, gave what remained of the water to the dying horse, and trudged over the sand toward the next spring, 10 miles away. The canteen leaked, and soon he had not a drop of water. It was only 10 miles to the spring, but 10 miles of Death Valley, with the temperature at 140 and the wind like the blast from a furnace, is an appalling distance. McRae knew what was before him, and, restraining the mad impulse to hasten forward, he sought the scant shade of a mesquite bush, and rested through the remainder of the day and a part of the night. When the heat had abated some few degrees he resumed the journey, and he succeeded in keeping his wits sufficiently to travel in the right direction. Here is his own description of the end of the quest: "When at last I dragged myself to the spring, after hours of torture, I had begun to see all manner of hideous shapes flitting before me, and the drip, drip of water trickling from the rocks into the muddy pool sounded like the mocking laughter of devils jeering at my sufferings. I had enough sense left, though, to drink sparingly at first, and, after satisfying my thirst to an endurable degree, I sat upon a rock, filled my pipe, and thought over my narrow escape. I was so joyful over it that I let out an exultant shout. My yell was answered by a pitiful cry from some place over in the sand hills, and I hurried in the direction from which the cry came. Not far away I found six men almost dead. They were within a hundred yards of the spring, but had no idea that there was a drop of water within 50 miles. It was that lucky yell of mine that saved them. Had there been a signboard at the spring, they would have seen it from a distance, and been saved long before. The six men found by McRae were the two Rice brothers, of Pahrump; James De Long and Hiram Phillips, of Bakersfield; Ben Raymond, of Daggett; and Blake, of Owens Valley. They were on a prospecting trip from Pahrump, had found springs dried up where they expected to get water, and had lost their way hunting for other water holes. But for McRae's luck in finding a spring, these men would have met the fate of a party that attempted to cross Death Valley in the latter part of June. There were nine in the party, and when found by other prospectors within half a mile of an unmarked water hole seven were dead and two were raving lunatics. On July 3 Matt Riley and James Kitte went out on the desert in Riverside County, Cal., with only a gallon of water between them. Kitte was made ill by the heat 12 miles out, and after resting by the roadside he turned back, and so escaped the fate which overtook his companion. Riley was found dead a few days later. His tracks indicated that he had traveled 50 miles in search of Cottonwood Springs, but had lost his way because of the lack of signboards, and had died of thirst about 20 hours after his search began. A MADMAN IN ONE DAY. J. H. Hooker, a health seeker at Indio, went out for a walk in the cool of the morning, and, knowing nothing of the desert, he took no water. In the burning heat of midforenoon he became bewildered, and at night he wandered back into town a madman. Manuel Sepulveda, with his wife and several children, left Uvada, Utah, for Searchlight in a wagon, and got along all right to Moapa, in southern Nevada. After leaving Moapa the Sepulvedas departed from the beaten trail to make a cut-off, and soon were lost in the desert. Their water supply ran short, and the horses were about ready to drop when a thunderstorm broke, drenching their parched bodies and replenishing the water tank. The next afternoon Sepulveda imagined that he saw a railroad train on the horizon and turned his horses in that direction, knowing that if he could reach the track he and his family would be safe. All night he drove on, but in the morning there was no sign of the railroad, and Sepulveda understood that the mirage had lured him into a trackless waste of sand. He turned toward a distant range of hills, and urged his team on, hoping to reach them and find shade before the heat of the afternoon sun should come upon them. As the outfit came to the crest of a sand hill, a blue lake fringed with trees appeared at one side of the course, and the woman and children shouted joyfully and thanked heaven they were saved. But Sepulveda had some desert experience, and he knew the lake was an illusion. It was a mirage so perfect in its mockery that the woman could not believe her husband's declaration that the rippling waves of blue water were only pulsating billows of heated air arising from scorching sand, and she urged him almost frantically to turn from the course and drive into the waters of the lake. The man and the horses were not deceived, and as they went on the mirage receded into the distance and melted away, and where the waves had danced whirling dust devils arose and waltzed madly across the desert. In the afternoon thunderclouds gathered along the range of hills, and soon the storm broke with crashing peals and vivid flashes. The horses reared and whirled, cramping and overturning the wagon, broke from the harness, and ran away. The |