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the two fields at 3700 square miles. In addition to this, the building stone and bituminous sandstone of that section are well worth detailed examination. His observations in regard to the possibility of irrigation and the resulting fertility of the soil are in full accord with those of Prof. Streeruwitz in the Trans-Pecos, and his designation of the district within which artesian water can certainly be obtained, is a work that will surely be appreciated by every person in his district.

The great mineral district of which Llano County may be termed the centre has not been overlooked or disregarded, but no special investigation has yet been directed there, because from surveys made by myself, Prof. Streeruwitz, and others, its resources and geology are perhaps better known than those of any other portion of the state of equal area. My attention in this preparatory work has, therefore, been directed to sections of which we knew less.

A preliminary report on the building stones and minerals of the San Saba portion of this district has been prepared by Dr. A. Gregg, and will be found in its proper place.

MINING LAW.

In connection with these reports, I can not too earnestly urge the imperative necessity for a change in the mining laws of the state. The present statute, instead of encouraging prospectors and miners, operates as a preventive. While all investigators, without exception, concur in declaring Texas rich exceedingly in mineral deposits, of a variety and value unsurpassed by those of any state or country in the world; while these deposits occur in most favorable juxtaposition; while transportation facilities are rapidly increasing, and demand keeps pace with growing accessibility to market, our sister states are outstripping us in progress of development, and the richer fields of Texas lie unheeded and almost untouched. There are several reasons for this; one has been removed by the establishment of the present survey, but the chief existing one lies in the repressive mining statute now in force.

The provision of the law most obnoxious is that reserving mineral rights to the state and requiring a royalty of five per centum of the gross output of mines and the extreme narrowness of claim allowed. Although grave doubts are entertained as to the constitutionality of this provision, and though it may never have been and may never be operative, it nevertheless stands a stumbling-block in the way of progress in developing our mineral resources. Even if the reservation be constitutional, the tax is too onerous. Five per centum of the net proceeds would be burdensome, and the payment of royalties to the state at all savors too much of the monopoly of monarchies to suit the free spirit of our people. The state should ascertain the value of her mineral lands, place a fair value upon them, and sell them outright to actual miners under proper restrictions as to amount of work to be done. Such a course would be more agreeable to the genius of our institutions, and the resulting increase of taxable values would be ample royalty.

IRRIGATION.

Again, the importance of the work of the Geological Survey in connection with the subject of irrigation can not be too strongly urged. The classification of irrigable lands must include not only an investigation of their topography and a determination of the possibility of irrigation, but it is even of