133,000,000
acres of surveyed land.
The great enterprise of connecting the Atlantic with the Pacific States
by railways and telegraph lines has been entered upon with a vigor that
gives assurance of success, notwithstanding the embarrassments arising
from the prevailing high prices of materials and labor. The route of the
main line of the road has been definitely located for 100 miles westward
from the initial point at Omaha City, Nebr., and a preliminary location
of the Pacific Railroad of California has been made from Sacramento
eastward to the great bend of the Truckee River in Nevada.
Numerous discoveries of gold, silver, and cinnabar mines have been added
to the many heretofore known, and the country occupied by the Sierra
Nevada and Rocky mountains and the subordinate ranges now teems with
enterprising labor, which is richly remunerative. It is believed that
the product of the mines of precious metals in that region has during
the year reached, if not exceeded, one hundred millions in value.
It was recommended in my last annual message that our Indian system be
remodeled. Congress at its last session, acting upon the recommendation,
did provide for reorganizing the system in California, and it is
believed that under the present organization the management of the
Indians there will be attended with reasonable success. Much yet remains
to be done to provide for the proper government of the Indians in other
parts of the country, to render it secure for the advancing settler, and
to provide for the welfare of the Indian. The Secretary reiterates his
recommendations, and to them the attention of Congress is invited.
The liberal provisions made by Congress for paying pensions to invalid
soldiers and sailors of the Republic and to the widows, orphans, and
dependent mothers of those who have fallen in battle or died of disease
contracted or of wounds received in the service of their country have
been diligently administered. There have been added to the pension rolls
during the year ending the 30th day of June last the names of 16,770
invalid soldiers and of 271 disabled seamen, making the present number
of army invalid pensioners 22,767 and of navy invalid pensioners 712.
Of widows, orphans, and mothers 22,198 have been placed on the army
pension rolls and 248 on the navy rolls. The present number of army
pensioners of this class is 25,433 and of navy pensioners 793. At the
beginning of the year the number of R
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