To the Honorable Blaine S. Viles, Land Agent for the State of 

 Maine. 



I herewith submit my report of my investigation of island 

 titles on the coast of Maine, which has been in progress, with 

 such time as I could devote to same, since July of 1913, — said 

 investigation being made for your office under Resolve of 1913, 

 Chapter 180. 



From the statement of facts accompanying, it appears that 

 the object of the resolve is to determine what islands along the 

 coast, the State of Maine still retains title to; and its context 

 would indicate that even the smaller islands and ledges were 

 considered of importance. 



An examination of the charts of the Maine coast, with its 

 long indented coast line, dotted with very numerous islands, 

 together with an examination of the data at hand relative to 

 the disposition of these islands, led me to realize the importance 

 and necessity of devising some good system, a pursuance of 

 which would, as far as possible, give me the required results. 



I accordingly obtained the services of the late Joseph Wil- 

 liamson, a man who had a considerable experience with island 

 titles and a good knowledge of the sources of land titles in 

 Maine, to assist me in devising some method of doing this 

 work. After an examination of the material available, we 

 adopted a method along the lines of which this work has been 

 done. 



Method. 



I was unable at the Land Office, or elsewhere, to find any 

 index or catalog of the islands on the Maine coast, and perhaps 

 none was ever made. It was apparent that as a starting point 

 it would be necessary to make a catalog of all such islands as 

 the Resolve contemplated, and such a catalog as would locate 

 each island definitely and avoid the confusion incident to the 

 similarity of names which are everywhere found. 



In looking for some map covering the entire coast, and on 

 such a scale as to show the smaller islands, I found the only 



