ANNALS 



OF THE 



CARNEGIE MUSEUM 



Vol. X, Nos. 3 and 4. 



Editorial Notes. 



At the time when the work of exploring the fossil beds in Uinta 

 County, Utah, was undertaken by this Museum, much of the territory 

 was still comprised within the Ute and Uncompahgre reservations. 

 Some of these lands since we first entered the region have been thrown 

 open to occupation and settlement by the whites. In the territory 

 thus thrown open was the land on which our quarry, north of the town 

 of Jensen, is located. Being concerned for the continuance of the 

 work of the Museum, and apprehensive that some wandering pros- 

 pector for the purpose of levying tribute upon the Museum, might 

 enter a claim to the tract upon which we were working, the Director 

 instructed Mr. Earl Douglass to take steps to file a claim to eighty 

 acres covering the site of the quarry, under the mineral laws of the 

 United States, we having been advised by eminent legal authorities 

 that such a procedure was proper. After all the necessary steps had 

 been taken we were to our astonishment informed by the authorities 

 in Washington that fossilized bones are not "mineral." Though 

 refusing to give us title to the land under the mineral laws, the Secre- 

 tary of the Interior, realizing the importance of the aims of the 

 Museum and the desirability of allowing scientific investigations at 

 that point to be continued, recommended to the President that the 

 eighty acres should be set apart and withdrawn from entry under 

 the act of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat., 225). By proclamation of 

 the President under date of October 4, 191 5, the recommendation of 



309 



