8 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FI?iHERIES. 



was that embracing Davies Springs, near Bozeman. After a careful 

 engineering survey an option for the sale of the property at $3,500 was 

 obtained. The site embraces some 78 acres of land, on which are the 

 Davies Springs, flowing between 1,200 and 1,500 gallons of water per 

 niinnte. Certain rights connected with the water supj^ly of Bridger 

 Creek are also secured. The deed of William J. ]>avies and his wife 

 transferring this property was dated May 20, 1893, and this document 

 was duly transmitted to the United Stales Attorney-General for exami- 

 nation and certification as to the sufficiency of the same to vest a valid 

 title in the United States. On June 2G, 1893, the Attorney-General, 

 in a communication to the Commissioner, stated that this deed was 

 sufficient to pass a valid title to the United States. 



Afognalc forest and fish-culture reserve. — The act approved March 3, 

 1891, entitled "An act to repeal timber-culture laws, and for other pur- 

 poses," aflecting the acquisition of public lands, provides for the reserva- 

 tion in Alaska of such public lands as "shall be selected bj^the United 

 States Commissioner of Fish an.d Fisheries on the islands of Kadiak 

 and Afognak for the purpose of establishing fish culture stations." 

 Under this provision of the act the President, by proclamation of 

 December 24, 1892, set aside "Afognak Bay, Eiver, and Lake, with their 

 tributary streams and the sources thereof, and the lands including the 

 same on said Afognak Island, and within onemilefrom theshores thereof, 

 as a reserve for the purpose of establishing fish-culture stations, and 

 for the use of the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, the 

 boundary lines of which include the head s^jrings of the tributaries above 

 mentioned, and the lands the drainage of which is into the same." 



COURTESIES RECEIVED AND EXTENDED. 



At the request of the Secretary of State, information on the fishery 

 laws of various countries was fiu'nished for use in the arbitration of the 

 Bering Sea seal controversy between this country and Great Britain. 



By direction of the President, the steamer Albatross was transferred 

 to the Treasury Department, for duty in the investigation of the life- 

 history of the fur seal and of the fur-seal fishery of Bering Sea. 



The Treasury Department granted facilities to Mr. Charles H. Town- 

 send, an assistant of the Commission, to study seal life upon the rook- 

 eries of the Pribilof Islands. 



Information relative to tbe hydrographic soundings of the steamer 

 Albatross was furnished the Coast and Geodetic Survey for the Coast 

 Pilot of Alaska. 



The steamer Albatross was transferred to the Navy Dei)artment, by 

 direction of the l*resident, for duty as a patrol in Bering Sea. 



Capt. W. E. Dougherty, U. S. A., was, by request, detailed by the Sec- 

 retary of War to superintend the fish-cultural work at Fort Gaston, Cal. 



The Commission is again indebted to Gen. Albert Ordway, command- 

 ing the District of Columbia militia, for the loan of tents and equipment 

 for use in the shad-hatching operations on the Potomac lliver. 



