8 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
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 
minute. Certain rights connected with the water supply of Bridger 
Creek are also secured. The deed of William J. Davies and his wife 
transferring this property was dated May 20, 1893, and this document 
was duly transmitted to the United States 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 26, 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. 
Afognak forest and fish-culture reserve-—The act approved March 3, 
1891, entitled “An act to repeal timber-culture laws, and for other pur- 
poses,” affecting the acquisition of public lands, provides for the reserva- 
tion in Alaska of such public lands as “shall be selected by the United 
States Commissioner of Fish and 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, River, and Lake, with their 
tributary streams and the sources thereof, and the lands including the 
same on said Afognak Island, and within onemile from the shores 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 inelude the head springs 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 furnished 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 the 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 Department, by 
direction of the President, 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 River. 
