OLASSIFICATIOKT OP MINERAL LANDS. 65 



posited in the files of the land-classification board and are always 

 readily available for use. Card indexes are maintained covering 

 both sets of files. 



COAL LANDS. 



PUBPOSE OF CLASSIFICATION. 



By act of March 3, 1873, Congress provided for the sale of coal 

 lands belonging to the United States, specifying the conditions of 

 sale and the minimum prices. To carry out the act it is necessary 

 to determine, first* what lands are coal lands (classification), and 

 second, at what price they shall be sold (valuation). To give uni- 

 formity to Executive action in this work certain rules have been 

 prepared by the Geological Survey and approved by the Secretary 

 of the Interior under the title " Regulations for the classification 

 and valuation of coal lands." These regulations provide exclusively 

 for the classification and valuation of coal lands and are not to be 

 confused with the regulations providing for the disposition of coal 

 lands issued by the Land Office under the title " Coal-land laws and 

 regulations thereunder." It is the province of the Geological Sur- 

 vey to determine what lands are underlain by coal within the limits 

 set by the classification regulations, and to it has also been assigned 

 the work of valuing the lands classified as coal land. Classification 

 and valuation must follow three antecedent steps — (1) the adoption 

 of regulations formulating the principles and practice which are 

 to govern classification and valuation; (2) the field examination to 

 determine the presence, position, quality, and other features of the 

 coal in the land; (3) the assembling of the field data in such form 

 as to facilitate the work of classification and valuation by making 

 possible the simultaneous consideration of all the. facts. Finally, 

 classification and valuation involve a consideration of all the known 

 facts to determine what legal subdivisions of land are coal lands 

 under the regulations and at what price they shall be sold. 



Preliminary to the detailed consideration either in the field or 

 office of any area believed to contain valuable coals the lands 

 are withdrawn from entry under the authority of the act of June 

 25, 1910 (36 Stat., 847), as amended by the act of August 24, 1912 

 (37 Stat., 497). A typical coal-land withdrawal order is appended 

 with the accompanying letter of transmittal : 



Department of the Intebiob, 



United States Geological Sukvey, 



Washington, January 21, 1913. 

 The honorable the Secbetaet of the Intebioe. 



Sik: Information on file in the Survey indicates that the land listed below 

 contains valuable deposits of coal, and I therefore recommend the submission to 

 78894°— Bull. 537—13 5 



