THE MINING BUREAU OF THE PHILIPPINE 



ISLANDS 



By Charles H. Burritt, 



Chief of the Mining Bureau 



THE Mining Bureau of the Phil- 

 ippine Islands was reestab- 

 lished on March 10, 1900, by- 

 order of Major-General Otis, U. S. 

 Military Governor of the Philippines, 

 and was made successor of the ' ' In- 

 spection General de Miuas " of the 

 Spanish Philippine Government and 

 with the same duties. These duties 

 were divided into three divisions, viz : 



(a.) Supervision and administration 

 of titles and grants. 



(6.) Supervision and direction over 

 mines, including inspection, sanitation, 

 and police. 



(7. ) Geological and mineralogical sur- 

 veys and scientific studies. 



These duties have nevern bee changed 

 by the American Government, either 

 civil or militar}-, with the exception of 

 subdivision (a) above quoted. By the 

 act of Congress of July 1, 1902, the 

 supervision and administration of titles, 

 so far as issuance thereof is concerned , 

 upon all claims for mineral lands insti- 

 tuted after August 14, 1903, was vested 

 in the Insular Bureau of Public Lands. 

 The Spanish titles and grants remain in 

 the Mining Bureau. A thorough ex- 

 amination of these titles and grants 

 has been made, the validity and regu- 

 larity of each has been determined, and 

 a bulletin has been issued by this Bureau 

 with a classification of all such titles and 

 grants, whether valid or invalid, and 

 with full information as to their incep- 

 tion, location, survey, and other steps 

 of procedure. This is our Bulletin 

 No. 2. 



Owing to the insurrection and dis- 

 turbed conditions, but little could be 

 done under subdivision (b). Many 

 mining claims have been instituted and 

 a vast amount of prospecting has been 



done since the American occupation, 

 and in several provinces a considerable 

 amount of development work has been 

 done. On the Island of Batan the 

 Spanish corporation, " Minas de Carbon 

 de Batan," with a capital of $1,000,000, 

 is now developing the Spanish coal 

 mining grants of Gill Brothers and are 

 proceeding rapidly with a corps of em- 

 ployes, consisting of Spanish and Jap- 

 anese miners, and with a large force of 

 native employes and laborers. The 

 Villanueva and Muhoz Spanish coal 

 grants on the west of the same Island 

 of Batan have recently been acquired 

 by the United States Government, and 

 by order of the Secretary of War these 

 mines are now being opened up and de- 

 veloped. The work is under the super- 

 vision of Lieut. H. L. Wigmore, Corps 

 of Engineers, U. S. A., and I have no 

 doubt of the success of this enterprise. 

 Its importance from an economical and 

 commercial standpoint is not less than 

 its importance as an international 

 factor. 



The investigation of the coal measures 

 of the Philippines was the first subject 

 taken up by this Bureau after its rees- 

 tablishmeut, with a view of securing for 

 the United States within its own terri- 

 torial boundaries in the Orient a supply 

 of steam coal that could be made avail- 

 able in case of an emergency for all 

 governmental purposes and especially for 

 supplying coal to the Philippine and 

 Asiatic Squadrons of the U. S. Navy. 

 Many hundreds of documents were care- 

 fully read and studied, and the result 

 presented in the report on " The Coal 

 Measuresof the Philippines, ' ' by Charles 

 H. Burritt, 1st Lieutenant, nth U. S. 

 Vol. Cavalry, officer in charge of the 

 Mining Bureau, and published at Wash- 



