344  CONTRIBUTIONS    TO    ECONOMIC    GEOLOGY,  1905. 
arc  chiefly  valuable  for  their  oil  or  other  mineral  deposits;  but  in  justice  to  the  railroad  companj 
whose  line  of  railroad  has  long  since  been  completed  in  conformity  with  the  land-grant  act,  and 
justice  to  others  who  may  desire  to  take  any  of  the  public  lands  within  said  limits  under  any  of  tr 
public-land  laws  other  than  the  mining  laws,  it  is  necessary  that  this  order  of  suspension  shall  nc 
be  operative  longer  than  until  December  1,  1903,  that  being  deemed  ample  time  within  which,  in  ad( 
tion  to  the  exploration  and  exoloitatinn  heretofore  had,  to  fairly  develop  the.  character  of  these  lands 
The  effect  of  this  order  was,  on  tin-  one  hand,  to  stimulate  prospectors  to  attempt  tc 
develop  this  field,  and,  on  the  other,  it  is  claimed,  to  make  the  Union  Pacific  Railroa 
hinder  the  development  in  such  way  as  it  might,  being  the  one  line  of  transportation  in  tin 
region.     Certain  cases  affecting  sec.  23,  T.  15  N.,  R.  118  W.,  and  sec.  33,  T.  14  N.,  R.  119  W., 
were  heard  before  a  special  examiner  in  the  district  land  office  August  23  and  25,  1904, 
and  the  decision  rendered  that  these  tracts  were  not  " known  mineral  lands,"  and  that* 
patent  should  be  issued  to  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  its! 
land  grant.     With  the  termination  of  this  land  contest,  it  is  asserted,  the  railroad  has  offered 
freight   facilities  which  will  materially  aid  in  the  development  of  the  field.     The  following] 
table  gives  the  wells  drilled  in  this  field  up  to  the  present  time: 
