Miscellaneous Federal Documents & Reports

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  1798 - Message from the President of the United States, Accompanying a Report to Him from The Secretary of State, and Sundry Documents Reltaive to the Affairs of the United States on the Mississippi; The Intercourse with the Indian Nations and the Inexecution of the Treat Between the United States and Spain

  This publication contains the January 23, 1798, report of President John Adams concerning the situation of the United States affair in the territories, the incursion of England from Canada on the Mississippi River, Indian relations, and the unsigned treaty with Spain. Also contained in this book is a report from the Secretary of State, as well as a number of documents relating to the problems encountered on the Mississippi River and the unexecuted treaty with Spain.

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  1849 - Address to the Inhabitants of New Mexico and California on the Omission by Congress to Provide them with Territorial Goverments and on the Social and Political Evils of Slavery

  This August 1849 letter, signed by twenty-one abolitionists, in which they wrote concerning the Southern States refusal to provide New Mexico and California with the advantages and protection of civil government. The authors detailed the sequence of events leading up to the annexation of New Mexico and California and the efforts to ensure that the new territories would permit the ownership of slaves. The letter discusses the morality of slavery.

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  1849 - Speech of Mr. William B. Preston, of Virginia, in the House of Representatives on the Formation of a New State of the Territories of California and New Mexico

  The speech of William B. Preston of Virginia, given in the U.S. House of Representatives in which he introduced a bill that gave the consent of Congress to the people of California and New Mexico to create a government for themselves. The bill that Preston advocated invited the people of California the opportunity for the creation of a government founded upon their own will. It renounced the exercise of your territorial authority and jurisdiction and recognized the "great principle of popular supremacy and popular government." He was especially concerned that the bill not be perceived as a compromise between the North and the South as it related to the question of slavery. Preston offered his bill as a preferable solution to the "Missouri compromise." He proposed that the the question of whether slaves could be taken to a region while still in a territorial condition should be submitted to the Judiciary of the United States. He was concerned that other bills pertaining to statehood contained "anti-slavery" provision. and that the North might insist on adding it to his bill as a condition on which the Territories would b permitted to create a State government.

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  1884 - Report on the Legislative, Administrative, Technical, and Practical Problems of Irrigation - Wm. Ham. Hall

  This document was transmitted to the Legislature as an exhibit of the extent and character of the Report on the Problem of Irrigation, then in preparation for publication by the State Engineer. The first 32 pages contain a Table of Contents, or Outline of Matter, for each chapter of the entire work, from which a fair idea could be formed of its scope, system of arrangement, degree of completeness, and general character. The next 272 pages, 32 to 304, contain the text of about three fifths of the first book of the work-namely, the papers on the Irrigation, Legislation and Administration of the Romans, French and Italians, from which a fair idea could be formed regarding the character of the matter and its treatment in detail.

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  1890 - Report on Irrigation in the United States, Second Edition, Richard J. Hinton

  The report to the United States Senate Special Committee on Irrigation and Reclamation of Arid Lands was an inquiry into the progress and condition of irrigation involving the extent and character of the area within which the annual rain fall was not sufficient for industrial uses of the people. The inquiry involved the extent of the fall of rains or snow within an area, any evidence as to increase or decrease of precipitation resulting from agricultural settlement or of pastoral occupation, the increase of humidity, the destruction of the timber mainly by its use for settlement purposes, the effect of the destruction of native grasses and the substitution of cultivated varieties, the sources of water supply, their character, uses, conservation, the means natural and artificial, employed for their distribution and what had been accomplished in the way of artificial methods of water distribution and economy, and the laws and customs pertaining to water supply.

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  1901 - Irrigation in the United States - Testimony of Elwood Mead before U.S. Industrial Commission, June 11-12, 1901

  Professor Elwood Mead, expert in charge of the Irrigation Investigations of the United States Department of Agriculture, appeared before the United States Industrial Commission on June 11 and 12, 1901, to testify on the subject of irrigation in the United States. His testimony presented a review of the irrigation situation in the United States, including not only the arid region of the West, but also the humid sections of the South and East, where in two States alone more land had been brought under irrigation during the past five years than in any single State in the arid region during the same period. The testimony also deals briefly, but in some detail, with the practical aspects of extending public aid to irrigation, either through the State or national governments.

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  1907 - Handbook of American Indians north of Mexico, Part I; Frederick Webb Hodge

  Lack of knowledge of the aborigines and of their languages led to many errors on the part of the early explorers and settlers. Soon after the organization of the Bureau of American Ethnology in 1879, the work of recording a tribal synonymy was formally assigned to Henry W. Henshaw. The 2,500 tribal names and synonyms appearing in this list were taken chiefly from James Mooney's manuscript; the linguistic classification was the result of the work that the Bureau had been conducting under Henshaw's supervision. The handbook contains a descriptive list of the stocks, confederacies, tribes, tribal divisions, and settlements north of Mexico, accompanied with the various names by which these have been known, together with biographies of Indians of note, sketches of their history, archeology, manners, arts, customs, and institutions, and the aboriginal words incorporated into the English language.

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  1913 - Guide to Materials for the History of the United States in the principal archives of Mexico; Herbert Eugene Bolton

  This preliminary report about the materials pertaining to the United States located in the Mexican archives was based upon what was actually found, prepared wholly for utilitarian purposes, and not a definitive treatise on the Mexican archives. It should be regarded as a compilation of notes, taken by one primarily interested in knowing and recording the whereabouts and nature of materials for United States history, and put in the most convenient form consonant with that purpose. There was included in the report, necessarily, many references to characters and events of Mexican history proper, especially those which have had close connection with the Interior Provinces, and to national movements which have affected in an important way these provinces or international relations. As a means of encouraging work by Americans in the Mexican archives, it was deemed wise to make it as useful as possible to English readers.

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  1916 - The Establishment of State Government in California, Cardinal Goodwin

  This work covers the period in California history from 1846 to 1847. The introductory chapter traces, briefly, the extension of American influence over the territory from an early date to the complete of the conquest. Following the first chapter is a more detailed account of the period of military rule an the resulting political unrest. The work of the Convention of 1849 and the election, organization and enactments of the first Legislature have been given due consideration. Chapter 18 dealt with the admission of California into the Union and the final chapter contains statistics on the population, professions and occupations, farm lands, produce and livestock, and schools and churches.

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  1939 - A History of the Water Resources Branch, US Geological Survey, Volume I, From Predecessor Surveys to June 30, 1919

  By 1938, the systematic studies of the water resources of the country and, therefore, the antecedents of the Water Resources Branch of the USGS were 50 years old. The history of the Water Resources Branch presents the struggle to reach into the unknown and, by the development of methods and instruments as well as the training of personnel to create a new art and a new science. This is Volume I of a six volume chronological summaries of the activities and achievements of the Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey.

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  2011 - Indian Reorganization Act - Hearing before the Committee on Indian Affairs

  Hearing on the Indian Reorganization Act—75 Years Later: Renewing Our Commitment to Restore Tribal Homelands and Promote Self-Determination. Members looked at the history of U.S. Indian Policy examining the original intent and legislative history of the Indian Reorganization Act [IRA] and subsequent amendment to the Act. Since 1934, the IRA has stood as the bedrock of Federal Indian policy. A 2009 Supreme Court decision narrowly construed the text of the IRA up-ending the status quo, which had existed for 75 years, contrary to Congressional intent, legislative history and previous affirmative actions by the Administration. Statements, letters, and materials submitted for the record include those of the following: John E. Echohawk, John Barrasso, Tom Udall, Michael O. Finley, Carole E. Goldberg, Steven J.W. Heeley, Frederick E. Hoxie, Jefferson Keel, Richard Monette, William Rice, Daniel K. Akaka, and Cedric Cromwell.

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  2011 - Published Government Sources Relating to American Indians

  A U.S. National Archives and Records Administration publication regarding government sources that contain information on Federal policy toward Native Americans, overviews of Indian wars, and reports of Indian agents.

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  1974 - Geology of the Southern Salinas Valley Area, California

  This 1974 report about the geology of the southern Salinas Valley was concerned mainly with relating the occurrence of petroleum and other mineral commodities to the Cenozoic history of the area. The investigation had two phases. First phase involved detailed geologic mapping of quadrangles that cover most of Tertiary beds west of the Salinas River. Second phase included a reconnaissance geologic mapping to extend the results of the first phase to a larger area. The report summarizes results of the geologic investigation of the entire southern Salinas Valley area.

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  1978 - Water Resources Investigations - Two-Dimensional and Three-Dimensional Digital Flow Models of the Salinas Valley Ground-Water Basin, Report 78-113

  This 1978 report discussed a group of hydrologic models that were developed for the Salinas Valley that included the small-stream model, river model, two -dimensional ground-water model, and three dimensional ground-water model. The small-stream model simulated ground-water recharge from small streams that were tributary to the Salinas River. The river model simulated ground-water recharge from and surface-water discharge in the Salinas River. The two-dimensional and three-dimensional ground-water models simulated hydraulic head in the ground-water basin. The report noted that in addition to being an important agricultural area, Salinas Valley contained several growing urban areas that obtained water from the ground water near the areas of demand. The geographic areas with locally large urban demand for ground water were generally contiguous to areas with local agricultural ground-water supply problems, and the urban demand tended to exacerbate the agricultural supply problems. A major part of the investigation was oriented toward formulating plans for managing the water resources of the area with respect to water supply, water quality, and waste water.

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  1983 - History of the Rectangular Survey System

  A detailed accounting of the story of U.S. public land survey and registration that can be used as a detailed reference by historians, land use specialists, surveyors, and the legal community for contemporary decision making, understanding and judgment. The book covers the political and economic events leading to the passage of the first land ordinance, the development of the rectangular system of surveys, the General Land Office within the Department of Interior, the direct system to end the General Land Office, and the Surveyors General of the Public Land States. The Appendix includes the original Instructions to the Deputy Surveyors, circulars, important letters, and pertinent parts of the Manuals of Surveying Instructions.

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  1988 - Simulated Effects of Groundwater Management Alternatives for the Salinas Valley, Water Resources Investigations Report 87-4066

  This 1988 investigation was done by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Monterey County Flood Control and Water Conservation District. The purposes of this study were to identify and quantify the various types of flow into and out of the ground-water basin and to describe the physical processes that control them. The hydrologic analysis included development of a two-dimensional digital flow model. One of the goals of the study was to update and improve a previous digital model of the basin. The report noted that because of the proximity of Salinas Valley to the ocean, large rates of ground-water pumping caused the inflow of seawater into the aquifers. Consequently, many wells were contaminated by seawater and could not be used as a source of irrigation water.

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  1994 - Executive Summary of Lessons Learned from the California Drought (1987-1992)

  A 1994 report covering the period of 1987-1992 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regarding a national drought study instituted in 1989 during the middle of the California drought. The study included the views of 100 key members of the California water community, representing 57 organizations that included federal, state, regional, and local water supply agencies as well as environmental, private, and governmental entities that controlled and influenced water management in California.

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  1994 - Managing Water for Drought, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Institute for Water Resources

  The purpose of the report was to explain the procedure for cooperative federal-state drought preparedness studies, to indicate how the studies related to the longstanding principles and guidance for federal water resources investigations, and to indicate the means of implementing conclusions arrived at in any given region. This 1994 report, developed during a four-year National Study of Water Management, summarizes the method of improving water management during drought. The method was tested and refined in four field studies in different parts of the country, in which teams of water managers and users worked together to reduce drought impacts. In each case, the situations were complex, involving may different uses of water. Because state and local responsibilities were involved, a joint cooperative approach between state and federal agencies was necessary to provide satisfactory answers.