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Montgomery Ala March 1 1866

General

I have the honor respectfully to report that under your instructions of the 6th ult. I proceeded to visit the local land offices of this states. and, that I very much regret the fact of having found the records in most cases in such a condition as to preclude the possibility of acquiring such knowledge of the Several districts (without consuming much more time than I suppose could well be given) as to give you a detailed report of each. in fact, in three of the districts the last book of entries made by the Registers could not be found.
I find that there are unentered lands amounting to between six and seven millions of acres, lying chiefly in the Middle and Southern portion of the state. The unentered lands in the Northern part, and lying in the districts of "Center Huntsville and Tuscaloosa" are very broken and hilly, and the vastly large proportion is unfit for agricultural pursuits besides lying in that portion of the state to which the public mind is now directed as containing valuable mineral deposits and therefore not subject to entry for the purpose indicated.
The unentered lands lying within the district of "Demopolis, St. Stephens, Elba & Greenville" curving the Central Southern, South Eastern, and South Western portions of the state, are generally heavily timbered, and susceptible