Executive Order 1286

By virtue of the authority vested in me, I hereby establish the following Order for the Canal Zone:

Section 1. A Land Office for the Canal Zone is hereby created under the jurisdiction of the Department of Law, and subject to the superior direction of the Chairman and Chief Engineer. The Land Office shall be in charge of an official to be known as Land Agent.

Section 2. The papers, maps, records, and other documents relating to the lands owned or controlled by the United States in the Canal Zone and the lands auxiliary to the canal in the Republic of Panama outside of the Canal Zone, when not otherwise provided by law, shall be kept in the Land Office in the care and custody of the Land Agent, under such rules and regulations as the Isthmian Canal Commission may establish from time to time.

Section 3. It shall be the duty of the Land Agent to render assistance to the Head of the Department of Law in all matters relating to the investigation of land claims and land titles; and under the direction of that officer he shall have the supervision of Government lands to prevent unauthorized intrusions thereon; and shall perform such other duties as may be assigned to him in accordance with law. He shall have such assistants and other help as may be authorized by the Chairman and Chief Engineer.

Section 4. The Isthmian Canal Commission may adopt rules and regulations for the government of the Land Office, in conformity with this Order and not inconsistent with the Executive Order of October 7, 1910, entitled: "Executive Order To prescribe the manner of leasing public lands in the Canal Zone."

Section 5. The Isthmian Canal Commission is hereby authorized to enter into an arrangement with the Panama Railroad Company to consolidate the said Company's Land Office with the Land Office hereby created, and by which the papers, maps, records, and other documents affecting the Panama Railroad Company's lands in the Canal Zone and the Republic of Panama may be transferred to the Land Office created by this Order, there to be kept in the custody of the Land Agent for the use and benefit of the Railroad Company; and the arrangement so made may provide that the work now done by the personnel in the Panama Railroad Company's Land Office, including land surveys and investigation of land claims, may be done by the Government Land Agent and other personnel of the Canal Commission.

The arrangement hereby authorized shall be effected upon such terms, in respect to reimbursement and other compensation from the Panama Railroad Company to the Commission, as may be agreed upon by the Isthmian Canal Commission and the Panama Railroad Company.

Section 6. This Order shall take effect thirty days from and after this date.

Wm. H. Taft.

The White House, January 19, 1911.