PREFACE. 
It was my intention to write a work on the Public Domain. The 
object of the volume was to give the extent and character of the lands yet 
belonging to the Government of the United States. Compared with the 
‘whole extent of these lands, but a very small fraction is immediately 
available for agriculture; in general, they require drainage or irrigation for 
their redemption. 
It is true that in the Southern States there are some millions of acres, 
chiefly timber lands, which at no remote time will be occupied for agricul- 
tural purposes. Westward toward the Great Plains, the lands in what I 
have, in the body of this volume, termed the Humid Region have passed 
from the hands of the General Government. ‘lo this statement there are 
some sinall exceptions here and there—tractional tracts, which, for special 
reasons, have not been considered desirable by persons in search of lands 
for purposes of investment or occupation. 
In the Sub-humid Region settlements are rapidly extending westward 
to the verge of the country where agriculture is possible without irrigation. 
In the Humid Region of the Columbia the agricultural lands are 
largely covered by great forests, and for this reason settlements will pro- 
gress slowly, as the lands must be cleared of their timber. 
The redemption of the Arid Region involves engineering problems 
requiring for their solution the greatest skill. In the present volume only 
these lands are considered. Had I been able to execute the original plan 
to my satisfaction, I should have treated of the coast swamps of the South 
Atlantic and the Gulf slopes, the Everglade lands of the Floridian Penin- 
sula, the flood plain lands of the great rivers of the south, which have here- 
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