148 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



the close of the civil war. The correspondence of the department shows an 

 increasing desire to ascertain the facts and principles "which have regu- 

 lated this movement in the past, and whether a more advantageous 

 direction could be given it for the future. To meet this general desire, 

 the Commissioner of Agriculture ordered a statistical investigation of 

 the facts attainable on this question. A circular, returnable May 15, 

 1879, was sent to our regular correspondents, in which were embraced 

 inquiries as to the extent and value of unoccupied land, cleared or 

 timbered, the facilities for travel, transportation, and marketing of 

 products, educational and church facilities, the number and class of im- 

 migrants and the States and countries from which they came, the cus- 

 toms and terms of leasing lands, &c. 



It was desirable to know how far inducements to the migration of 

 the agricultural classes rested upon land open to appropriation else- 

 where ; hence the first point of inquiry was the amount of such lands 

 in the different States. This inquiry referred to lands held by the na- 

 tional and State governments. In regard to the former, the inquiry 

 narrowed itself down to what are called tlie public land States. 



Inasmuch as the General Land Office at Washington, with its own 

 records ixom the commencement of its operation, has declared its ina- 

 bility to state the amount of land remaining at its disposal, we did not 

 expect our correspondents to be able to supply this information. 



The public lands of the United States originally embraced the States 

 north of the Ohio River, and the States and Territories between the 

 Mississippi Eiver and the Pacific Ocean, except Texas, together with 

 Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. 



The title to unoccupied lands in these States and Territories was either 

 granted by individual States to the Union after the Revolution or ac- 

 quired by treaty, purchase, or conquest since the administration of 

 President Jefferson. 



According to the report" of the Commissioner of the General Land 

 Office for 1878, the total area of the public domain was 1,814,772,648 

 acres, of which 724,311,447 acres had been surveyed, leaving 1,090,461,171 

 acres unsurveyed. Some of the unsurveyed lands are covered by in- 

 choate titles that will inure to railway corporations and pre-emption 

 settlers upon tlie completion of survey, but the great mass of these 

 unsurveyed lands are, as yet, entirely uncovered by any private claims, 

 and are consequently ox)en to settlement. Of tlfe above area of un- 

 surveyed lands, 369,529,600 acres are in Alaska, of which a former 

 Commissioner of the General Land Office, Mr. Joseph S. Wilson, esti- 

 mated that about 20,000 square miles or 12,800,000 acres are fit for some 

 kind of agricultural settlement ; this is about half the area of Ohio. A 

 large portion of the i^nsettled land west of the Mississippi River con- 

 sists of broken mountain country and of arid alkali soil unfit for culti- 

 vation by any process now known. The Indian Territory, embracing 

 44,154,240 acres, is reserved for the occupancy of Indian tribes, and 

 hence is not open to white settlement- Making all deductions, it is safe 

 to estimate that of the unsurveyed lands there remain 500 million acres 

 suitable for profitable culture and uncovered by private title of any 

 kind. 



Of tlie surveyed lands it is difficult to form anything like a satisfacv 

 tory estimate. The public surveys have been completed in the States 

 north of the Ohio River, in Alabama, Mississippi, and in all the States 

 just west of the Mississippi River except Minnesota. 



Our correspondents in these States report quite large bodies of unoc- 

 cupied laud. In Alabama there are 91 ,000 acres of United States land in 



