AND WHERE TO FIND ONE. 33 



total present territory at 2,936,166 square miles, or 

 1,879,146,240 acres. 



&quot; Of this immense area, possessing a great variety of 

 climate and culture, so large a portion is fertile that it has 

 been steadily absorbed by the rapidly increased population. 

 In May, 1863, there remained undisposed of, belonging to 

 the Government of the United States, 964,901,625 acres. 



&quot; To prevent any confusion of boundaries, the lands are 

 carefully surveyed and allotted by the Government, and are 

 then granted gratuitously to actual settlers, or sold for prices 

 not exceeding $1.25 per acre to purchasers other than 

 settlers. It appears by the report of the Commissioner of 

 the General Land-office, that the quantity surveyed and 

 ready for sale in September, 1862, was 135,142,999 acres. 

 The report also states, that the recent discoveries of rich 

 and extensive gold fields in some of the unsurveyed por 

 tions, are rapidly filling the interior with a population 

 whose necessities require the speedy survey and disposition 

 of large additional tracts. The immediate survey is not, 

 however, of vital importance, as the first occupant practi 

 cally gains the pre-emptive claim to the land after the sur 

 vey is completed. The cardinal, the great continental fact, 

 so to speak, is this : that the whole of this vast body of 

 land is freely open to gratuitous occupation, without delay 

 or difficulty of any kind.&quot; 



All these lands will necessarily rise in value as 

 settlements are scattered through them. Our pop 

 ulation is increasing with a rapidity not witnessed 

 in any other ^country, and it is notorious that it is 

 population which gives value to land. In 1860, we 

 had 31,455,080 inhabitants, of whom -4,4:41,766 were 

 colored, and of these, 3,953,760 were slaves. Hence 

 forth they may be counted as freemen. The increase 



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