MEANS OF ACQUIRING LAND 



A. 



Original Homestead B. 



Entries. Total. 



Date. Acres. Acres. 



1897 4,452,290 7,839,117 



1898 6,206,558 8,453,897 



1899 6,177,587 9,182,413 

 1000 8,478,409 13,453,888 



1901 9,479,275 15,562,796 



1902 14,033,246 19,488,535 



1903 11,193,120 22,824,300 



1904 16,171,266 16,405,822 



Total 233,043,939 518,027,830 



From the above table it will be noted that dur- 

 ing the decade from 1890 to 1900, the amount of 

 land disposed of by the government was much 

 smaller than for the decade from 1880 to 1890. 

 This falling off was looked upon at the time as 

 suggesting that all the more desirable lands had 

 been selected from the public domain. Since 

 1900, however, the number of acres disposed of 

 each year has been much greater, rising to al- 

 most twenty-three millions in the year ending June 

 30, 1903. In 1902, nearly four and one-half mil- 

 lions of acres were disposed of in Oklahoma, and 

 slightly more than two and a half millions in 

 North Dakota. There were five states in which 

 more than one million acres of land w.ere disposed 

 of in 1902, namely, Wyoming, Montana, Oregon, 

 Washington, and Colorado. In 1903, nearly 

 three millions of acres were disposed of in each 

 of the two states, Florida and North Dakota, two 

 millions in Wyoming, and between one and two 

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