MINERALS 239 



it began to sell the land outright. But as industry grew, the 

 mineral lands from which come the basic raw materials of in' 

 dustry became increasingly easy to get. After the Civil War, 

 during the great period of industrial development, mineral 

 lands could be had practically for the asking. A homesteader 

 could simply settle on 160 acres of coal land and get it for 

 nothing. Many companies interested in acquiring mineral lands 

 would pay people a small sum to homestead the mineral land, 

 and then take it over as soon as the homesteader was given 

 title to it by the government. 



CONSERVATION OF MINERALS 



One of the first important events in the beginning of the 

 conservation movement was the publication of Major J. W. 

 Powell's Lands of the Arid Regions in 1888. 12 Major Powell 

 succeeded in having established in the Interior Department the 

 Geological Survey, whose job it was to survey and catalogue 

 the natural resources of the nation. 13 



In 1891 the first feeble effort to protect the basic resources 

 of the nation was made. Congress gave the president the right 

 to keep settlers out of valuable public timberland and to estab' 

 lish forest reserves. Until the administration of Theodore 

 Roosevelt, President Cleveland was the only president who 

 used that right to any appreciable extent. 14 This act was the 

 result of efforts of the American Association for the Advance' 

 ment of Science, which was at that time primarily interested 

 in saving the forests. (See page 183.) 



However, it was not until 1906, in the term of President 

 Theodore Roosevelt, that the government became really inter' 

 ested in conservation. And once again the starting force came 

 from those primarily interested in saving the forests. Gifford 



12 Ibid., p. 5. 



18 Hacker and Kendrick, op. cit., p. 410. 



14 Ibid., p. 409. 



