146 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



private land grants, mainly within California and 

 New Mexico, originating from the former Mexican 

 rule; second, claims or sales based upon the home- 

 stead, desert, preemption, and other laws. These 



78,990,964 198,040,351 



The following table gives the area of lands in each 

 State partly out of the hands of the government, or 



63,162,283 19,484,800 



On examining the map of vacant public lands, it is 

 apparent that selections of entered lands in the arid 

 and sub-humid regions have been governed by the 

 water supply in other words, the lands have been 

 taken around springs and along streams. In fact, 

 within the past ten years nearly all of the land to 

 which water can be easily conducted by canal has 

 been filed upon. 



A classification of the lands, based on the assump- 

 tion that an artificial supply of water cannot be had 

 for most of this area, has been attempted, in order to 

 arrive at their value for other purposes besides culti- 



Diagram illustrating the relative area of Vacant Public Land, the Land in Private Ownership, and the 

 Farm Area in each of the Western States and Territories. 



at least for the time being dedicated to special vation. A careful estimate gives the following re- 



purposes: 



sults: 



