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PARAGRAPH XXX. 



HISTORY OF STATE LANDS IN THE UNITED 



STATES. 



To understand the situation of state lands in the United States 

 it is necessary to distinguish between 



A : the lands of the thirteen original states and of the six 

 states admitted (Kentucky, Vermont and Tennessee in the 18th. 

 century; Maine, Texas and West Virginia in the 19th. century). 



B: the lands of the public land states. 



In the original states and the six states added, when their con- 

 stitutions were passed, the State was the owner of all vacant land. 



In the public land states the nation remained when their 

 constitution was passed the owner of all vacant lands; and 

 these new states would not own to-day a square foot of soil 

 if it were not for a number of land grants to them by the 

 United States. Among these land grants are noteworthy, notably, 

 the Swamp Land Acts of 1850 and of subsequent years, and the 

 Carey Act of 1894. 



Under the Swamp Land Acts, about 75 million acres of land 

 were granted to the new states. A large majority of the land 

 thus granted was found, after the title had been vested in 

 private individuals, to be not swampy, but directly agricultural 

 in character. Claims under these laws are still made by the states 

 or by the counties to which the various states have often ceded 

 their rights. 



The Carey Act of 1894 donates to each arid land state one 

 million acres, with the proviso that the lands thus donated must 

 be reclaimed by irrigation. 



State forest reserves have been established, after Forest Service 

 Circular 167, in 



