214 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Then there came a mild reaction. First the pre- 

 emption law was repealed, then the Timber culture law 

 was cut out, and later the Desert land act was reduced 

 to 320 acres and its requirements made much more 

 rigid. Also there was a general tightening up of the 

 administration of the land laws in the general land 

 office. Naturally all these years it was a question of 

 "first come, first served," until the late comers found 

 the best of the lands gone and the remnant of mighty 

 small value. 



Then Congress to stimulate the settlement of the re- 

 mainder passed the "Enlarged homestead bill" which 

 "raised the ante" on the original homestead law from 



The facts of the case were, that no such areas existed 

 in the forests and if they did they were open to entry 

 under a law passed by Congress expressly for that pur- 

 pose. The painful truth about the public domain was 

 that due to the activities of the homesteaders the govern- 

 ment had parted with about all of its best lands and we 

 had no such virgin acres to offer the new comers as did 

 Canada where thousands of acres were open to settle- 

 ment that were fully equal in value to the best we ever 

 owned. We had had our little fling on public lands, 

 now Canada was having hers. You can't eat your cake 

 and keep it too, is as true of a nation as an individual. 

 But, during these years the Canadian government was 



THE LAND, WHICH MUST BE IRRIGATED 



Six hundred and forty acre of this sage brush will not graze many cattle, but with water on it, the homesteader can raise four or five tons of 



alfalfa to the acre. 



160 to 320 acres, the idea being to make up by quantity 

 what the lands lacked in quality. 



Just about that time the new born "dry farming" 

 movement began to develop in the arid land states and 

 so the public domain was once more culled over and over 

 until lands that once seemed absolutely hopeless from an 

 agricultural standpoint, were located by the land hungry 

 people and thousands of acres were ploughed up, bringing 

 in many instances only a glorious crop of Russian thistles. 



The reader will no doubt recall that about six or 

 eight years ago there was a dreadful outcry over the 

 exodus of American citizens to Canada in search of 

 homes. The federal government was soundly berated 

 for allowing this to happen, the berators alleging there 

 were millions of acres of land suitable for agricultural 

 development in the National Forests which should be 

 opened for entry and thus stop the migration. These 

 people believed they were sure of their facts but were 

 hopelessly ignorant of the real situation in the forests. 



coaxing our citizens across the border, the land officers 

 on this side the line were doing a pretty good business, 

 for in the ten leading public domain states of Arizona, 

 California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, 

 Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming, more than 

 125 million acres of public lands were taken up under the 

 several land laws from 1910 to 1917, inclusive. 



Original Area of State Land Left for Entry 



In Million Acres July 1, 1917, 

 In Million Acres 



Arizona 73 22 



California 101 20 



Colorado 66 10 



Idaho 53 i 4 



Montana 94 12 



New Mexico 78 21 



Oregon 61 14 



Utah 52 32 



Washington 43 1 



Wyoming 62 27 



Totals 683 173 



