ownership, the remaining area of the unappropriated public domain aggregates, in round 

 numbers, 56,000,000 acres. Of this area, at least 12,000,000 acres* are capable 

 under irrigation of producing crops. From this latter area the two million acres may 

 be chosen. The least number of acres which may be selected in the State under the act 

 is 1,280, or two sections, and the maximum is the largest tract which may be reclaimed 

 under any feasible proposed irrigation system. 



Outline of the Carey Act. 



The Carey Act in its essence is intended to provide a means whereby private 

 capital may profitably undertake enterprises for the reclamation of the arable lands of 

 the public domain, of a lesser magnitude than the great undertakings of the Government. 

 Under the Desert Land and the Enlarged Homestead acts, the settler can enter upon 

 and reclaim from 1 60 to 320 acres and acquire patent. The Carey Act fills the gap 

 between what the individual settler is able to do by his own efforts in reclaiming a single 

 homestead or desert-land entry on the one hand, and the great undertakings of the 

 Government on the other. What is beyond the ability and means of the settler to do 

 for himself, and yet is too small for the Government to undertake under the Carsy Act 

 is left as a field of opportunity for private enterprise. The reclamation company does 

 not acquire title to the land, but derives its profits from the sale of water rights to 

 entrymen, quite similarly to the method adopted by the Government in its reclamation 

 enterprises. 



//on> the Carey Act Applies. 



Owing to the general misinformation about the Carey Act, in order to explain its 

 practical workings we will carry its operations through an hypothetical caseJ 



The applicant knows of a tract of arable public land which, in his opinion, may be 

 reclaimed by impounding and diverting the flood waters of a certain stream. He ascer- 

 tains that such flood waters are unappropriated and makes application therefor in the 

 office of the State Engineer. At any subsequent time he may apply to the State Com- 

 mission of Industry, Agriculture and Irrigation, which is charged with the administration 

 of the Carey Act in Nevada, for the temporary withdrawal of the lands proposed to be 

 reclaimed. He pays a fee of one cent per acre to the State and deposits a sum suf- 

 ficient to defray the actual expenses of the State Engineer in making a preliminary 

 examination of the proposed tract to determine, roughly, its feasibility. If the State Engi- 

 neer reports favorably, the Commission will at once make application in the United States 

 Land Office for the temporary withdrawal of the lands from entry and sale under any 

 of the public land laws. The applicant has now one year to make all necessary surveys 

 and determinations, and for the preparation of all the engineering data covering the 

 proposed project. If after such is completed he is satisfied to proceed with the undertaking, 

 within the year must file with the State Commission triplicate copies thereof and, on 

 approval, two copies will be filed with the United States Land Office, accompanied with 

 an application on the part of the State for the complete segregation of the land to Nevada 

 as a part of the two-million-acre grant. The filing fee in the United States Land Office, 

 $2 for each quarter-section, must be paid by the applicant. If the Secretary of the 

 Interior approves the application, the segregation is made. 



Within three months from the date of such approval the applicant or his assigns 

 must enter into a contract with the State for the construction of the reclamation works, and 

 also file a bond in a sum equal to five per cent, of the estimated cost thereof, conditioned 

 on the carrying out in good faith of the terms of the contract. The contract will state 

 the price at which the contractor agrees to sell water rights to entrymen upon the lands; 

 the terms and conditions of payment therefor by the settler (usually in ten equal annual 



*Part of the 18,000.000 acres of arable lands in the State hitherto mentioned. 



tBulletin No. 2, Nevada Bureau of Industry, Agriculture and Irrigation, Carson City, Nev., gives a 

 complete analysis of the Carey Act. Sent free on receipt of four cents postage. 



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