22 



of the General Land Office, the lands of the State may be classi- 

 fied as follows: 



ACRES. 



Grazing 30,000,000 



Mineral 15 ,000,000 



Agricultural 20,000,000 



Forestry 2,000,000 



Saline, borax and sulphur deposits, and 



deserts 3,656,000 



Lakes, rivers and sinks 1,081,600 



71,737,600 



The several land grants irom the General Government to the 

 State of Nevada aggregate 2,732,884.70 acres, of which, approxi- 

 mately, 28,000 have not yet been selected by the State. The 

 railroad of the Southern Pacific Company extends through the 

 State a distance of 448 miles, and has under its control every 

 alternate section for a distance of twenty miles on each side of the 

 track, amounting to about 5,000,000 acres. Adding to these 

 about 3,000,000 acres, the amount of public lands disposed of in 

 the United States Land Office under the Homestead Desert Land 

 Act, and Timber, Stone and Mineral land laws, and it leaves 

 about 61,000,000 acres of free public range, as may be seen in 

 round numbers in the following tabulation: 



ACRES. 



Total area of State 71 ,000,000 



Grants to State from Gov'ment. 2, 000,000 



Railroad land 5 ,000, ooo 



Homestead Desert Land Act , etc _ 3 , ooo, ooo 



10,000,000 

 Free Government land 6 1 , ooo, ooo 



It can readily be seen then that the General Government has 

 still under its direct control all but one-seventh of the total area 

 of land in the State. Now a large proportion of this 61,000,000 

 acres of land is well adapted for grazing purposes, but is becoming 

 less productive every year by the injudicious methods of grazing 

 now being practiced and permitted by the Government. There 

 is a bill before Congress with the object in view of having these 



