44 OUR FEDERAL LANDS 



voirs, and such accessories used for irrigation; 

 rights of way for power development on national 

 forests, and for milling, mining, and municipal pur- 

 poses ; and rights of way for electric plants and lines. 

 The grants to railroads do not include any minerals 

 except coal and iron. These may be granted because 

 of their utility in the building and operation of the 

 railroad." 



Granting patents alone is a large item in Land 

 Office detail. These guarantee possession, corres- 

 ponding to deeds in civil procedure. They cover an 

 extraordinary variety of uses, as will be seen by the 

 accompanying table numbering and classifying those 

 of the year ending June 30, 1927. 



The list reveals the range, nature, and propor- 

 tions of Land Office business to-day as nothing else 

 could. Considered with the table, on another page, 

 of Final Homestead Entries from 1868 to the pres- 

 ent, one gets a remarkably clear historical and eco- 

 nomic picture. United States patents are the basis 

 of all titles in the Public Land states. 



Consistent in the main, Public Land policy has 

 passed through many phases under changing condi- 

 tions. Different Congresses have held varying 

 ideas, and the government has initiated and occa- 

 sionally instituted ideas of its own. Development of 

 various resources by private interests under gov- 

 ernment regulation has been established since 1896 

 when water power was put on that basis. In 1914, 

 the same idea was applied to coal in Alaska, in 1920 



