THE STORY OF OUR PUBLIC DOMAIN 65 



under the Mineral Leasing Act. Since its enact- 

 ment in 1920, 76,950 applications have been re- 

 ceived; and the government has acquired rights in 

 the unknown mineral wealth in 17,500,000 acres pat- 

 ented under the stock raising homestead law and in 

 more than 12,500,000 acres of coal, oil and other de- 

 posits. It has been estimated that 200,000,000,000 

 tons of coal, at least, remain in the Public Domain, 

 8.000,000,000 tons of phosphate, and 60,000,000,000 

 barrels of oil. 



Of the untold wealth of its mineral deposit, 

 Secretary Work wrote in 1927: 



"While much of the gold, silver, copper, lead 

 and zinc lands once owned by the Government has 

 passed into the hands of private individuals, there 

 are undoubtedly large deposits of these ores remain- 

 ing in the Public Domain. The States of Colorado, 

 Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Wash- 

 ington, Oregon and California still contain areas in 

 which are metalif erous ores the quantity of which is 

 unknown. . . . These minerals can be mined by 

 individuals; oil and coal cannot to advantage. The 

 prospector has become a geologist; but wild-catting 

 is being prosecuted continuously, leading to the con- 

 clusion that much petroleum still remains in the pub- 

 lic estate uncaptured, the exact amount of which is 

 not ascertainable. There are also large quantities of 

 natural gas." 



Not considering future earnings, the Public Do- 

 main's cash income is sufficiently promising. That 



