66 OUR FEDERAL LANDS 



of 1927, increased over the year before, was $9,201,- 

 697.25. By law, this was distributed as follows : to 

 Reclamation Fund, $4,338,341.72; to Public Land 

 States, $2,550,200.24; to Indian tribes, $640,694.66; 

 and to the General Fund of the United States, $i,- 

 692,460.63. 



Metal mining has reached "an interesting and 

 baffling stage," says the United States Geological 

 Survey report for 1927. "During the half century 

 of development that followed the discovery of gold 

 in California, one great bonanza after another was 

 discovered in the West. These poured into the cof- 

 fers of the world a wealth of metals which enriched 

 its finders, the Nation, and all mankind. The coun- 

 try was new. The western half of our continent 

 had. remained, in the mining sense, undiscovered. 

 Enterprising Americans in seventy-five years have 

 concentrated the exploration and development that 

 in the Old World was distributed over many cen- 

 turies. Viewed historically this development has 

 been startlingly swift; nevertheless it has been re- 

 markably thorough. 



"Now the pioneer stage of mining has passed. 

 In an untouched country simple methods of pros- 

 pecting revealed great mineral deposits in quick suc- 

 cession, many of them exposed at the very surface, 

 awaiting merely the touch of the prospector's pick 

 and the assay to confirm his findings. Many of the 

 deposits thus discovered were developed into great 

 mines, which have passed through successive stages 



