THE STORY OF OUR PUBLIC DOMAIN 69 



Outdoor Recreation (which is only another phrase 

 to designate the era of the automobile) has brought 

 many unofficial changes. Of official changes, the 

 new conditions have inspired few in the Public Do- 

 main. There is a new point of view. The General 

 Land Office has withdrawn many small tracts from 

 homestead entry because apparently more suitable 

 for recreational use. Under the Recreation Act of 

 June 14, 1926, it has authorized acquisition of an 

 aggregate of 1,440 acres by states, counties and 

 cities. Also it co-operated with the Joint Commit- 

 tee on Survey of Federal Lands of the American 

 Forestry Association and National Parks Associa- 

 tion in surveying the Public Domain for recreational 

 opportunities. 



Throughout the country, however, motor- 

 wrought changes are many and startling. Roads 

 sweep through vast deserts, through wildernesses of 

 many kinds. They penetrate impassable country, 

 cross mountain systems, bringing distant centres of 

 human activity into communication. They join 

 state and county roads across broad wastes and na- 

 tional forests, make isolated regions accessible, con- 

 nect farms and markets, develop rich valleys and 

 splendid scenic regions far from accustomed routes 

 of travel and commerce. Twenty-five thousand five 

 hundred miles of federal-aid motor road alone, not 

 counting the often much greater mileage of motor 

 roads built by the states themselves, have been con- 

 structed since the federal-aid law became operative 



