8 BULLETIN" 1001, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



irrigation water may be had. It is believed that much of the great 

 plains region in eastern Montana and Wyoming, shown here as domi- 

 nantly dry-farming land, will ultimately prove to be arid grazing 

 land. 



Definite data as to the area of each class of land to be found in the 

 western United States are not available, but there are estimates and 

 in some cases exact figures from which an approximation may be 

 reached. 8 Using the more reliable of these figures and assuming (1) 

 that the humid crop lands west of the Sierras (outside the National 

 Forests) amount to as much as 20 millions of acres (which is cer- 

 tainly ample) and (2) that there is at least as much arid grazing land 

 in these 11 States as there is semiarid crop land (which is certainly 

 an estimate in favor of the dry-farming land), the following results 



are obtained: 



Classification of land in the 11 Western States. 



Class of land. 



Acres. 



Per cent. 



Class of land. 



Acres. 



Per cent. 





20, 000, 000 



41,000,000 



260, 000, 000 



260, 000, 000 



2.67 



5.47 



34.71 



34.71 



Forest and woodland 



Desert land 



128, 000, 000 

 40, 000, 000 



17.09 





5.35 



Semiarid crop land 



Total 





749, 000, 000 



100.00 









s Below are presented the data relative to the various classes of lands in the 11 Western States, showing 

 approximate area of each kind, in nearest whole number of millions of acres. 





Total 

 land 

 area. 



Area of 

 national 

 forests. 1 



Desert 

 area. 2 



Area possible of ir- 

 rigation. 



Area for which water is available. 



States. 



Fortier. 3 



Newell.' 1 



As shown 

 by United 



States 

 reclama- 

 tion proj- 

 ects, 1918. 5 



Reported 

 by Cen- 

 sus for 

 1910.6 



Total area 



in all 

 projects, 

 Census 



1910. 7 





73 

 100 

 66 

 54 

 93 

 70 

 78 

 61 

 53 

 43 

 62 



11 

 19 

 13 

 18 

 16 



5 



8 

 13 



7 

 10 



8 



10 

 20 



1 



10 

 3 

 5 

 6 

 2 

 2 

 '3 

 2 

 1 

 6 



2 

 17 

 8 

 5 

 11 

 2 

 4 

 3 

 4 

 3 

 9 



0.25 

 .05 

 .14 

 .55 

 .16 

 .07 

 .12 

 .07 

 .05 

 .14 

 .13 



0.39 



3.62 



3.99 



2.39- 



2.21 



.84 



.64 



.83 



1.25 



.47 



1.64 



0.94 



California 



5.94 

 5.92 







3.59 







3.52 



Nevada 



10 



1.23 

 1.10 







2.53 



Utah... 





1.95 



Washington 



Wyoming 





.82 





2.22 







Total 



749 



128 



40 



41 



68 



1.73 



19.33 



31.11 



i United States Forester's Annual Report for June 30, 1919. This includes most of the forest and wood- 

 land area. State and. private holdings are not included in these figures; they amount to several mi llions 

 of acres. 



a Rough estimate, based mainly upon the area receiving less than 5 inches average annual rainfall. The 

 area is certainly more than 25 and less than 50 millions of acres in extent. 



8 Fortier, Samuel, et al. National Conservation Commission's Report. Senate Doc. 676, 60th Congress, 

 2d session, 1909. Vol. 2, p. 67. 



* Newell, F. H. Irrigation, 1906. These figures assume complete conservation and use of all water 

 resources of each State. 



6 Annual Report Reclamation Service for 1918. Figures show amount of water available for irrigation 

 under United States reclamation projects, not all of which was used. 



6 Statistical Abstract, 13th Census Report. Total area for which water was available in 1910. Theso 

 figures have doubtless been increased somewhat in the last decade, but the new data are not yet available. 



7 Same. Total area included in projects of all kinds in these States in 1910. In addition, there was in 

 Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas water for 1.06 millions of acres 

 and 1.84 millions of acres of land in projects already in operation. 



