Ne i OD wre: TO ky. 
The following report and papers are designed as a basis for an intel- 
ligent conception of the possibilities and requirements of levislative 
action on the part of the General Government in regard to some of its 
property. They will also, it is hoped, be welcome to the student of the 
climatic, floral, and economic conditions of the region to which they 
refer, and serve as a historic reference book in the times when the folly 
of present days will be judged by those who will suffer its consequences. 
The pioneering days are rapidly disappearing before the energetic 
push and advancement of railroad building and settlements; and with 
the changed conditions of life, in communities instead of in isolated log 
huts, a change in the manner of life and its adjustment to the demands 
of civilized existence is called for. 
The development of the Rocky Mountain region during the last 
seventeen years is indicated by the growth of its population. The pop- 
ulation has increased from 263,236 in 1870 to 900,000 in 1886, while 
the assessed valuation, exclusive of mining property, has risen from 
$96,507,000 in 1870 to $330,000,000 in 1886. This growth has been ob- 
tained, no doubt, partly through the liberal policy which the Govern- 
ment has pursued in regard to railroad grants, to mineral claims, to 
- Jand entries, ete. 
Of the enormous amount of public lands given free or at nominal 
prices to settlers, miners, and to encourage development, amounting to 
about 630,000,000 acres, a proportionate share has fallen to the region 
in question. For Rania ona purposes it received 22,963,403 acres or 
34 per cent. of the total grant. Of the 50,000,000 acres or so of railroad 
grants, outside of the rights of way, 4,500,000 acres at least must be 
debited to the region for its 2,060 miles oF lente grant roads. Under the 
desert-land act 1,193,548 acres were given up at $1 per acre. Under 
the timber- Palnare act, 389,991 acres have been entered in the femiee 
under consideration. 
In addition to these grants a liberal use of the timber on the public 
domain, for all legitimate purposes which would aid the settler in build- 
ing up and improving his settlement and the railroad companies in 
building their roads, has been permitted. 
But whether the continuance of such lavish liberality after the pioneer 
existence is passed has not already been, and may not become still more 
in future, detrimental to the best interests of the region in question, as 
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