TENURE AND USE OF ARID GRAZING LANDS. 5 
The illustrative material refers to all or a selected part of this area. 
Most of these statements apply more or less directly to a much larger 
region — the arid grazing lands of the Western States — which may be 
roughly outlined as including the great basin region (the southeastern 
corner of Oregon, the southwestern corner of Idaho, the part of 
Wyoming west of the Rocky Mountains, the part of California east of 
the Sierra Nevadas, and practically all of Nevada and Utah) , all of 
Arizona and New Mexico, and the part of Texas west of the Pecos 
River (but not including the crop and forest lands within these 
boundaries) . 
The statements relative to the natural and managerial factors con- 
► trolling the stock-raising industry will doubtless apply rather closely 
over all the region indicated. The conditions of land tenure and 
their consequences differ more or less with each State. Any recom- 
mendations as to changes in land policy must necessarily take these 
conditions into consideration. 
About one-third of this great region, or approximately 200 millions 
of acres, is to-day open for entry by homesteaders — an area larger 
than the occupied land of the original 13 colonies when this Nation 
was founded. All of this land long ago would have passed to private 
ownership if it had been productive agricultural land or if there had 
been any way of getting control of large enough bodies of it for 
private use as grazing land. 
The different classes of land. — On a basis of possible use the lands 
of the western United States may be classified in a broad way as 
follows (see bibliography, section 3) : 
" Desert" lands are those where the average annual rainfall is so 
small 6 — usually less than 6 inches — that there is very little if any 
permanent drinking water for stock, and consequently year long 
grazing is not practicable. Of course, cultivation of any known crop 
on this land without irrigation is an impossibility. 
"Arid grazing lands" are those where yearlong or seasonal grazing 
is assured, but where any kind of cultivation of crops is possible 
only a small part of the time or not at all, and upon only a very small 
part of the area. The average annual rainfall of this area ranges 
from about 6 to 15 inches. 
Where the average annual rainfall is from 15 to 20 inches cultiva- 
tion of certain crops is often possible when topography, soil condi- 
tions, and the seasonal distribution of rainfall are favorable and the 
growing season is long enough; but the farm practices are those of 
the system called "dry farming" and the land is here called "semi- 
arid" or "dry-farming" land. 
« The average annual rainfall is used merely as a rough means of limiting areas. It is not a good measure 
to use for anything more than such approximations, but it is the only one now available. It must not be 
taken to mean the amount of water available to growing plants. 
