LAND RECLAMATION POLICIES IN THE UNITED STATES 5 
the passage of the desert land act was that, in order to be able to 
bear the cost of providing a water supply for desert land, the entry- 
man must be able to get a larger tract than could be taken under the 
homestead act. 
Under the desert land act a, person may provide his own water 
supply or may obtain a water supply from a system supplying many 
farms. In the latter case the entryman purchases a water right from 
the parties who build the irrigation works, and submits evidence of 
such purchase as proof of reclamation. It is charged that much of 
the land that has passed into private ownership under this act has 
been obtained under " paper " rights that do not represent a water 
supply or actual reclamation. The regulations of the General Land 
Office now prevent such frauds. The area of land covered by original 
claims under this law, to June 30, 1922, is 32,378,882,65 acres, and 
the area covered by proofs of compliance with the law is 8,312,271.71 
acres. The difference represents principally abandoned schemes, but 
partly lands in process of reclamation. 
The weakness of the desert land act as an aid to reclamation work 
is the fact that the land can not be made security for the cost of 
reclamation. Title to the land remains in the Federal Government 
until it is actually reclaimed by the individual farmers, and no lien 
can attach to the land until title passes to the entryman. Prior to 
that time the constructing agency must have done its financing and 
expended the funds. If settlers fail to take up the land, or if they 
fail to carry out their plans and acquire title to land, there is no way 
in which the agency that has provided the water supply can enforce 
any contribution from the land. For the irrigation of individual 
farms, or for reclamation by agencies that can provide their own 
funds, the desert land act is still useful. 
Irrigation survey. — In the act of October 2, 1888, making appro- 
priations for various Government activities, provision was made for 
surveys by the Geological Survey to determine the extent to which the 
lands of the arid region of the United States could be reclaimed for 
irrigation. This act contained provision for reserving certain public 
lands from entry under the land laws, in the following language. 
And all lands which may hereafter be designated or selected by such United 
States surveys for sites for reservoirs, ditches, or canals for irrigation pur- 
poses, and all the lands made susceptible of irrigation by such reservoirs, 
ditches, or canals are from this time henceforth reserved from sale as the 
property of the United States, and shall not be subject, after the passage of 
this act, to entry, settlement, or occupation until further provided by law. 3 
A question arose as to the interpretation of the language quoted 
relative to the reservation of lands. The Department of the Interior 
and the Acting Attorney General interpreted the language to mean 
that " entries should not be permitted therefor upon any part of the 
arid regions which might possibly come within the operation of the 
act." This amounted to> withdrawing from entry under any of the 
land laws all the public land in the arid region. This aroused such 
a storm of protest from the section involved that the provision was 
repealed by the act of August 30, 1890. 
There was extended debate in Congress on the intent of the original 
provision and the interpretation put upon it by the executive depart- 
ments. The interpretation of the Department of the Interior is set 
3 Sen. Ex, Doc, 1st Session, 51st Congress, No. 136, p. 3. 
