PASTURAGE LANDS.
The grasses of the pasturage lands are scant, and the lands are of value only in large quantities.
The farm unit should not be less than 2,560 acres.
Pasturage farms need small tracts of irrigable land; hence the small streams of the general drainage system and the lone springs and streams should be reserved for such pasturage farms.
The division of these lands should be controlled by topographic features in such manner as to give the greatest number of water fronts to the pasturage farms.
Residences of the pasturage farms should be grouped, in order to secure the benefits of local social organizations, and coöperation in public improvements.
The pasturage lands will not usually be fenced, and hence herds must roam in common.
As the pasturage lands should have water fronts and irrigable tracts, and as the residences should be grouped, and as the lands cannot be economically fenced and must be kept in common, local communal regulations or coöperation is necessary.
CHAPTER II.
THE LAND SYSTEM NEEDED FOR THE ARID REGION.
The growth and prosperity of the Arid Region will depend largely upon a land system which will comply with the requirements of the conditions and facts briefly set forth in the former chapter.
Any citizen of the United States may acquire title to public lands by purchase at public sale or by ordinary “private entry”, and in virtue of preëmption, homestead, timber culture, and desert land laws.
Purchase at public sale may be effected when the lands are offered at public auction to the highest bidder, either pursuant to proclamation by the President or public notice given in accordance with instructions from the General Land Office. If the land is thus offered and purchasers are not found, they are then subject to “private entry” at the rate of $1.25 or $2.50 per acre. For a number of years it has not been the practice of the Government to dispose of the public lands by these methods; but the public lands of the southern states are now, or soon will be, thus offered for sale.
Any citizen may preëmpt 160 acres of land, and by settling thereon, erecting a dwelling, and making other improvements, and by paying $1.25 per acre in some districts, without the boundaries of railroad grants, and $2.50 within the boundaries of railroad grants in others, may acquire title thereto. The preëmption right can be exercised but once. No person can exercise the preëmption right who is already the owner of 320 acres of land.
Any citizen may, under the homestead privilege, obtain title to 160 acres of land valued at $1.25 per acre, or 80 acres valued at the rate of $2.50, by payment of $5 in the first case and $10 in the last, and by residing on the land for the term of five years and by making certain improvements.
The time of residence is shortened for persons who have served in the army or navy of the United States, and any such person may homestead 160 acres of land valued at $2.50 per acre.
Any citizen may take advantage of both the homestead and preëmption privileges.
Under the timber culture act, any citizen who is the head of a family may acquire title to 160 acres of land in the prairie region by cultivating timber thereon in certain specific quantities; the title can be acquired at the expiration of eight years from the date of entry.
Any citizen may acquire title to one section of desert land (irrigable lands as described in this paper) by the payment at the time of entry of 25 cents per acre, and by redeeming the same by irrigation within a period of three years and by the payment of $1 per acre at the expiration of that time, and a patent will then issue.
Provision is also made for the disposal of public lands as town sites.
From time to time land warrants have been issued by the Government as bounties to soldiers and sailors, and for other purposes. These land warrants have found their way into the market, and the owners thereof are entitled to enter Government lands in the quantities specified in the warrants.
Agricultural scrip has been issued for the purpose of establishing and endowing agricultural schools. A part of this scrip has been used by the schools in locating lands for investment. Much of the scrip has found its way into the market and is used by private individuals. Warrants and scrip can be used when lands have been offered for sale, and preëmptors can use them in lieu of money.
Grants of lands have been made to railroad and other companies, and as these railroads have been completed in whole or in part, the companies have obtained titles to the whole or proportional parts of the lands thus granted.
Where the railroads are unfinished the titles are inchoate to an extent proportional to the incomplete parts.
With small exceptions, the lands of the Arid Region have not been offered for sale at auction or by private entry.
The methods, then, by which the lands under consideration can be obtained from the Government are by taking advantage of the preëmption, homestead, timber culture, or desert land privileges.