Such a system of disposing of the public lands in the Arid Region will necessitate an authoritative classification of the same. The largest amount of land that it is possible to redeem by irrigation, excepting those tracts watered by lone springs, brooks, and the small branches, should be classed as irrigable lands, to give the greatest possible development to this industry. The limit of the timber lands should be clearly defined, to prevent the fraudulent acquirement of these lands as pasturage lands. The irrigable and timber lands are of small extent, and their boundaries can easily be fixed. All of the lands falling without these boundaries would be relegated to the greater class designated as pasturage lands. It is true that all such lands will not be of value for pasturage purposes, but in general it would be difficult to draw a line between absolutely desert lands and pasturage lands, and no practical purposes would be subserved thereby. Fix the boundaries of the timber lands that they may be acquired by proper methods; fix the boundaries of the irrigable lands that they may also be acquired by proper methods, and then permit the remaining lands to be acquired by settlers as pasturage lands, to the extent that they may be made available, and there will be no fear of settlers encroaching on the desert or valueless lands.
Heretofore we have been considering only three great classes of lands—namely, irrigable, timber, and pasturage lands, although practically and under the laws there are two other classes of lands to be recognized—namely, mineral lands, i. e., lands bearing lodes or placers of gold, silver, cinnabar, etc., and coal lands. Under the law these lands are made special. Mineral lands are withheld from general sale, and titles to the mines are acquired by the investment of labor and capital to an amount specified in the law. Coal lands are sold for $20 per acre. The mineral lands proper, though widely scattered, are of small extent. Where the mines are lodes, the lands lie along the mountains, and are to a greater or less extent valueless for all other purposes. Where the mines are placers, they may also be agricultural lands, but their extent is very limited. To withhold these lands from purchase and settlement as irrigable, timber, and pasturage lands will in no material way affect the interests of the industries connected with the last mentioned lands. The General Government cannot reasonably engage in the research necessary to determine the mineral lands, but this is practically done by the miners themselves. Thousands of hardy, skilful men are vigorously engaged in this work, and as mines are discovered mining districts are organized, and on the proper representation of these interested parties the mineral lands are withheld from general sale by the Land Department. Thus, proper provision is already made for this branch of the work of classification.
In many parts of the Arid Region there are extensive deposits of coal. These coal fields are inexhaustible by any population which the country can support for any length of time that human prevision can contemplate. To withhold from general settlement the entire area of the workable coal fields would be absurd. Only a small fraction will be needed for the next century. Only those lands should be classed as coal lands that contain beds of coal easily accessible, and where there is a possibility of their being used as such within the next generation or two. To designate or set apart these lands will require the highest geological skill; a thorough geological survey is necessary.
In providing for a general classification of the lands of the Arid Region, it will, then, be necessary to recognize the following classes, namely: mineral lands, coal lands, irrigable lands, timber lands, and pasturage lands. The mineral lands are practically classified by the miners themselves, and for this no further legal provision is necessary. The coal lands must be determined by geological survey. The work of determining the areas which should be relegated to the other classes—namely, irrigable, timber, and pasturage lands—will be comparatively inexpensive.
CHAPTER III.
THE RAINFALL OF THE WESTERN PORTION OF THE UNITED STATES.
The Smithsonian Institution conducted for a number of years an extensive system of measurements of rainfall in the United States, and at the same time diligently collected pluvial records from every possible source. The accumulated data thus collected were placed in the hands of Mr. Charles A. Schott for reduction and discussion, and he prepared the “Smithsonian Tables of Precipitation in Rain and Snow”, which appeared in 1868. Since that time much additional material has been acquired by the continuation of the work to the present time, and also by a great increase in the number of observation stations, and so valuable is this new material that it has been determined to recompile the tables and issue a second edition. By the time the present report was called for, the preliminary computations for the tables had developed an important body of facts bearing on the climate of the Arid Region, and through the courtesy of Prof. Joseph Henry, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and of Mr. Schott, they were placed at my disposal. Mr. Schott also made such a change in the order of computation as to give precedence to the states and territories which form the subject of this investigation, and by this timely favor made it possible to base the following discussion on the very latest determinations of rainfall.
The results thus made available exhibit the mean precipitation at each station of observation west of the Mississippi River for each month, for each season, and for the year. A number of other data are also tabulated, including the latitude, longitude, and altitude of each station, and the extent of each series of observations in years and months. In selecting material for the present purpose the shorter records were ignored. The variations from year to year are so great that an isolated record of a single year is of no value as an indication of the average rainfall. The mean of two or three years is almost equally liable to mislead, and only a long series of observations can afford accurate results. In the following tables no stations are included (with one exception) which show records of less than five years’ extent.
[Table I] shows the precipitation of the Sub-humid Region; [Table II], of the Arid Region; [Table III], of the San Francisco Region; and [Table IV], of the Region of the Lower Columbia. The limits of each region have been given in a former chapter, and need not be repeated. In each table the first column contains the names of the stations of observation; the second, their latitudes; the third, their longitudes (west from Greenwich); and the fourth, their altitudes in feet above the level of the sea. The next four columns show for each season of the year the mean observed rainfall in inches, and their sum appears in the following column as the mean yearly rainfall. In the last column the extent of each series of observations is given in years and months. In [Table I] the stations are arranged by latitudes, in [Tables II], [III], and [IV], alphabetically.
Table I.—Precipitation of Sub-humid Region.
| Station. | Latitude. | Longitude. | Height. | Mean precipitation, in inches. | Extent of record. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring. | Summer. | Autumn. | Winter. | Year. | |||||
| ° ´ | ° ´ | Feet. | Y. M. | ||||||
| Pembina, Dak | 48 57 | 97 03 | 768 | 4.02 | 7.24 | 2.71 | 1.53 | 15.50 | 4 8 |
| Fort Totten, Dak | 47 56 | 99 16 | 1,480 | 5.18 | 7.17 | 2.50 | 1.59 | 16.44 | 5 5 |
| Fort Abercrombie, Dak | 46 27 | 96 21 | — | 4.80 | 8.67 | 3.46 | 1.85 | 18.78 | 13 6 |
| Fort Wadsworth, Dak | 45 43 | 97 10 | 1,650 | 7.00 | 10.25 | 3.98 | 2.92 | 24.15 | 6 5 |
| Omaha Agency, Nebr | 42 07 | 96 22 | — | 8.21 | 8.70 | 5.77 | 2.90 | 25.58 | 5 2 |
| Fort Kearney, Nebr | 0 38 | 98 57 | 2,360 | 7.81 | 11.13 | 4.83 | 1.45 | 25.22 | 14 4 |
| Fort Riley, Kans | 39 03 | 96 35 | 1,300 | 5.49 | 10.48 | 5.92 | 2.63 | 24.52 | 20 10 |
| Fort Hays, Kans | 38 59 | 99 20 | 2,107 | 6.93 | 6.23 | 5.77 | 3.77 | 22.70 | 6 11 |
| Fort Larned, Kans | 38 10 | 98 57 | 1,932 | 5.17 | 9.63 | 4.95 | 1.67 | 21.42 | 10 9 |
| Fort Belknap, Tex | 33 08 | 98 46 | 1,600 | 6.41 | 9.44 | 8.34 | 3.86 | 28.05 | 5 10 |
| Fort Griffin, Tex | 32 54 | 99 14 | — | 4.95 | 6.25 | 6.14 | 4.17 | 21.51 | 5 3 |
| Fort Chadbourne, Tex | 31 58 | 100 15 | 2,020 | 5.77 | 6.53 | 7.06 | 3.52 | 22.88 | 8 7 |
| Fort McKavett, Tex | 30 48 | 100 08 | 2,060 | 5.21 | 6.71 | 7.81 | 4.22 | 23.95 | 9 7 |
| New Braunfels, Tex | 29 42 | 98 15 | 720 | 7.60 | 6.90 | 8.83 | 4.25 | 27.58 | 5 1 |
| Fort Clark, Tex | 29 17 | 100 25 | 1,000 | 4.14 | 7.57 | 6.55 | 4.35 | 22.61 | 12 5 |
| Fort Inge, Tex | 29 10 | 99 50 | 845 | 5.38 | 9.67 | 6.88 | 3.53 | 25.46 | 7 4 |
| Fort Duncan, Tex | 28 39 | 100 30 | 1,460 | 3.56 | 8.60 | 6.54 | 2.63 | 21.33 | 11 7 |
| Fort Brown, Tex | 25 50 | 97 37 | 50 | 3.18 | 7.64 | 13.02 | 4.04 | 27.88 | 15 0 |