The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1855-03-11

this bill. According TO the report OIL the CON-
missioner of the General Land Office of the
third Of June, 1854, the following are the sums
of the public lands disposed Of and remaining
on hand -
Aggregate of public domain in States and
Territories. 'osl,foo,o-o
Sold up to June, ls5s........... 1os Is7, $3.50
Given away 4oslo,ool ..-.a.~
Total sold and given away. ........... 1852 114237
Acres upsold and unappropriated. ,13s 1886 oS3
For the sake of rouno numbers, let us put the
amount at eleven hundred millions of acres
still on hand, and where's the alarm ? This
bounty land bill will still leave nine hundred
millions; and even should existing bounties
grants reservations, Sales pre- emptions &c,
cover another hundred million acres, we shall
still have eight hundred millions of acres re-
naming. Where, then, is the alarm? Is not
this remnant of eight hundred millions enough
Ior all the purposes Of railroad grants and home
stead bills for fifty years 10 come !?
The wiseacres of Congress have unquestiona-
bly, been acting under this delusion. But these
tremendous figures of the Land Office have de-
ceived them, from the simple neglect of the
Commissioner to deduct his deserts and noun
tains. Let us throw little light upon the
subject -
The amoun mt of public lands undisposedof
in all the land States east OF the MIS-
sissppi and IN Louisiana, Arkansas,
Missouri and Iowa, west of said river,
loo,ol acres
Add Minnesota. ...................... so,2se'ooi "
And the amount s............ 1853, Ala, 4le acres.
And here is the bulk of the arabic public
lands of the United States. The remainder Of
tba a. hum roI mill; Of an tho
books of the General Land Office lie in Kan
sas Nebraska and the great plains south
stretching to the Rocky Mountains and in
Oregon, Washington, Utah, New Mexico and
California. Now mark what follows-and our
estimates are deduced from the official reports
of the Typographical engineers and from the
private accounts of thousands of intelligent
travellers, emigrants, voyageurs and trappers,
including those that have persisted from cold,
heat, thirst and starvation.
We say that the bulk of the public lands now
remaining lies in the two hundred and fifty
three millions of acres given above, and that
settlers, prescriptions, grants, and the new
bounty bill, will absorb the whole of it. What,
then, have we left? Kansas and Nebraska? In
less than three years all the cultivable lands Of
those Territories will be appropriated by set
tiers California Spanish and Mexican claims
and fquatter sovereignty have already appro-
prated the mass of the arabic lands there. In
Oregon the actual settlers, under an act of Con-
gress, have left but little of the narrow habita-
bic Pacific sewage of that Territory. In Wash
ngton Territory there may yet be twenty or
thirty millions of acres Of desirable timber
lands. In Utah the Mormons have monopolized
all the little green patches, except a few occu-
pied 10y the Indians, but useless to the white
man. In New Mexico, excepting the territory
of the Gadsden treaty, there are no habtable
lands unappropriated, and those of the Gadsden
district are good for nothing but railroad
route to the Pacific.
In q word from the great plains west OF the
Mississippi to the Pacific ocean, between the
British boundary in the North, and the Mexican
boundary in the South, there are, we dare say,
seven or eight hundred millions of acres in
arid plains, rocky and snow covered mountains,
and sandy deserts, which, for agricultural
purposes, are good for nothing. Between the
Columbia river and the Gadsden boundary
there is an absolute desert of volcanic noun
tains and sandy wastes, very much like that of
the ancient Israelites, Dead Sea and all, en-
bracing an area n not less than five hundred
millions Of acres-horribly scanty of water aud
vegetation and mainly without animal life ex-
| cept proving Indians, reptiles and vermin--a
| hideous and bowling wilderness. Yet the
Commissioner Of the General Land Office in
cludes this tract among the public lands unsold
and unappropriated, and Congress pass their
bounty land bills and railroad and other grants
accordingly. Seven or eight hundred millions
of acres of waterless plains sandy deserts aud
volcanic mountains counted 10 the aggregate
Of the public lands!
See the late report Of the Secretary Of War
on the recent Pacific Railroad explorations. and
the reports OF Fremont, Kearncy, Emory, Bart
lett, Albert, Lieut. Marcy, Col. Cooke, and a