The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-06-23
MILLIONS FOR THE STATE,
The PrinceIy Offer of Lands
Made by the General
Government.
NO MOVE MADE TO ACCEPT.
1t Means Ranches for Thousands OF
Farmers at Comparatively
Little Cost.

For little more than the simple ask
ing the State of California can come into
possession of ], 000, 600 acres of lands. which
will be worth anywhere from 81. SOC. 900 to
! $40. 100000 in cash. But in addition to
covering this vast amount of ready money
into the State treasury, the proper action
by the authorities will make fit for settle
ment 100000 acres of land within the
! State which is now almost useless.
By an act of the last Congress. il was
provided that the Federal Governments
! shall donate to each State in which there
are arid lands 1000, 900 acres of such lands.
Oh condition that the reclamation is done
by the State, and that not more than 100
acres are sold to any one person. The
Federal Government retains possession of
the land for five years, and if at the end of
that time the reclamation appears to be
permanent the title to the land passes to
the State and thence to the settler.
Idaho, Wyoming and Montana have al
ready taken the necessary preliminary
steps for securing the generous gift for
their respective commemorative. but no
move of any kind has yet been made by
California, which stands to be the greatest
beneficiary under the act, by reason of the
fertile character of her arid lands when
placed under irrigation, her climate and
the ample supply of water obtainable for
irrigation purposes under a suitable sys-
tenn of operation.
Few men have given greater attention
to the subject of arid land reclamation in
the State than w. S. Green of Colusa and
United States Suryeyor-General for Cali
fornia.
There is no doubt said he, "that Cali
fornia has great opportunity in this con-
nection, but it will require careful and
considerable preliminary work to make
| such arid tracts as remain in this State
available for sale by the State.
! There are easily a million acres of de-
sirable desert land in the State that have
not yet been filed upon by intending set
| tiers, but they cannot be found in one
counties of Lassen, Modoc, Mono, Plumas,
| 1nyo and San Bernardino, and there are
also smaller tracts in the northern portion
of San Diego and the southeastern part OF
Los Angeles County, but there is very
| little of such land in either the San Joaquin
or Sacramento valleys.
$50 far as l have any knowledge, no
step has yet been taken by Governor Budd
looking toward taking advantage of this
magnificent offer of the Government,
though his attention has been directly
called to the matter by a letter I sent him
during the session of the Legislature.
at is too bad that the session was
allowed to close without the Legislature
having authorized some one to take up the
matter or having passed some measure
that would permit of preliminary steps
being taken. Two more years must now
elapse before anything can be done, and in
| the meantime much OF these lands will be
filed upon through the Federal land offices.
Had action been taken it might have
helped along the work on the big ditch
out of the Colorado near Yuma, which is
designed to irrIgate about 10000 acres.
ut is difficult to tell what method will
be pursued by the State There are three
that now occur to me, but each will meet
with more or less objection.
(which ever of these schemes may he de-
cided upon there is certain TO be big profit
to the State from the sale of the lands, par
ticularly if they are sold at auction This
will be all the way from $2,5O0,OOO to
$40 600, 600, or even more if the lands are
favorably located"