Arizona republican., 1903-02-23
The Hunger For Homes.


 ticaIly no public land available for sue cess.ul farming within the area of snI- ficient rainfall, and that in the arid region there are very limited oppor- tunities for making homes on the nublic domain until the supply of water for. irrigation is augmented by storage, it is surprising to learn from the figures furnished by the government that last year broke all homestead records since the law went into effect a generation ago. The only conclusion is that the land hunger of the people the pressure for new homes-is lead ing large numbers to take up gov ernment land in localities where the chances of success are extremely pre- carious It is interesting to review the record of land entries by the periods which are distinctively marked.
 During the fiscal year ending June 30. 1902. there were 14,O33, ,246 acres of homestead entries at the various land offices of the United States govern ment.
 - During the. early years of the act up to and including 1870, the largest number of acres entered in one year. 1870, was S,745, ,2O3-only one-fourth of last years record.
 The highest record of the next ten years was in 1880, when the number of acres entered reached, 6,054, 4,70S-less than half of last years total.
  est record was that of 1886, which reached 9145,1 ,136, nearly 5,000,000 short of last year..
 After 1886 up to 1900 the greatest total of entries in any fiscal year was in 1894, which tailed S,O46, ,96S-in other words, 6,0O0,O0O shy of 1902.
 Then followed three great years, the greatest in the land-seeking develop nent of the United States: 1900, with a total of S,47S, ,409; 1901, with 9.497,275 and 1902, which topped all totals with 14,O33,246.
 It seems beyond belief that the number of homesteau acres turned over by the government to actual set tiers in the past three years total nearly S1,0O0,000, or a homestead of 160 acres to nearly 2,G00,O00 people. In other words, if there are 20,OOO,OOO seli- supporting people of twenty-one years or over in the United States, one in ten of them during the past three years has taken a homestead.
 The volume of the recent land seeking tidal wave may be appreciated more fully by comparisons with for mer periods. The 31,O00, 0O0 acres of homestead entries of the past three years equal the total of the first ten years following the war. The past three-year total, again, equals the five year record of the great immigration which began in 1880, or of the five years ending with 1892.
 This homestead movement Of inc past three seasons is all the more re- markable by reason of the fact that for every acre of homestead land taken there unquestionably have been ten acres sold of railroad land and other agricultural property. It is undouht- ed4y true that the present pilgrimage of homescekers into the west is the greatest movement of the kind in the worlds history; and we are now only fairly into the midst of it, the prospect being that the present year will see a still higher record than last.
 It would be tedious, perhaps, to ana lyze the many interesting figures reIat- n hn worth while to note that of the remain ing public lands Montana, Arizona. New Mexico and Nevada have by far the largest area The northwest, how ever, Gncluding Montana) still has up- ward of 200, 900 acres.
 Minnesota has 1,533, ,635 acres of gov ernment surveyed lands and over 2,OOO- GOO unsurveyed. North Dakota has 15,- 100000 government acres, two thirds of which are surveyed. South Dakota has nearly 100000 acres of surveyed government lands. Nebraska has near ly 9,O0o,O0O. Wyoming has over 4O,O0O,- 900 surveyed.
 Montana leads all the states of the union in government possessions; IT, 5o0,000 of surveyed acres and nearly A. e00,G00 unsurveyed, a government do- main of over 61,0O0OO0 acres, much of which, it is true, is mountainous, and yet millions of which are good agricul- tural, grazing, timber and mineral acres.
 Idaho invites settlement with a gov ernment domain of 42,OOO, ,0G0 acres, of which about one-third is surveyed. Washington still holds forth II, COG, 900 government acres. nearly one-half of which is surveyed. Oregon presses the