Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1910-08-18
DOMAIN IS
OF VAST EXTENT
Most Of Its 731 100000 Acres
West Of the Mississippi
Large Withdrawals.

uaF, VIII doubtless prove surprise TO
many people. who have n vague idea that
the public lands Of tho United States are
pretty we'll exhausted and that such as
remain are situated only in the far West
Az matter OF fact. there are still APP
proximately 3l.c00o0o acres Of the public
domain. and while most OF this area Is
west OF the Mississippi. there is n consid-
erahle area In such States as Florida. Ala
nama, Mississippi, Michigan and Louis
lana.
as q result of the conservation. move
mont n considerable portion OF this area
has been temporarily withdrawn from set
uomeht' the total withdra walls exclusive
OF small tracts withdrawn for military
reservations. lighthouse stations. etc
amounting to 294,oto,0c0 acres. The with
draWn area includes. Of course the ma
tioual forests, which aggregate an
proNimateiy 100000 acres of which Co.
e" acres are IN Porto Rico
\ considerable portion Of the public do
main is unsuitable for settlement under
existing conditions. but the expectation
Of the government to reclaim n large area
ny means of irrigation is shown by the
fact that l7"p,""p acres have been with
drawn pending the application Of water
| from IRRIGATION projects.
Alaska contribute no small portion Of
| the public domain, there being withdrawn
| as national forests 6,7fi 900 acres In the
| district for forest conservation All coal
| depoei.s are withdrawn. 1t is estimated
that the coal bearing area of Alaska az
| Eregates something like 76sO.OO acres.
but, Of course, this includes much coal
| bearing strata of too poor quality to
be worth anything commercially. The
| experts OF the geological survey have es-
| t'mated that such Alaska coal as can be
worked Is worth about half n cent a
| ton IN the ground, not 81 a ton. as has
| been rccklessly asserted, hut they refuse
to make any estimate of the extent Of the
lod"S. Which would. of course require the
| running of tunnels, bores, etc, in order
| To make II of any value. There are some
| hEureS however, from which an exceed
| inHly rough estimate of 15,Dn.coo 400 tons
| of coal IN Alaska has been made
THE AREA ACTUALLY IRRIGATED.
a year ago the total area to which
water could be supplied by the reclama-
| ton service was $4,000 acres, much of
which. of course, was not n part of the
public domain. The area actually irri-
gated amounted to 1000 acres.
All Of the unoccupied land in Ala
bama. Florida and states west of the
mississippi became the property of the
FEDERAL government by purchase and
through cession by the states. All OF
the territory north of latitude Fl de-
grees north became the national do
main by n treaty made Mt the close of
| the Revolutionary War and dated Sep
TENDER 2. 1897
OF this territory that embraced
within the present States Of Ohio, In
diana. Illinois. Michigan, Wisconsin.
Tennessee. Minnesota east OF the MIS-
| sissinpi river and Alabama and Mis-
| sissippi north of the 31st parallel Of
| latitude. was held by Massachusetts.
Connecticut. New York Virginia. North
Carolina. South Carolina md Georgia
under British grants during colonial
| times
This territory, except Kentucky, was
surrendered to the general govern
ment at subsequent periods. with GER
tain reservations as to grants already
made by these States These coded
lands comprised the public domain I'M
til the Louisiana Purchase in 1903. I3y
the Louisiana Purchase the United
States acquired all of the drainage
basin ~ the Mississippi river west of
that river. and ont of which the states
Of iowa Missouri. Arkansas. Nebraska,
Kansas oklahoma, and in part Mon
tnnn. North Dakota, South Dakota,
Minnesota, Louisiana. Colorado and
Wyoming have been created.
PUBLIC DOMAIN FROM TREATIES.
Territory embraced within the States OF
Oregon. Washington. Idaho and Wyominp
west Of tho continental divide and north
Of tho 42nd parallel OF latitude became
part OF the public domain when the
Oregon treaty with Great Britain. which
fixed the northern boundary Of the United
States west Of the Rocky mountains, was
ratified in 1876. The territory embraced
within tho S'ates of California, Nevada
Utah, that part of Colorado west OF the
continental divide and OF wyoming south
Of tho +2nd parallel and west of the con.
tinental divide, the territory Of Ariaons
and part Of the territory of Now
Mexico, were added to the public domain
By the treaty with Mexico after the close
OF tho Mexican War. in 1s4s
| A part OF the States of Colorado, Wyom.
ing, Kansas, Oklahoma and part Of New
Mexico were added TO the public domain
subsequent TO tho annexation Of Texas ir
! 1915, when tho boundaries OF tho new
State were fixed IL their present loca
| tons.
| Other acquisitions Of territory in large
tracts were those Of Florida from SPAR
and the Gadson purchase. in southern
Arizona, from Mexico These prssen
conditions as to land titles In no WAY
differing from tho transfers already re
| ferred to.
Title to these vast tracts Of public land,
having come to the general goyernmen
by one or more Of the several methods
recognized both by barbarous and by
| civilized and enlightened sovereign states
practically from the beginning Of organ
lied government the question Of sum
cheney may not be raised, When THU
territory was divided up into States which
were made a part Of tho Union. the gen
eral government did not cede these land
to such States. but retained them. /
has. however. through laws provided b,
tho legislative branch. donated to tn
several States. for special public objects
certain specified tracts, such as are EN-
braced In the school, swamp and othe
| lands. Tho alienation of these tracts
by legislative enactment is tho stronges
possible evidence that the title In then
vested without question In the genera
government.
| DIVISION or PUBLIC DOMAIN.
The actual figures showing the area an'
location Of the public domain on July !