Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1921-12-15
VAST AREAS OPEN TO HOME
STEADS AND MINERAL RE-
SOURCES ARE UNLIM-
TIED
Governor Calls Attention to Need of
Water to Make Garden of
Desert Acres
(By Oliver II. Shoup)

y |
/ Governor Oliver H, Shoup of Colorado
/ may give you new view point of
the vast territory that lies along the
towering mountains of the west. There
are many possibilities touched upon
in his article and as chief executive
of the state he is in position to have
/ knowledge as we'll as enthusiasm.
Did you know that you have a part
ownership of 120,O00,000 acres of
land?
Did you know that there are 1922
100000 acres of land out in the "gold-
en- west" waiting for those who wish
homesteads and who need only COM
ply with the simple government rules
to own farm of their own?
More important, did you know that
millions of these acres are worthless
now because you and your neighbors
never took the trouble to find out a
bout them and ask that their arid
wastes be turned into producing gar
; dens capable of feeding untold thous-
ands?
Millions of acres of land are wait
ing in the west for the coming of
water and that water can be obtained
through the aid of the United States
government, an aid that would not
be withheld if you and your neighbors
expressed desire to see it go flowing
through the deserts and transforming
them to a great aid to America
Did you know that out in Colorado
and all through the Rocky Mountain
section there waits one of the richest
has ever known, but that production
is far, far behind, that capital has op-
portunities for unlimited development,
hat the advice, GO west, young man."
| is still a living message
It is true that in the past three
years more than 30,O00,000 acres of
homestead and Indian lands have been
entered in the Rocky Mountain states
mostly by farmers from the Mississ-
ippi valley, and millions of acres of
raw land have been placed under cul-
tivation.
Travel by Auto
The main current of the swelling
stream of tourist travel that flows in
to the West each year is made up of
people who have not travelled extens-
lively in the past. Most of them are
people of moderate means. Visitors
to the National Parks and National
Forests come from every state in the
Union and every year they include
thousands who are making the tour
for the first time Most Of them trav-
el by automobile and many of them
carry their camping outfits with them
living all the time in the open air and
enjoying to the full the wonderful eli
mate which is one of Natures richest
gifts to the West.
The tourist and homeseeker move
ment to the West is especially crafty
ing to those of US who are interested
in the development Of this vast area,
for we realize that development here
depends to very large extent upon
the cooperation of the entire cOun-
try, and the people of other sections
of the United States can not be eX-
pected to cooperate freely in the de-
velopment of the West until they are
better informed about what such de-
velopment means for all the nation.
1t should be borne in mind that the
area of the eight Rocky Mountain
states is $40 9,840,000 acres, or approx
imately 29 per cent of the area of the
entire country, while the combined a
reas of the eight Rocky Mountain
states and the three Pacific Coast
states is 753,420,800 acres, or nearly
40 per cent of the area of the United
States, exclusive of Alaska and our
insular possessions.
A Public Trust
. But it is not generally understood
hat all the people of the United States
own more than one-half of this vast
area In these eleven states there are
more than 120,000,000 acres of Ma
tional Forests, the property of the
, federal government, on which timber
, is being grown and preserved for the
| benefit of all the people. These for
ests are not the property of the states
in which they are located nor of the
people of these states, but of all the
people. In other words, about 16 per
| cent of the area of these eleven states
. is National Forests belonging to the
) Government
: In these states there is approx
mately 1872, 100000 acres of, govern
ment land open to homestead entry
This is more than 25 per cent of their
total area Some of this land is suit
able for dry farming, but much Of it
can never be farmed proftably with
out irrigation, and mest Of it, so far