Evening star., 1932-08-14


Interior, a romantic record OF
the migration of a people to the
soil, has been told by William
Atherton Du Puy, executive assistant 10
the Secretary, in chapter OF the book,
Conservation in the Department OF the
Interior" just published by that Gov
ernment agency under the authority OF
Secretary Ray Lyman Wilbur.
Charged in 1785 with the disposition
OF 1000 100000 acres of public lands,
comprising all the land north and west
of the Ohio. Mississippi, plus Alabama,
Mississippi and Florida. with the ex-
ception of Texas. which retained Its
public lands when it joined the Union,
the Governments real estate agency
has sold all but one-tenth of this vast
area, or about three -fourths Of the con-
tinental area Of the United States.
Behind an army Of figures which tells
Of almost $50 years of carefully planned
selling and leasing of lands, lies the
stirring stories Of pioneering days. OF
a gold rush, of the stampede for lands
at the attractive price Of SIPS an acre,
of Indian reservations, Of railroading,
OF conservation and of setting aside of
almost incredibly large amounts of land
for an institution which has always
been signally American-the public
school.
Although nine-tenths of the original
1000 600, 900 has been disposed OF, the
area that remains is itself as large as
the combined areas of the States OF
Iowa, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.
The General Land Office is responsible
for its proper administration from the
standpoint of conservation. 1t is also
continuing the almost endless task OF
placing a permanent monument at the
four corners of every square mile OF
the original public domain.
Has Continuing Profit.
The administration Of the Land Of
flee is one of the few activities OF the
Government which results in contin-
uing profit. During the decade between
1920 and 1880 the receipts of this Of
flee from all sources amounted to S105,-
100000. The expenditures in operation
for the same period were S27,000,000
leaving a profit Of $78,0o0,000 for the
10-year period.
when the original thirteen Colonies
became States under the Constitution
they kept their own lands" the chap
ter reads. Several of these States,
however, owned lands running to the
Mississippi. About the time they came
into the Union under the Constitution
they gave up their title to this land and
it became public domain, belonging to
the Federal Government. When Florida
and Louisiana later were purchased all
their lands that had not gone into pri-
vate ownership were added to the pub
lie domain. The Louisiana Purchase in
cluded all that fertile area in the Mis-
sissippi River drainage basin west of the
river. Unappropriated lands in those
areas acquired from Mexico, and in
oregon and Washington acquired
through exploration, also became part OF
the public domain. Thus was an en-
pire set aside for later development.
I'm 1874 the Continental Congress ap-
pointed a committee headed by Thomas
Jefferson to draft an ordinance for as
certaining the mode of locating and dis
persing the lands in the Western terri
tory A report of that committee in
the handwriting Of Jefferson himself
recommends plan, new under the sun
for surveying and selling this, the most
valuable stretch Of land in all the world
Pattern for Cutting Up Nation.
"a pattern was made by which the
map of the Nation was to be cut up In
an orderly way that would make it pos
sible that any bit of it anywhere coulo
be conveniently located and a fence
built around it as the tide Of settlers
rolled westward to the Pacific Coast.
"All lines were in accordance with the
cardinal points-ran north and south
east and west. Jefferson, being an en-
thusiast for the metric system, drew q
plan which provided checkerboard fol
the entire country with blocks 10 miles
square, each divided into 100 sections
l mile square. The New England town.
ship, which was 6 miles square, had
come into general acceptance, however
and 1t later became the basic measure
with the location of base lines and
principal meridians and the designa-
tions of townships, ranges and sections,
it became possible conveniently to iden-
tify any tract of land anywhere and
give it place on the map. The public
land States were laid out on this rec
tangular plan, admittedly the most con-
venient scheme ever devised by any
nation"
The first township of public lands
was surveyed in 1785. The survey was
based on Ellicott's line, which was the
boundary between Pennsylvania and
Ohio. The survey of the public do
main has gone forward steadily from
that day to this and is yet far from
completed. Roughly, survey by the
Land Office contemplated the location
of every square mile of land and the
placing of a permanent monument at
each of its four corners and a monu-
ment halfway down each of its four
sides that cross lines may be run es-
tablishing the boundaries of quarter
sections.
Survey Is Continued.
The area between the Ohio River and
the Pacific, between Mexico and Can
ada, is so vast that the task of mark
ing these sections has proven to be
almost without end. But decade after
decade. for $50 years, the work has
gone steadily forward. sometimes con-
suming 100000 a year. About 140,-
600, 900 acres are still unsurveyed. At
present the Government is spending
around 100000 year in continuing
these surveys.
Government lands were at first sold
at auction for cash, the purpose being
to raise money for payment of the pub
" HNs