The Public Domain of the United States

There are within the limits of the United States, exclusive of Alaska and the new island possessions, nearly 573,995,000 acres of vacant Government land, besides 145,122,000 acres in Indian reservations, forest reserves, national parks, reservoir sites, and military reservations, or for some other reason reserved from settlement. The vast area of Alaska, which is very nearly all public land, together with lesser areas in Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and other new dependencies, will bring up the total extent of the national domain, exclusive of reservations, to nearly 1,000,000,000 acres. The table on page 326 shows the distribution of the public land by political divisions, and also compares the amount of public land in each State and Territory with the amount appropriated. The latter includes lands owned by the States and by public and private corporations, as well as all lands either actually owned by individuals, or “entered," though not yet patented, under the land laws of the United States. Future additions to the reservations for permanent forests and reservoir sites will no doubt diminish the area open to settlers, but these additions are likely to be counterbalanced in whole or in part by the opening of Indian and military reservations to settlement. The 1,000,000 acres granted to each of the arid States by the so-called "Carey act" will still further reduce the amount of land to be obtained by settlers directly from the National Government, but doubtless without reducing the total amount of public land available for settlement. At the present rate of disposal to individuals, the vacant lands in the United States proper would last for nearly a century.