How we acquired our

läHQGQ 6S tS; IJG« HOW we got our land is the core of our history, beginning with the Thirteen and continuing with the Purchase (4 cents an acre for 529,911,680 acres), Florida, the Northwest Territory, , Texas, the Pacific Southwest, the Gadsden Purchase, and others—until the national domain extended from sea to shining sea and beyond the seas. By Karl S. Landstrom, lands officer, Bureau of Land Man- agement, Department of the Interior.

THE LANDED ESTATE of the American boundaries in the sense that they were people is the resource base on which bounded iDy the claims of other States the American economy functions. How to westward. The other seven—New it was acquired is the core of our York, , , South history. Carolina, , , and The national domain is ail land, —held claims to "wilder- public and private. ness" to the west. The claims extended The public domain is the remaining to the Mississippi River. portion of lands originally acquired The attention of the Government of by our Government. the newly formed Confederation was early drawn to the problem of the THE PUBLIC DOMAIN, at its broadest western land claims of the States. The extent, consisted of three-fourths of the States having no western claims con- continental and nearly all tended that the western claims of the of Alaska, a total of 1,807 ïïiiHion acres. other States should be ceded to the The public domain was acquired by Confederation. cessions from the Thirteen Original contended that the un- States, 1781 to 1802; the Louisiana settled domain to the west had been Purchase, 1803; the Spanish Cession wrested by "common blood and treas- of Florida, 1819; the Oregon Compro- ury" and should be made their com- mise, 1846; the Mexican Cession, mon property. Future unequal repre- 1848; the Texas Purchase, 1850; and sentation was feared as the larger the Gadsden Purchase, 1807. Alaska States would grow with westward mi- was purchased from in 1867. gration. The Articles of Confederation had THE THIRTEEN ORIGINAL STATES made left the sale and disposition of western up the area of the United States at the lands to the exclusive control of the close of the Revolutionary War. The States owning them. Some States had boundaries of the new Republic were opened land ofíices, made private established by treaty with Great Brit- grants, granted land bounties, or other- ain. The western boundaries of the wise disposed of portions of iheir do main. Original States were ill defined. There The Continental Congress in 1779 had been overlapping and rival claims, passed a compromise resolution recom- based on conflicting crown grants. mending that the States withhold fur- Six of the States had clearly defined ther grants of western lands for the 19 20 YEARBOOK OF AGRICULTURE 1958 duration of the War. Eight States , , and voted for the resolution, and three Vermont made no cessions. voted against it. , Maryland, and New Jer- tendered her claims to sey had no western lands to cede. western land to the Congress without These cessions gave the United reservation in 1780 to alleviate dis- States title to 236,825,600 acres of land satisfaction of the smaller States. The and water area, as computed in 1912 Congress adopted a resolution "ear- by a committee representing the Gen- nestly" requesting other States to do eral Land Office, Geological Survey, the same. Bureau of Statistics, and Bureau of the New York had claimed an area of Census. This was the nucleus of the undefined and unsettled lands west of land to be known as the public do- Pennsylvania and north of the Ohio main. The Government of the United River. These lands, ceded in 1781, are States assumed the role of proprietor now in Erie County in Pennsylvania. of these lands and trustee for the people. Virginia's western possessions north By events listed thus far, citizens of of the Ohio River were ceded in 1784. the United States and the Nation by The present State of Kentucky was 1802 had acquired title to lands west ceded directly to that State. Ken- to the Mississippi River. At that time, tucky accordingly is one of the States Florida was claimed by Spain, and that never contained public domain of Louisiana was claimed by France. the United States. Massachusetts succeeded to the own- LOUISIANA, which included the Mis- ership of its vacant lands and became sissippi Valley, was early recognized as proprietor of unoccupied lands in having geographic and economic im- Maine. These lands were disposed of portance on the American continent. under State laws. The Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and To the United States in 1785 were their tributaries afforded an avenue to ceded claims to western lands that the sea, but the mouth of the Missis- overlapped Virginia's claims in what sippi River was under the control of is now Pennsylvania, Illinois, Wiscon- foreign powers. sin, and Michigan. France's claim to territory in the Maine took charge of her own lands Mississippi Valley and along the Gulf and made no cession to the United of Mexico was based on LaSalle's voy- States. age and proclamation of 1682. The in 1787 ceded a eastward boundary of Louisiana thus strip of land that now lies in the north- claimed was the '*River Palms." This ern parts of Georgia, Alabama, and is identified as a river in what is now Mississippi. Florida; it empties into Palm Sound, North Carolina ceded her western now called Sarasota Bay. lands forming what is now the State of France's Louisiana Territory was Tennessee, in 1790. ceded to Spain in 1762. The area was . Connecticut's claim to western un- described as ''the whole country occupied lands, except to a tract known under the name of Louisiana, known as the Western Reserve, in together with. New Orleans and the Ohio, was relinquished to the United island on which that city stands." States in 1880. By treaty in 1763, France and Spain Georgia completed the cessions of ceded to Great Britain all of Louisiana the original States in 1802 by ceding east of the Mississippi. Twenty years lands that now are part of Alabama later, in boundary settlements at the and Mississippi. Payment for this close of the P^evolutionary War, the transfer was made by the United United States took over from Great States of 6,200,000 dollars, which Britain all that part of the original was approximately 11 cents an acre. Louisiana ceded to it by France. HOW WE ACQUIRED OUR LANDED ESTATE 21 Spain in 1800 ceded back to France purchase with France. The proclama- the Louisiana Territory less the part tion left the question of ownership for east of the Mississippi and north of lati- future settlement. After a series of inci- tude 31 °, which had been acquired by dents, for the the United States in 1783 from Great United States and Don Luis dc Onis Britain. Before that time, the ministers for Spain signed a treaty of cession of of the United States in Europe had Florida to the United States in 1819. been instructed to prevent, if possible, The Florida purchase cost the United the return of Louisiana to Spain. States 6,674,057 dollars for 46,144,640 France was urged to consent to the sale acres of public domain—about 14 cents of the City and Province of New Or- an acre. leans to the United States. The ur- gency of purchase was heightened by THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY was the temporary closure of the port of established as part of the United States New Orleans to the United States in by the treaty with Great Britain in 1846. October 1802. Long before the purchase of Louisi- President Thomas Jefiferson, in De- ana, the interests of the United States cember 1802, obtained the consent of had been directed toAvard the unknown the Congress to negotiate for the pur- interior country west of the Mississippi. chase of New Orleans from France. Several overland journeys were begun, Negotiations were conducted by James but none was l^rought to a conclusion. Monroe and others. France agreed to The northwestern coasts had been the sale for a price of 80 million francs. visited by ships of several countries. It is said that when Napoleon Bona- Captain Robert Gray, an American, parte instructed his minister of treas- discovered the mouth of the Columbia ury regarding the Louisiana sale he River and sailed many miles upstream. ventured the forecast that the country The American claim to "Oregon that would hold the Mississippi Valley Territory" was based upon Captain would eventually become the most Gray's discovery and later expeditions powerful country on earth. by land and water. The boundaries of Louisiana as pur- President Jefferson asked the Con- chased from France were indefinite. gress in 1803 to appropriate 2,500,000 Definite boundaries were established dollars for an overland expedition, later by a treaty with Spain and a which was begun the next year by series of treaties, concluded in 1871, Mcriwether Lewis and William Clark. with Great Britain. Furtherance of the American claim The cost of 529,911,680 acres of land was the prime motive of the expedi- and water surface acquired in the tion. Exploration of the newly pur- Louisiana Purchase was 23,213,568 chased Louisiana Territory was also an dollars, or about 4 cents an acre. objective. The Lewis and Clark expedition be- FLORIDA was claimed by Spain by gan by water from the mouth of Wood discovery and exploration. River on the Illinois bank of the Mis- Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain sissippi, opposite the mouth of the Mis- in 1736, but in 1783, after the conclu- souri River. The party reached an sion of the treaty between the United Indian village at Mandan by October States and Great Britain, Florida was 26. There, on the north bank of the ceded back to Spain. The boundaries Missouri, a fort, called Fort Mandan, of Florida were in dispute between was erected. Spain and the United States. The route followed in 1805 passed President James Madison issued a through the lofty Bitter Root Range, proclamation in 181 o taking possession down the Clearwater River to its junc- of the east bank of the Mississippi River tion with the Snake River, and down under the authority of the treaty of the Snake to the Columbia River, 22 YEARBOOK OF AGRICULTURE 1958 Captain Clark wrote that on November possessions. The treaty of purchase of 7, 1805, they saw for the first time "the Florida contained recognition by the object of all our labors, the reward of United States of the present eastern all our anxieties," the waters of the boundary of Texas as the eastern Pacific Ocean. boundary of Spanish possessions. After the winter of 1805-1806 at Mexico obtained her independence Fort Clatsop, the party arrived at St. from Spain in 1821. Louis on September 23, 1806. Secretary of State Martin Van Buren The report, "Brief Account of the in 1829 instructed the United States Lewis and Clark Expedition," pub- Minister to Mexico to offer to buy the lished in 1905 and reissued by the Bu- part of Texas east of the Nueces River. reau of Land Management, character- Mexico refused. The Republic of Texas izes it as influencing greatly subsequent was proclaimed in 1836 and was rec- political acts that affected the owner- ognized by the United States in 1837. ship of the Oregon Territory. Admission of Texas to the United Russia at that time had an undefined States was soon urged. It became a po- claim to territory in what is now Alaska. litical issue. A joint resolution for an- By treaty in 1824, the United States nexation was adopted by the Congress recognized Russian sovereignty over and was signed by President John the northwestern coast from latitude Tyler in 1845. 54^4.0' north to the North Pole. Great The State of Texas succeeded to the Britain later confirmed with Russia by ownership of all lands of the former treaty in 1825 that Russian sovereignty Republic east of the Rio Grande that extended northward from latitude were included in a region bounded on 54^40'. The eastward extent of Russian the east by the Spanish-American sovereignty was defined with Great boundary as established under the Britain as the present eastern line of Florida treaty of 1819. These bound- Alaska. aries had been confirmed by a treaty Sovereignty over the land south of with Mexico in 1828, but they were latitude 54^40' was hotly disputed by indefinite. Persons living at Santa Fe, the United States and Great Britain. in what is now New Mexico, denied Disputed territory was occupied by that they were within the State of l^oth countries. Texas. The northern boundary of the United During the Mexican War in 1847, States was placed by treaty in 1846 at General Stephen W. Kearney, under the 49th parallel extended to the mid- War Department orders, captured the dle of a channel that separates Van- Mexican province of New Mexico. couver Island from the mainland, thence As military governor, he published a southerly along the center of the chan- series of laws for the government of nel and of the Strait of San Juan de the province. Fuca to the Pacific Ocean. The exact An organic law for the government location of the channel referred to was of the Territory of New Mexico was in dispute from 1846 to 1872. An exact enacted after 3 years of military gov- location was determined in 1872 by ernment. The law defined the eastern Wilhelm I, of Germany, who boundary of the Territory at the pres- was arbitrator without appeal, agreed ent eastern line of New Mexico, re- upon by the two countries. ducing thus the extent of the claim of The Oregon Compromise established Texas. By the act of September 9, 183,386,240 acres as public domain of 1850, the United States proposed the the United States. No payment of purchase from the State of Texas of its moneys was involved. claim to lands north of latitude 36° 30' and west of the looth meridian and TEXAS, annexed in 1845, ^'^^^ orig- those north of latitude 32° and west of inally included in French and Spanish the 103d meridian. The State ac- HOW WE ACQUIRED OUR LANDED ESTATE 23 cepted, and the purchased property the south by the national boundary became public domain of the United established by the treaty. The area of States. public domain acquired was given by The lands added by this purchase the Federal Interagency Committee in consisted of 78,926,720 acres of land 1912 as 338,680,960 acres. The cost and water surface, costing 15,496,448 was 16,295,149 dollars, or approxi- dollars, or approximately 20 cents an mately 5 cents an acre. acre. These lands arc now parts of Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, and THE GADSDEN PURCHASE w^as com- Oklahoma. pleted in 1853, when Franklin Pierce was President. THE PACIFIC SOUTHWEST, especially James Gadsden, the United States the coast of , was early a Minister to Mexico, entered into the matter of jealous attention by several treaty of purchase on behalf of the rival countries. United States for the purpose of de- Russians occupied a part of the Cali- fining more correctly the boundary fornia coast in 1812 by permission of and making a more regular line be- Spain. A military governor was in tween the United States and Mexico. command. The boundaries given were the Gil a President Andrew Jackson proposed R.i\^er on the north, the Rio Grande on in 1835 to Mexico that the Pacific the east, and a point 20 miles below Southwest be sold to the United States. the mouth of the Gila River, on the Negotiations failed. John Charles Fre- Colorado River, on the west. The area mont's overland expedition and Charles of public domain added was 18,988,- Wilkes' voyage under auspices of the 800 acres (land and water surface). United States added information about The cost was 10 million dollars, or ap- this area. proximately 53 cents an acre. After the terms of the Texas annexa- tion had been accepted by the Repub- THREE PARCELS OF TERRITORY, now lic of Texas, President James K. Polk securely parts of the United States, in 1845 ordered the United States had been collectively omitted by the Army to occupy and hold the western various formal treaties of cession or part of the Texas claim. Steps were purchase. taken to offer to the Mexican Govern- One of these areas is what is now ment terms for the acquisition of the western Louisiana, west of the Missis- disputed western Texas Territory and sippi River drainage. It was relin- lands to the west, including the bay quished by Spain in 1819. and harbor of San Francisco. Another is an extensive area in War was declared with Mexico on Minnesota and the Dakotas. It drains May 13, 1846. After repeated failure northward through the Red River. It of negotiations and resumption of hos- was relinquished by Britain in 1818. tilities, a treaty was completed by The third area is in central Colo- Commissioner Nicholas P. Trist, on rado. It was not included in the Louisi- behalf of the United States, at the city ana or Texas Purchases but was cov- of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexico, on ered by a treaty with the Ute Indians February 2, 1848. President Polk pro- in 1868. claimed the treaty on July 4, 1848. The total of original public domain This action resulted in recognition acquired in continental United States of the w^estern boundaries of Texas and from 1781 to 1867 was given by the added to the public domain the lands Federal Interagency Committee in bounded on the east by the Rio Grande 1912 as 1,462,466,560 acres (land and River and a meridian extending north, water area). The aggregate cost w^as on the north by the 42d parallel, on 77,879,222 dollars, or approximately 5 the west by the Pacific Ocean, and on cents an acre. Basin of the Retl TERRITORY OF THE ORIGINAL THIRTEEN STATES" River ol the North Treaty of 1783 with Great Britain Historians difieras t"

The Original Thirteen States (present area) Itlus the District of Columbia (Maryland cession to tile Uniteit States. 1788) and the new States created out of their territory not ceded to the United States: Vermont 1791, Kentucky 1792. Maine 1820. and West Virginia .1863 >H w North Carolina Cession to the United States, 1790; o United States Cessions to Tennessee 1806 and 1846 o

Gadsden Purchase o from Mexico, 1853 > O 9 n THE PUBLIC DOMAIN Nticleus and Adciition.s d TERRITORY OF THE ■REPUBLIC OF TEXAS Annexation of Texas, 1845 HOW WE ACQUIRED OUR LANDED ESTATE 25 AMERICAN INDIANS or Indian tribes November 9, 1855. The rate of in- originally occupied or claimed most of terest on the amount due was fixed at the lands embraced in the treaties and 4 percent from 1855 to 1934 and 5 per- purchases of the United States. At the cent thereafter. time of acquisition from other powers, The total amount due the four tribes, Indians were largely in possession. with interest, less offsets, w^as fixed by In the later stages of westward mi- the Court of Claims at 16,515,604.77 gration, Indian claims to land were dollars, to which certain additional in- customarily settled by means of treaties terest w^as to be added until the date with the tribal authorities. The treaties of payment. usually provided for areas to be re- On reversal by the United States served to Indian possession. Supreme Court (341 U. S. 48), final The total cost of Indian land claims judgment was entered by the Court of is unknown, but it is known that it far Claims on May i, 1951 (119 C. Cls. exceeds the cost of payments to other 835) at 2,259,986.80 dollars. countries. Several lawsuits against the United States on account of Indian ALASKA was claimed by Russia on land claims have been settled in recent the basis of voyages by in years. Other large claims were pending 1728 and 1741. After Bering's second in 1958. voyage, Russian fur traders advanced along the . A Russian AN EXAMPLE of an Indian land claim trading corporation, the Russian- is that of the Alcea Band of Tillamooks^ American Company, took domination et al. V. The United States, involving over Russian America in 1799 under a 2,772,580 acres. The lands are located series of 20-year concessions. in the coastal areas of Oregon, Suit During the in 1855, was brought under the Act of August Russia feared that Great Britain might 26, 1935 (49 Stat. 801), which gave seize Russian America. The area was the Court of Claims jurisdiction over offered to the United States, but the this class of cases. offer was refused. The court had decided on April 2, The legislature of the Territory of 1945 (103 C. Cls. 494), and it had been Washington memorialized President affirmed by the United States Supreme Andrew Johnson in 1866 to acquire Court (329 U. S. 40) that four of the the Russian territory in Alaska. A tribes had proved their original Indian treaty of purchase was signed in 1867 title and that the taking of the lands by Secretary of State William H. by the United States had been invol- Seward for the United States and untary and uncompensated. Judgment Baron de Stoeckl for Russia. The pur- was entered on January 3, 1950, for chase price was 7,200,000 dollars, or the tribes under the provisions of the approximately 2 cents an acre, for Fifth Amendment to the Constitution 375,296,000 acres of public domain. of the United States (115 C. Cls. 463). Formal transfer was made at Sitka to The amount awarded was measured Major General L. H. Rousseau, the by the appraised value of the lands as United States Commissioner, on Octo- of the date they had been taken, plus ber 18, 1867. reasonable interest, offset by the value The early progress made by Russians of the tribes' interests in the reserva- in Alaska may be traced today by tion lands allotted to them as of the viewing the remaining Russian Ortho- date the lands were taken and less the dox church buildings, wooden framed equivalent of gratuities from the and turnip topped. These monuments United States to the tribes over the are found at Unalaska, eastward along years to the latest date of accounting. the Aleutians, in the Kodiak-Afgonak The court set the value of the lands Island group, and at Sitka, which was taken at 1.20 dollars an acre as of the last capital of Russian America. 26 YEARBOOK OF AGRICULTURE 1958 Thus was completed, in 1867, the of June 30, 1956, administered 27,960,- acquisition of public lands of the 067 acres of acquired lands of the United States. United States. Much of this area is in The public domain did not include States from Texas eastward to Vir- lands within American insular posses- ginia, including Missouri and Ken- sions. The Territory of , Puerto tucky and States south of them. Some Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, Amer- of these acquired forest lands are in ican Samoa, the Trust Territory of , Vermont, Pennsyl- the Pacific Islands, and other islands vania, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wis- in the central Pacific hav^e laws for the consin. Purchases of forest lands in the administration and disposition of their Western States are small in relation to public lands. the area of national forest consisting of reserved public domain. ACQUIRED LANDS are distinguished An important acquisition of Federal from public domain in that they have lands was that of the revested Oregon been acquired by the United States by and California Railroad lands, known purchase or gift or condemnation from as the O & C lands. Title to almost 3 individual landowners or from the million acres of forested lands was re- States in individual transactions not vested to the United States by an act of embodied in the major acquisitions of the Congress in 1916. The railroad public domain. company was paid a price of 2.50 dol- The desirability of Federal purchase lars an acre for the lands on the basis of privately owned lands to supplement that it had been the intention of the public domain reserved in national Congress in the prior land grant to forests first arose about 1901. The sub- have given the company a grant of ject was debated in the Congress be- that amount. ginning in 1909. Advocates stressed the A difí'erent form of Federal land pur- importance of forest management in chase consisted of purchase of farm- the control of runoflT and hence control lands in submarginal uses during the of floods and navigation resources. Pur- 1930's. Purchases were made under chases were proposed in Eastern States various funds established by the emer- where there was no public domain. gency relief acts, the Agricultural Ad- Opposition was based on such grounds justment Act, and later the Bankhead- as interference with private ownership, Jones Farm Tenant Act of 1937. The cost, and constitutional authority. An purchases under this group of pro- authorizing act, known as the Weeks grams included some 11 million acres. Act, was adopted in 1911. Purchases Nearly half of these lands were in the under this act were limited to lands northern part of the Great Plains. necessary to the protection of the flow of navigable streams. A SPEGL\L FORM of land purchase re- The act established a National Forest quirement is that for military purposes. Reservation Commission, consisting of Such purchases during the Second the Secretaries of War, Interior, and World War aggregated some 7 million Agriculture, and two members each of acres. Other lands were leased. the House and the Senate. The com- The Department of Defense, for mili- mission approves the price and acreage tary purposes, held for the United of all tracts acquired under the author- States 7,675,275 acres of acquired lands ity of this act. as of June 30, 1956. For civil functions The Clarke-McNary Act of 1924 of the Corps of Engineers, the area of broadened the authority to include acquired lands held on that date was purchase of land in the watersheds of 3^647.999 acres. navigable streams for timber production as well as for regulation of streamflow. FEW PURCHASES of privately owned The United States Forest Service, as lands were made to provide lands for HOW WE ACQUIRED OUR LANDED ESTATE 27 Indian use before 1934. The Indian side the continental United States as Reorganization Act, adopted in 1934, of the same date totaled 365,082,217 provided funds for land purchase and acres. Defense agencies held 2,676,538 authorized the use of Indian tribal acres of this property. Civil agencies funds for that purpose. More than i held the remaining 362,405,679 acres. million acres have been purchased for The Department of Defense did not the use of Indians. The Bureau of report the locations of its acreage Indian Affairs, on June 30, 1956, held throughout the world. However, for 594,807 acres of Indian lands acquired civil agencies, outside of Alaska, Fed- by purchase, donation, and transfer. eral holdings were as follows: North Privately owned lands have been America, 405,868 acres; South Amer- acquired as national parks or national ica, 52 acres; Europe, 798 acres; monuments, or to round out public Africa, 932 acres; , 1,272 acres; domain areas set aside as national parks Australasia, 743 acres; Pacific Islands, or monuments. The National Park 17,000 acres; Ha\vaii, 197,359 acres; Service administered 3,501,969 acres of and W^ake Island, 2,600 acres. acquired lands as of June 30, 1956. IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES, civil agencies WILDLIFE REFUGES have been estab- of the United States held 5,150 acres, lished or augmented by condemna- including Department of State, 2,008 tions and purchases, as well as by reser- acres; United States Information Agen- vation or w^ithdrawal of public lands. cy, 1,949 acres; and General Services The first purchase of land for a wildlife Administration, 1,187 acres. These refuge was for a bison range on the lands were used for office building lo- Flathead Indian Reservation in 1909. cations, 300 acres; harbor and port General purchase authority was granted terminals, 56 acres; and housing, by the Congress in the Norbeck- 1,360 acres. Other land and vacant Andersen Act of 1929. Extensive areas land totaled 3,434 acres. were added in the 1930's from lands purchased as submarginal lands. CENTRALIZED RECORDS of public do- Acquired lands administered by the main of the United States are main- Fish and Wildlife Service as of June tained by the Bureau of Land Manage- 30, 1956, aggregated 2,770,646 acres. ment of the Department of the In- These lands for the most part are con- terior. Records of acquired lands are sidered incapable of sustained use as maintained by the various acquiring cropland because of wetness, dryness, or administering agencies. Inventory or accelerated erosion. reports of federally owned real estate Lands acquired under the reclama- are prepared annually as of the end of tion program and administered by the each fiscal year and are issued early in Bureau of Reclamation totaled 1,538,- each session of the Congress. The Gen- 016 acres as of June 30, 1956. The eral Services Administration, in collab- Atomic Energy Commission admin- oration with the General Accounting istered 667,926 acres and the Tennes- Office, develops and supervises agency see Valley Authority held 740,030 procedures for the maintenance of real acres as of June 30, 1956. property accounts and the reporting All lands acquired by Federal agen- of inventory data. cies by purchase, donation, or transfer By means of inventory reports and amounted to 50,082,229 acres through- exchange of information, Federal agen- out the world as of June 30, 1956, com- cies are able to avoid unnecessary ac- pared with 724,504,778 acres of public quisitions, efí*ect economies through domain (reserved and unreserved) held joint uses, facilitate transfers or ex- on that date in continental United changes of administration, and return States and Alaska. surplus federally acquired lands to Federally owned real property out- private ownership.