Page:U.S. Department of the Interior Annual Report 1896.djvu/12

VI REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. The national domain is the whole area, land and water, lying within the national boundaries known as the United States. The public domain, or public lands-the property of the nation, and subject to legislative control and disposition by Congress alone-is the area known as public lands acquired by treaty, capture, cession by States, conquest or other acquisition, and purchase. . The national domain may be increased without adding to the public domain, as was the case when Texas came into the Union. The acqui- sition of that State added to our national domain, but did not increase the public domain, because all of the lands within the limits of that State belonged to and continued in the ownership and possession of the Commonwealth of Texas, until the sale of a portion thereof by Texas to the Government in 1850. The public domain is comprised within the cessions made by the original colonies to the Federal Government, and known as the “West- ern Reserve,” with an area of 259,171,787 acres and the following purchases: Acres. Louisiana purchase, April 30, 1803- ..... _ ...... _ _ 756, 961, 280 East and west Florida, February 22, 1819 .... __ _ _ 37, 931, 520 Guadalupe Hidalgo, February 2, 1848 _ __._... _ _ 334, 443, 520 State of Texas, November 25, 1850 ....._... _ _ _ 61, 892, 480 Gadsden purchase, December 30, 1853 ..... _ _ 29, 142, 400 Alaska purchase, May 30, 1867 ...._._... _ _ _ 369, 529, 600 “Western Reserve” .... __........ _ _ 259, 171, 787 Total ._..___..................._. .... ..._..__ ._.. _._.__ 1 _ _... 1 , 84 9, 072, 587 The above-named area, exclusive of the “ Western Reserve,” was pur- chased at a total cost of $88,157,389.98. The actual public domain is 1,818,462,522 acres, exclusive of the area of the State of Tennessee, which, although in reality a part of the public domain, was transferred to the State of Tennessee by act of Congress of February 18, 1841. The following figures, compiled from the records of the General Land Oliice, give interesting information concerning the disposition of the public domain: Total acres disposed of up to June 30, 1883 ___.._ ._ _._ _ ______ 620, 000, 000 Total acres disposed of up to J une 30, 1896 __.. _ ______.____.__.___.___. 946, 000, 000 Disposed of from June 30, 1883, np to June 30, 1896, thirteen years. 326, 000, 000 Or 25,000,000 acres a year; an area nearly equal to the Gadsden pur- chase of 29,000,000 acres, and equal to the area of the State of Ohio. The public domain disposed of during the past thirteen years is more than half of the amount disposed of during the preceding one hundred and seven years of our existence, and more than one-third of the total public domain disposed of since the beginning of the Government. The amount of the public domain still vacant is estimated at some- thing over 600,000,000 acres, not including the District of Alaska, with an area of over 369,000,000 acres. The location of the public domain