Items of Interest August 14, 1915 Issue

Items of Interest

During the month of June the activities of the department of the interior in the classification of public lands were confined practically to classifications as to irrigability under the enlarged homestead act. In this same period somewhat more than one million acres were designated for entry under this act. Two of the states to which the act was extended during the last session of Congress, namely Kansas and South Dakota, were beneficiaries of the designations made during June. About thirty-seven thousand acres were designated in Kansas, and somewhat more than fifty-six thousand acres in South Dakota. The states most affected were New Mexico, with designations of three hundred and seventy thousand acres; Colorado, one hundred and eighty-one thousand acres; Montana, one hundred and twenty-nine thousand acres; and Oregon, one hundred and twenty thousand acres. Arizona was affected to the extent of sixty-one thousand acres, and in a number of other states areas of less than fifty thousand acres were classified as nonirrigable, and so opened to entry as double homesteads of three hundred and twenty acres each.

The secretary of the department has recently approved an order which will open to entry on Sept. 10, under the provision of this act, approximately one hundred and twenty thousand acres of nonirrigable lands in the state of Washington. The areas affected by this order are located in eleven counties in the eastern part of the state, the greater part being situated in Walla Walla, Adams, and Yakima counties. The secretary has also announced that by the approval of an order of designation, more than two hundred and twenty thousand acres of nonirrigable lands in New Mexico will be open to entry on the same date, under the provisions of the same act, in so far as these lands are still subject to entry thereunder. The areas affected by this order are distributed through ten counties in the northeastern and southern parts of the state, the greater portion being located in Sierra, Grant, and Chaves counties.

The national forests turned into the United States treasury during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1915, nearly $2,500,000, an increase of more than $40,000 over the receipts of the previous year. The timber sales, which amounted to $1,164,000, yielded on account of the depressed condition of the lumber industry about $79,000 less than those of the previous fiscal year. The grazing receipts, which totaled $1,125,000, increased $127,000 over last year, and the water power receipts, which amounted to not quite $90,000, showed an increase of nearly $42,000.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

Items of Interest

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access