OCR Text |
Show 40.000 HOMES MAY 1 BE MADE POSSIBLE Four Million Acres to Be Thrown Open to Homestead Within the Forest Ar:a as a Result of the Conference of Government Experts Which Has Been Held in Ogden. According to C. J Stab!, chief of lands In the Uenxer distrist, in his statement yesterday in the closing session ses-sion of the lands conference, the total of farm lands within national forests which will be open to settlement under un-der the forest homestead law, may aggregate ag-gregate as much as 4,000,000 acres, or aboul 2 per cent of the area of national forests, and which will bi in small tracl6 in mountainous regions. These lands will be situated principally principal-ly in the thirteen western states of Washington. Oregon. California. Idaho Nevada, Utah, Arizona. Now Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana and Arkansas. The maximum size of these farm units under the law is lfio acres, but not In half of the cases can a tract as large as 160 acres in continuous area be found vhlch is adapted to iarmlng purposes and many of the forest homesteads that have previously previous-ly been taken up are not larger than seventy or eighty acres If the average forest homestead should prove to be 100 acres, there would be made possible, according to Mr Stahl's estimate a total of 40,000 farm homes and, dividing this number num-ber by the thirteen states listed. the average number to each of these states would be over 3,000 In this connection it should be borne in mind that these will be in small Isolated areas, widely scattered throughout the forests, many of them very difficult of access until the government, the states and the communities of imli viduals Interested have opened them up by extension of roads and trails. For purpose of comparison, the average av-erage 3.000 new farms of 300.000 acres for each of the western states might be compared to the area to be reclaimed re-claimed under national Irrigation projects proj-ects For Instanci the Boise project, when completed, is to Irrigate 243,000 acres; the Minidoka project included the lands to be irrigated by the pumping pump-ing plant, as well as from storage In the Jackson reservoir. 124,700 acres, the Truckee-Carson project iu Nevada, 260.000 acres; the Strawberry Valley project at Spanish Fork, near Provo. 60,000 acres Western Farm. According to the census of 191 the number nnd size of farms In these western states is as follows Slate. Number. Area acres Arizona f',227 1 247.00m Arkansas 214,678 17,416,000 California 88.197 27.y31.000 Colorado 46.170 12,632,000 Idaho 30,807 6,284,000 Molilalia L'14 13,646,000 Nevada 2.689 2,716,000 New Mexico 36,676 i i 270 000 Oregon 4G.50J 1 1 '.-r South Dakota .... 77.644 26,017,000 Utah 21,676 8,898,000 Washington 56,192 11 712,000 Wyoming 10,987 S. 543, 000 Totals 665,659 154,296 000 At best, therefore, the opening of forest homesteads cannot increase present farm acreage in these states more than 2 2-3 per cent. It is interesting inter-esting to note. also, that while the average farm unit in Utah is 93 acres, and in Idaho 171 acres, the average for the thirteen states is 232 acres. In total net area of national forests the state of California leads with almost al-most 20 million acres; Idaho is second sec-ond with 18 million acres, and Montana Mon-tana third with a little more than 16 million Oregon has 1 Colorado Colo-rado 13 million. Arizona 1 2. 460.000. Washington 9536 000, New Mexico 8,- 819.000, while Utah has but 7.2K7 Both on account of smaller area of national forests and because the state was settled earlier than the "iters in which the national forests are situated there must necessarily bi a smaller number of agricultural settlements opened in this slate under un-der the new law than in the others. A preliminary examination of some of the forests bordering on thickly settled valleys, such as the Manll, lying on the plateau lands to the east Ot Pah-view, Mt lieasant. Ephraim and Manti is developed with scarcely scarce-ly an agricultural possibility therein to be found Although the reports and maps, which will be made avail -1 able to the general public from this work, will not open for settlement a great are,,, the information should nevertheless be of high value. Will Search Out Homes Under the general homestead laws, settlers not only were obliged to seek out their own prospective farm homes but also to decide for themselves whether the existing conditions of climate cli-mate and soil fertility would make farming possible As a matter of fact very many failed in their purpose and returned to their previous homes With i he care and fidelity that is evidently to be exerted by the examiners ex-aminers in considering every condition condi-tion by individual areas, bringing to bear upon their work also present ex-I ex-I perience of their practical farm operations, oper-ations, as well as the operations of the experiment stations, the forthcoming forth-coming reports should be thoroughl) dependable. The citizens of the western states who are eager to see the utmost development de-velopment of all resources take place a rapidly as possible, as well as the forestery officers who are intent on doing their full duty In carrying out the purpose of the law, are to be congratulated on the work which under un-der the Nelson amendment and plane of procedure now perfected are to go forward on a well defined, systematic system-atic basis. |