Desert Land Act
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The Desert Land Act was passed by the United States Congress on 3 March 1877 to encourage and promote the economic development of the arid and semiarid public lands of the Western United States. Through the Act, individuals may apply for a desert-land entry to reclaim, irrigate, and cultivate arid and semiarid public lands.
The act offered 640 acres (2.6 km²) of land to anyone who would pay 25 cents an acre ($61.78/km²) and promise to irrigate the land within 3 years. Individuals taking advantage of the act were required to submit proof of their efforts to irrigate the land within three years, but as water was relatively scarce, a great number of fraudulent "proofs" of irrigation (estimated as high as 95% for early claims) were provided.
This article is based in part upon content from http://www.blm.gov/nhp/landfacts/DesertLand.html, a public domain resource provided by the United States federal government.