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Show Appendix A Homesteads, Preemptions, and Commutations As long as settlement and land entries were centered in areas where the public-lands had been offered and were therefore open to unlimited acquisition with cash, scrip, or warrants, there was little incentive to resort to preemption or to use the commutation clause of the Homestead Act to gain quick titles. After 1880, however, when the offered land that was at all attractive had passed into private hands and no substantial additional offerings were being made, frequent use was made of the Preemption Law and the commutation clause of the Homestead Law. Indeed, from 1883 to 1889 the number of persons acquiring title by preemption and commutation far exceeded the number gaining title by completing their 5 years of residence. This was the period when the Preemption Law was most grossly abused by livestock men, lumbermen, and speculators who were also abusing the commutation privilege. In 1891 land reformers in Congress succeeded in cutting off one route to quick ownership by repealing preemption and made the second route less useful by extending the required period of presumed occupation of homesteads before they could be commuted to cash entries from 6 months to 14. Though the number of preemptions sharply declined, thereafter, more than 15,000 were filed alter repeal by persons who had established rights before 1891. Commutations likewise declined reaching a low point in 1897 when only 1,301 homesteads were commuted while 18,814 went to final entry after 5 years of occupation. Final Homestead Entries by States, 1868-196 la Number Acres State Alabama, ..... 41 ,819 Alaska___.......... 3,277 Arizona,.......___ ...... 20,268 Arkansas___.............. 74,620 California............ 66, 738 Colorado .. .. . .. 107,618 Dakota Territory......... 33,951 Florida_- __......______ 28,096 Idaho........._______ 60,221 Illinois_____ ..... . .. . . 74 Indiana.....____....... 30 Iowa.. ..... ___ ____ 8,851 Kansas.., .. 89,945 Louisiana. ___ . ....... 22,988 Michigan. _ _____ .... . 19,861 Minnesota__;. 85,072 Mississippi. . ........... 24,126 Missouri.............. 34,633 Montana__________ 151,600 Nebraska_____ 104,260 Nevada____ .... .......... 4,370 New Mexico__........ 87,312 North Dakota.......... 118,472 Ohio. . ___ ... 108 Oklahoma 99.557 Oregon .. 62,926 South Dakota _ 97,197 Utah 16.798 Washington 58,156 Wisconsin 29,246 Wyoming .. 67,315 General Land Office 2,602 Total .. 1.622,107 Average 4.578.323 363.775 4,134,356 8.133.791 10,476,665 22,146,400 5,244.345 3,326.712 9.733.455 5,667 1,785 903.164 13.089,258 2.561,334 2.321,937 10.389,606 2,637,412 3,644.306 32.050,480 22,253,314 704,167 19,422,958 17.417.466 7,707 14.865.912 10,513,945 15,660,250 3,607,683 8,465,002 3,110,990 18,225,327 219,352 270.216,874 166 acres ¦' Taken from Homesteads issued by the Bureau of Land Management in 1962. The larger part of the entries in Dakota Territory before 1889 were in what later became South Dakota. 797 |