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Show AN INCONGRUOUS LAND SYSTEM 441 S. Pillsbury, 75,000 acres; and William C. Yawkee, 67,000 acres. In the last two decades of the 19th century shrewd capitalists like Charlemagne Tower grabbed up choice iron ore land in the Mesabi Range of Minnesota, partly by cash, scrip, and warrant entries and partly by the use of dummies entering homestead and preemption claims.15 The statistics of entries with warrants, scrip, and cash, as compared with entries under the homestead law show that 15 Fremont P. Wirth, The Discovery and Exploitation of the Minnesota Iron Lands (Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1937), passim. those who feared the adoption of a free land policy would bring about a rapid decline in income from land sales and a sharp reduction in the value of the military warrants were poor prophets. California, where the first offerings of public land were made in 1858 and 1861, provides an interesting illustration of the fact that public land was acquired through cash purchase and warrant and scrip entries even though free land for homesteaders was available. Not until 1876 did original homestead entries exceed entries with cash, scrip, and warrants. Entries of Land in California in Acres Year Cash Military Warrants Agricultural College Scrip Homestead (Original Entries) 1866 82,388 n.a.m 65,231 1867________ 258,569 n.a. 44,261 1868 464,405 . 1,726,794 14,960 9,160 580,572 158,208 88,798 59,666 1869________ 1870 445,962 221,186 255,060 202,061 14,040 17,400 n.a. n.a. 36,657 158,898 248,578 286,528 67,634 213,704 209,790 169,819 1871________ 1872 1873 . 1874 266,128 358,299 n.a. 26,960 51,296 4,158 180,947 295,915 1875________ 1876___ 306,487 n.a. 1,520 403,008 1877 401,022 277,938 79,040 69,860 640 200,374 249,667 1878 a Not available. From GLO Reports. We also have a table for Kansas showing the cash, warrant, and scrip entries, Indian land sales, State of Kansas land sales, railroad land sales, and the original home- stead entries for 1863 to 1873. Only in 1863, 1864, and 1872 did homestead entries exceed the acreage acquired by these other methods. |
