History of public land law development

page 442

442 HISTORY OF PUBLIC LAND LAW DEVELOPMENT Comparison of Land Sales, Including Warrant and Scrip Entries By United States, State of Kansas, and Kansas Railroads With Number of Original Homesteads (in Acres)8 Year United States Gash, Warrant & Scrip Indian Lands State of Kansas Railroads All Sales Original Homesteads 1863. 1864. 1865. 1866. 1867. 1868. 1869. 1870. 1871. 1872. 1873. Total. 1,367 1,367 169 221 2,670 18,468 21,138 98,619 69,535 296,836 366,371 52,972 146,208 12,503 158,711 146,989 281,590 1,920 283,510 154 675 187,151 50,788 5,279 111,271 354,489 165,976 85,180 26,044 76,187 473,262 660,673 228,137 336,005 93,625 62,372 318,193 810,195 647,186 265,232 744,735 74,086 265,642 1,349,695 1,191,622 133,113 768,870 50,663 195,861 1,148,507 1,227,376 123,146 563,911 34,300 245,995 967,352 817,124 1,631,197 2,575,780 304,807 1,610,224 6,122,088 4,899,897 8 Statistics of warrant entries and of sales by the State of Kansas for certain years are unavailable. Neutral Tract lands of 27,741 acres and 89,690 acres of "free" or state lands given to the Missouri River, Fort Scott, and Gulf Railroad and sold in 1871, 1872 and 1873 have been equally divided between the 3 years because the annual sales were not available. The table does not include all the state sales, nor the land sales of a number of the railroads holding smaller grants and Indian reserves. The sales of Indian land to railroads have not been included. Compiled from GLO Reports, annual reports of the Kansas railroads, Kansas State documents, and Gates, Fifty Million Acres. For the entire public land states, with some figures for land warrant entries missing, we have the following table: Sales and Entries, 1863-1870 Year Cash Sales, Military Warrant, and Scrip Entries Original Homestead Entries ________Acres________ 1863______ 556,036 1,040,989 1864______ 1,163,092 1,261,593 1865______ 1,366,003 1,160,533 1866______ 1,442,540 1,892,517 1867______ 3,363,873 1,788,043 1868______ 3,080,783 2,328,923 1869______ 3,726,248 2,737,365 1870______ 2,881,551 3,698,910 From GLO Reports. After 1871 the original homestead entries always exceeded those with cash, scrip, and warrants, but the latter remained substantial until 1891. Benjamin Hibbard is responsible for the view, long widely accepted, that land sales after 1862 were not only small but were mostly associated with preemption and that after 1868 the sale of agricultural land virtually halted.16 This is not correct. Numerous large entries were being made in Nebraska and Kansas on lands well east of the 99th meridian. For example, William Scully, an Irish landlord disillusioned with the returns from land in his own country, first came to America in 1850 and entered 38,000 acres of fertile prairie land which soon yielded him sufficient income in rents which, together with the funds derived from liquidation of his Irish estates, enabled him to expand his purchases greatly. In 1870 he bought 41,42a acres in Nuckolls County, Nebraska, and 15,220 in Dickinson and Marion Counties, Kansas. Thereafter ia Hibbard, History of the Public Land Policies, pp. 110-13.