Public Domain Land Available for Return to the Western States

The Twelve Western States with the Greatest Public Domain Acreage Which Could Be Transferred [Returned] To the Western States, Indian  Tribes and Land Grant Heirs. 

States                                                             Public Domain Land

Alaska                                                              171,762,783 Acres

Nevada                                                              55,830,944 Acres

California                                                          41,541,475 Acres

Idaho                                                                 32,198,608 Acres

Utah                                                                  32,172,372 Acres

Wyoming                                                          30,216,444 Acres

Arizona                                                              30,093,695 Acres

Oregon                                                              28,496,022 Acres

New Mexico                                                     24,093,960 Acres

Montana                                                           23,376,626 Acres

Colorado                                                           22,755,713 Acres

Washington                                                     10,659,295 Acres  

         The Ten States with the least Public Domain Acreage

States                                                   Public Domain Acreage

Iowa                                                                  2.0 Acres

Tennessee                                                       2.0 Acres

West Virginia                                                  3.8 Acres

Kentucky                                                         4.5 Acres

Delaware                                                         5.0 Acres

Georgia                                                         10.1 Acres

South Carolina                                             11.7 Acres

New Hampshire                                           14.8 Acres

Ohio                                                               25.0 Acres

Vermont                                                       28.5 Acres

How The West Was Lost!

My previous post reflected the adverse result Manifest Destiny has had upon the western states by comparing the land (in acres and percentages) taken from the states in the West compared to that taken from the States in the East.

This map reflects the same inequity pictorially as the effect of the taking appears today. It is time the western states, Indian Tribes and heirs to Spanish and Mexican land grants came together and said: GIVE US BACK OUR LAND!

A return of land taken by the federal government between 1845 and 1910 would be an economic boon as it would give back to the states, tribes and heirs the opportunity to increase money for education, return natural resources to the states and assist the Tribes and heirs of the land grants in expanding their economic bases. At the same time it would shrink the federal government's managerial responsibilities to protect land that lawfully belongs to the states and their residents. It is time to TAKE BACK THE LAND!

I have published Trespassers on Our Own Land, which is a comprehensive history of the manner in which the federal government took millions of acres from decades old Spanish and Mexican Land Grants, but that is only a small part of the land which the federal government took from the eleven western states and Alaska as well as the millions of acres it took from Indian Tribes under the Dawes Act and subsequent legislation.

Please feel free to join this blog and post the histories of the millions of acres the government improperly took from the states of Alaska, California, Arizona, Colorado,Idaho, New Mexico, Oregon, Montana, Nevada, Washington, Wyoming and Utah and from the hundreds of Indian Tribes during the same time period.

There is no time like the present to force a national dialog on what the federal government is willing to do to RETURN THE LAND!

Manifest Destiny 165 Years Later

The following figures reflect the amount (in acres and percentage of land) in the ten states with the greatest federal government ownership:

State                                  Government  Owned                     Percentage                                                                      

Alaska                                 171.8 million acres                            47.0% 

Nevada                                 56.1 million acres                            79.3%

California                             44.8 million acres                             44.7%

Utah                                     33.9 million acres                             64.3%

Idaho                                   33.0 million acres                              62.3%

Oregon                                31.8 million acres                              51.64%

Arizona                                31.3 million acres                              43.1%

Wyoming                            31.0 million acres                              50.0%

New Mexico                       26.2 million acres                              33.7%

Montana                             25.5 million acres                              27.3%

Washington                        12.0 million acres                              28.0% 

The following figures reflect the acreage and percentage of land controlled in the eleven states with the least government ownership:

State                                      Government Owned                Percentage

Iowa                                       29.6 thousand acres                    .08%

Delaware                                1.9 Thousand acres                    .15%

Connecticut                           6.9 thousand acres                     .22%

Rhode Island                          3.1 thousand acres                    .49%

New York                           196.6 thousand acres                    .64%

Kansas                                349.7 thousand acres                    .67%

Maine                                 193.2 thousand acres                    .97%

Nebraska                           514.9 thousand acres                  1.05%

Ohio                                   279.6 thousand acres                  1.07%

Massachusetts                   52.1 thousand acres                  1.04%

Texas                                     2.0 million acres                        1.19%