CH. IX.]

The public lands belonging to the general government are situated,-1st. Within the limits of the United States, as defined by the treaty of 1783, and are embraced by the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and that part of Minnesota east of the Mississippi River, all of which have been formed out of the Northwestern Territory, as conveyed, with certain reservations, to the United States, by New York in 1781, by Virginia in 1784, by Massachusetts in 1785, and by Connecticut in 1786; also the lands within the boundaries of the states of Mississippi and Alabama, north of 31° north latitude, as conveyed to the United States by Georgia in 1802. 2d. Within the territories of Orleans and Louisiana, as acquired from France by the treaty of 1803, including the portion of the states of Alabama and Mississippi, south of 31°; the whole of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, and that portion of Minnesota west of the Mississippi River; the Indian territory; Kansas, Nebraska, and Oregon territories. 3d. Within the state of Florida, as obtained from Spain by the treaty of 1819. 4th. In New Mexico and California, as acquired from Mexico by the treaty of 1848.

549

Within the limits recognized by these treaties and cessions, the public lands covered an estimated area of 1,584,000,000 acres. In this is not in cluded any territory acquired from Mexico by the treaty of 1853. Exclusive of the lands in Oregon, California, New Mexico, Utah, Kansas and Nebraska territories, the entire area of the public domain is stated, after a careful examinaAbout tion, to have been 471,892,439 acres. one-fourth of this, up to November 30, 1850, had been sold, and $135,339,092 received therefor. The aggregate outlay of every kind upon these lands to the same date, including cost of purchase, of surveying, and of selling, was $74,957,879, leaving as net profit to the government $60,381,213, or an annual average of nearly $1,000,000 for the last fifty years. If there should be added to this, at the rate of $1.25 per acre, the value of the land granted for bounties, schools, internal improvements, etc., it would amount to nearly double the above sum. The average cost per acre to the government of acquiring title, etc., to the lands is 14.41 cents; of survey, 2.07 cents; of selling and managing, 5.32 cents; in all, 21.80 cents; while it receives $1.25 per acre, or a net profit on each acre sold of $1.032.

For full details of the present condition of the public lands, and of the various grants and donations thereof for purposes of education and of internal improvement, see the American Almanac for 1850, pp. 180–187.