The Desert Land Act was passed by the United States Congress on 3 March1877 to encourage and promote the economic development of the arid and semiarid public lands of the Western United States. Through the Act, individuals may apply for a desert-land entry to reclaim, irrigate, and cultivate arid and semiarid public lands. The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States of America. ... March 3 is the 62nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (63rd in leap years). ... 1877 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Irrigation in the Heart of the Sahara Irrigation (in agriculture) is the replacement or supplementation of rainfall with water from another source in order to grow crops. ...
The act offered 640 acres (2.6 km²) of land to anyone who would pay a 1.25 an acre and promise to irrigate the land within 3 years. Individuals taking advantage of the act were required to submit proof of their efforts to irrigate the land within three years, but as water was relatively scarce, a great number of fraudulent "proofs" of irrigation (estimated as high as 95% for early claims) were provided.
This article is based in part upon content from http://www.blm.gov/nhp/landfacts/DesertLand.html, a public domain resource provided by the United States federal government.
Ranching began to thrive and sheep raising grew from solely a Navajo occupation to a major enterprise among white settlers.
Irrigation, spurred by the DesertLandAct and by Mormon immigration, promoted farming in the southern part of the territory.
The canal, which uses dams, tunnels, and pumps to raise the water 1,247 ft (380 m) to the desert plain, was opposed by environmentalists, who feared it would damage desert ecosystems.
Feeds |
Contact