How do private citizens wind up owning vast amounts of wilderness?

I had the opportunity to work on a commercial on some beautiful real estate. It is located in Truckee Calif. This man owns 3000 acres of nothing but wide open wilderness. 2 lakes and a mountian. He has only been on the property for 20 years. Somwhere along the line. 100 -150 years ago. No one owned it. How does it get it's first owner? And why.How do private citizens wind up owning vast amounts of wilderness?
In 1871, 29,000 claims were made in Kansas under the Homestead Act. By 1886, this number had leaped to 43,000 claims.By the end of the 19th century, over 570 million acres (2,300,000 km虏) remained open to settlement, but very little of this was usable for agriculture. As the frontier moved west onto the arid Great Plains, the amount of land a homesteader was allowed to claim was changed by the Desert Land Act to 640 acres (2.6 km虏), a full section. This act allowed the homesteader a further 640 acres if he spent approx $2 on irrigation per acre.



In Wyoming, Montana, and Colorado, homesteading cut into the access of the large ranches to water. In response, ranchers (themselves or their cowboys) homesteaded prime spots to reserve water access. At times, tensions escalated into violent conflicts called range wars, for example, the Johnson County War in Wyoming.



The Homestead Act helped create more than 372,000 farms. By 1900, settlers had filed 600,000 claims for more than 80 million acres (320,000 km虏) of land in the West under the Homestead Act. The historian Paul Gates has concluded, "their noble purpose and the great part they played in enabling nearly a million and half people to acquire farm land, much of which developed into farm homes, far outweigh the misuse to which they were put". [2]



When flying over many areas of the midwest, homestead land tracts are indicated by a network of rectilinear roads. Dirt roads usually outline each 160-acre homestead, with dirt or paved roads outlining groups of four homesteads. A single house is usually visible within each homestead. A variety of agricultural activities can usually be seen within each homestead tract.



The end of homesteading The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 ended homesteading; the government believed that the best use of public lands was for them to remain in government control. The only exception to this new policy was in Alaska, for which the law allowed homesteading until 1986. Hope this helps

que

bubble pop