from a total of practically 60,000,000 acres in Nevada to negligible quantities in other States.

The CHAIRMAN. Now, then the Taylor Grazing Act does not apply in these Eastern States which you have on this chart indicated as a certain acreage which is still in the ownership of the Federal Government. Are there any entries of any kind being made in these Eastern States?

Mr. CLAWSON. A great many are being made.

The CHAIRMAN. What types?

Mr. CLAWSON. Mostly isolated tracts. Some under the Timber and Stone Act and some under Public Law 291 for the sale of timber, and other various acts.

When you spoke of homesteads there are many other forms of entry such as the purchase of isolated tracts, and desert entries and the like. Senator MILLER. How did you happen to acquire that tract in Texas?

Mr. CLAWSON. Those Senator Miller, these lighter colored areas and all of Texas in that category are handled under the jurisdiction of Federal agencies other than our own. There were no Federal lands originally in Texas and so we have no lands in Texas. These are lands purchased either by the Forest Services or the Fish and Wildlife Services. We have shown on here both types of Federal lands. thought that would be of interest to show these lands which are under our jurisdiction, and the lighter parts under some other Federal agency. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Clawson, it may be appropriate for me to remark that the tables available to me indicate that beginning in 1863 homestead entries began to build up, and strangely enough the largest number of entries was in the year 1902 in the present century, when there were 98,829.

That the day of homesteading is practically past is shown by the area of perfected homestead claims between 1868 and 1948. The peak of the homestead activities was reached in 1915, when more than 10,000,000 acres were transferred to private ownership under that law. The steady decline of homesteading operations following the enactment of the Taylor Grazing Act in 1935 had reached a very low point by 1948. Many being perfected since 1920 are reclamation homesteads.

Mr. CLAWSON. Here is the area actually in perfected homesteads, Senator. The actual peak period of the entries was around 1912 or 1913.

The CHAIRMAN. I was going to say the number of original homestead entries allowed fell off after 1902 to 69,175 in 1904, but then began to pick up again and reached another peak in 1907 of 93,957, and in 1910 it went back almost to the figure of 1902 and then it reached 98,598. It dropped off thereafter.

I first came to Washington as the secretary of Senator Kendrick who was a member of this committee in 1917, and in that year there were 58,000, and the next year it dropped to 35,000 and it went on down rather consistently until in 1932 only 10,639 entries were made, and then in 1946 according to this table the number of entries was only 143.

Mr. CLAWSON. I was guessing not too badly when I said 100. You have anticipated my second chart completely. This shows the area of perfected homesteads from 1869, which is the earliest they

THOUSANDS OF ACRES

CHART No. 35

10,000

9.000

1870 1875 1880 1885 1890 1895 1900 1905 1910 1915 1920 1925 1930 1935 1940 1945 1950

FISCAL YEAR

could be perfected up until the present time. It does illustrate as you were pointing out the fact that the homesteading period extended far more into recent times than most people realize. Even as late as 1925 or 1930 there was a substantial volume of homesteading lands that had been homesteaded going to perfected entry. Most of that was in the Great Plains area and farther west. It was the enlarged homestead and stock-raising areas.

Of course, right here marks the passage of the Taylor Grazing Act in 1934, and practically all of these perfected in here were entries that had been made prior to that date. This indication has fallen off in recent times.

Similarly, the passing of title to public lands through the issuance of patents to mining claims had become a negligible element in the national land pattern by 1948. less than 200 patents being issued in that year as compared to more than 3,200 in the peak period from 1890 to 1895. Apparently the day of easily discoverable mineral deposits on the public land is past, so that in recent years there have been practically no discoveries which would justify issuance of patent to the land.

Here is a comparable chart for the number of mining claims that went to patent. I think this is significant. The acts were practically contemporaneous between this and the original Homestead Act, and you had it reaching an absolute peak in 1887 or 1889 but an erratic period up until roughly 1910. Although even by then there had been a substantial falling off in the number of mining patents, and that has continued so that in recent years here we have had from 100 to 200 patents a year. There are many years where it was less than 100 patents. That is reflecting the fact that the great bulk of claims you could make by ready surface discovery have been made.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you have any statistical material to accompany that chart showing the year-by-year mineral output of the United States?

Mr. CLAWSON. We could easily insert it. Of course, the mineral output would include lands that have been patented in other ways.

The CHAIRMAN. Of course, but the mineral-land law was designed for the purpose of enabling the individual to acquire federally owned mineral lands, and to increase the output of domestic minerals. This other table I suggest would indicate to what extent that policy has been successful. Of course, if it were possible to break it down and show what the mineral production has been, say since the middle of the last century particularly in the West, it would be very informative.

Mr. CLAWSON. We will work with the Bureau of Mines and I should think they would have something similar to that in their presentation. I might say, Senator, this may not be the time to bring it up but in the next few months in this Congress I think we are going to want to consider with this committee, and with the appropriate committee in the House the possibility of some revision of the mining laws. It is our feeling that many of the provisions of the present mining law inhibit mining development, and I think they ought to be modernized in a number of ways.

The CHAIRMAN. That discussion will come later. Let me make note in the record calling attention to the chart No. 59, on United States Mineral Production Fiscal Volume and Value 1880 and 1947, which will be presented by the Bureau of Mines. That is so the reader looking at this can tell where to get these facts.

The function of the Government in relation to the public lands has changed from one of disposal to one of management. This is reflected by the chart which shows the number of leases and permits, together with the number of patents issued.

Thus, 30 years ago the principal Government activity relating to the public lands was the disposal of the land and the issuance of title to the land.

The majority of present activities deal with the processing of applications for various types of use permits and the conservation of land under those uses.

Mr. CLAWSON. This chart is the third and the last of this general historical series, and this covers all types of patents. This heavy dark line is not only the homesteads and mining claim patents, but State selections and railroad grants and all kinds of patents. Showing, of course, that it is highly erratic from year to year, but showing a large volume from 1870 until roughly 1925 a very large volume and falling off in recent years to a very low level. The fall from 1920 to 1930 was precipitous, and since 1930 it has been more gradual.

On this same chart we have shown the total number of leases, licenses, and permits. All kinds of oil and gas leases, grazing leases, and grazing permits and all the rest. The patents, of course, being a disposal activity. The leases, licenses, and patents being essentially a management activity in which the final title still remained in the hands of the Federal Government. These, of course, rose very rapidly in here as a result of the passage of the Mineral Leasing Act in 1920. They rose following 1935 very rapidly partly as a result of some amendments to the Mineral Leasing Act, but more particularly the passage of the Taylor Grazing Act; and in more recent times the passage of the Small Tracts Act.

The CHAIRMAN. Will you place in the record supporting data breaking down these leases in their respective categories?

Mr. CLAWSON. We would be very happy to.

(The supporting statistical data, covering the period from 1940 to

1948, is presented in the following table:)

TABLE XVIII.-Number of leases, licenses, and permits, as of June 30, 1940-48