Desert Land Act

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The Desert Land Act was passed by the United States Congress on March 3, 1877 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 act offered 640 acres of land to anyone who would pay $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 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.