60 years of the BLM
Part 3 - Managing the Settlement
[Text from History of the BLM video, part 3]
Slide #16 History/Managing the Settlement (title)
- Managing the settlement rush proved to be one of the young U.S. government’s greatest challenges.
Slide #17 Government Men Working
- A small, but enthusiastic group of very unusual bureaucrats were hired to set up and run the citizen land program.
- Some were rugged Westerners who knew the land firsthand--
- Others administered the program in Washington DC, setting policy, establishing procedures, and processed the volumes of paperwork required.
- Together, they tried to manage the huge public response to the promise of almost free land and a chance to own a piece of America.
Slide #18 GLO hard pressed to keep pace with settlers
- Thousands upon thousands of settlers moved onto the land and land titles and claims had to be issued.
- The General Land Office was buried in requests and the inevitable backlog complicated the transfers.
- But the settlers often didn’t wait, taking possession first and worrying about paperwork later.
- These “squatters” were usually granted their land later by Congress.
Slide#19 Government men in the field
- As the job diversified, so did the workforce.
- Surveyors in Model T trucks joined landsmen on horseback
- And together, they mapped out the West for settlement.
Slide#20 Land Grants & Land Claims
- Congress passed a variety of land transfer methods.
- An example was military scrip issued in lieu of cash to soldiers for their service.
- Even Captain Abraham Lincoln received this certificate for one-hundred and twenty acres for his efforts in the Black Hawk Wars.
Slide#21 Federal Timberlands
- Eventually, not just the land itself, but the resources on the land -- wer recognized as having important value to the westward expansion.
It also became a critical commodity for the massive public works project that was to dramatically change western settlement – the building of the transcontinental railroad.
- Timber production became important for building and fuel.
60 Years of the BLM - History video, part 3: broadband, dial-up