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.

• Timber production became important for building and fuel.

60 Years of the BLM - History video, part 3: broadband, dial-up