Patenting and Arid Frontier: Use and Abuse of the Public Land Laws in Owens Valley, California

Abstract

Five nineteenth-century policies for alienating the federal public domain only partially fulfilled their objectives when applied in the arid setting of Owens Valley, California. The Homestead l a w was most successful in advancing the family farm ideal, to judge by the persistence of small holdings several decades after land entry. Preemption claims, coincident in time and space with homesteading, were more often consolidated into larger farm units. The Desert l a n d Act,

Historical Sources for Geomorphological Research in the United States∗

“…Shoreline changes can also be measured from survey lines (Buckler and Winters 1983;LaMoe and Winters 1989). Vegetation patterns are often reconstructed from survey notes (Lutz 1930;Kenoyer 1934;Trewartha 1940;Bourdo 1956;Johannessen et al 1971;Knox 1977;Sauder 1989) and cul-tural features such as settlements existing at the time of survey may be useful for analysis (Knox 1977). The GLO notebooks and maps from surveys are generally found in state and county offices, usually at the registrar of deeds.…”