ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the evolution of western public lands policy and how it led to the development of Reclamation Policy in the early 20th century. Focus is on the Homestead Act and the Desert Land Act, and how these were used to provide public lands to settlers within important limitations in terms of acreage and irrigation. The origins of Reclamation Policy are then discussed, along with the people who wrote it and advocated for it, and especially the compromises they all made to finally bring forward a policy that could pass Congress in 1902. The key pieces of this policy are also discussed, especially provisions regarding acreage limitation, residency requirements, and repayment of project costs by those benefitting from Reclamation Policy.
