Homesteading / Preempting

[Silver]

Rather than bog down another thread I thought I'd start a new one as I find the topic interesting.
I found this on premptig in BC:

Pre-emption was a method of acquiring provincial Crown land by claiming it for settlement and agricultural purposes. Although it was possible to pre-empt land and not live on it, all pre-emptions were intended solely for cultivation. The pre-emption process existed from as early as 1859 until 1970 when the Land Act was amended to eliminate this method of acquiring Crown land. Individuals, as well as companies and partnerships, could apply to settle and work ("improve") the land.

Details of the pre-emption process varied over the years and generally consisted of the following steps:

• 
  A block of vacant, non-reserved, unsurveyed Crown land was selected by the pre-emptor.
• 
  The land was staked and a written application submitted.
• 
  A Certificate of Pre-emption was issued in triplicate (copies to the pre-emptor, the local office, and the department in Victoria).
• 
  After improvements, residency qualification, and land surveying, a Certificate of Improvement was issued and the land purchased at a discount rate or at no further charge.
• 
  A Crown grant was issued and ownership of the land passed into private hands (alienation). The Crown grant had to be registered at a Land Title office and a Certificate of Indefeasible Title (land title deed) issued for the process to be fully completed.

Blocks of land in the province under Federal government administrative control were also available for settlement through a process called homesteading. Except for the lack of a Certificate of Improvement and different terminology, the homesteading process was nearly identical to the pre-emption process. The two blocks of land where homesteading occurred in BC between 1884 and 1930 are called the Railway Belt and the Dominion Peace River Block.

 

[greybeard]

Could you elaborate on what is meant by Crown Land?

I'm not at all familiar with the term or what 'public' land means in the USA.
(There is no state (public) land in Texas other than lakes, gulf coast beaches, state parks or historical sites. All the rest of the 268,596 sq miles is in private ownership. The US Govt does own several large military bases tho, including the 340 sq mile Ft Hood near me.)

 

[Silver]

Could you elaborate on what is meant by Crown Land?

I'm not at all familiar with the term or what 'public' land means in the USA.
(There is no state (public) land in Texas other than lakes, gulf coast beaches, state parks or historical sites. All the rest of the 268,596 sq miles is in private ownership. The US Govt does own several large military bases tho, including the 340 sq mile Ft Hood near me.)

Crown land is public land, either provincial or federal.

 

[Dave]

Public land is land owned by the government. In this county I live in there is literally a million acres of "public" land. It is either Forest Service (National Forest) or BLM. A lot of the west was declared National Forest in the early 1900's. It was unsettled land generally in the mountains. BLM land is land that was not claimed by people under the homestead act. It is generally too rocky, no water, or poor soil. Land that would not support a family to homestead on.

 

[Silver]

BC has over 200 million acres of crown land. That is one reason why we are spread out kinda thin.

 

[greybeard]

Ok, so after the Land Act in Canada, can people still pick out a tract of Crown Land, and squat on it, improve it and eventually get title to it with some or no payment to the government?

(In the early USA days, according to movies and books, squatters were shot, burned then hanged...... )

 

[Travlr]

Could you elaborate on what is meant by Crown Land?

I'm not at all familiar with the term or what 'public' land means in the USA.
(There is no state (public) land in Texas other than lakes, gulf coast beaches, state parks or historical sites. All the rest of the 268,596 sq miles is in private ownership. The US Govt does own several large military bases tho, including the 340 sq mile Ft Hood near me.)

As a percentage, Texas only has 1.77 percent of their land owned by the feds. Nevada has the most federally owned land at just over 80 percent.

 

[Silver]

Ok, so after the Land Act in Canada, can people still pick out a tract of Crown Land, and squat on it, improve it and eventually get title to it with some or no payment to the government?

(In the early USA days, according to movies and books, squatters were shot, burned then hanged...... )

No you can't. But in BC you can apply for land if it meets certain criteria. I don't know all the details but it must be I think 80% arable (not sure on that number, but I think it's close), it needs to be within a certain distance of your home quarter (6 miles I think), you must pay the appraised value including any stumpage, and the title if you get it will be attached to your home quarter. This is to prevent people from flipping these properties.
In these parts this is all on hold right now on account of we don't want to upset the natives. Maybe permanently on hold, who knows.

 

[gcreekrch]

No you can't. But in BC you can apply for land if it meets certain criteria. I don't know all the details but it must be I think 80% arable (not sure on that number, but I think it's close), it needs to be within a certain distance of your home quarter (6 miles I think), you must pay the appraised value including any stumpage, and the title if you get it will be attached to your home quarter. This is to prevent people from flipping these properties.
In these parts this is all on hold right now on account of we don't want to upset the natives. Maybe permanently on hold, who knows.

Waiting for the pendulum to swing the other way. It will someday.

 

[Silver]

Waiting for the pendulum to swing the other way. It will someday.

Fingers crossed.

 

[Travlr]

Waiting for the pendulum to swing the other way. It will someday.

I wouldn't hold my breath...

 

[GoWyo]

"Public land" as a legal term was land that was open to homesteading. Forest Reserves usually withdrew land from homesteading so the primary National Forest inholdings were homesteaded prior to withdrawal for the Forest Reserves (now National Forest) or were mining claims under the General Mining Law of 1866. The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 withdrew most of the BLM-managed lands from availability to establish a homestead under the homestead acts. The policy is now for retention of the millions of acres and acquiring private property to add to the federal holdings. All these lands have been "nationalized". None of it is actually "public" anymore.

 

[Mark Reynolds]

Could you elaborate on what is meant by Crown Land?

I'm not at all familiar with the term or what 'public' land means in the USA.
(There is no state (public) land in Texas other than lakes, gulf coast beaches, state parks or historical sites. All the rest of the 268,596 sq miles is in private ownership. The US Govt does own several large military bases tho, including the 340 sq mile Ft Hood near me.)

T
Texas by the numbers

- Land owned by federal government: 1.9% (3.2 million of 168.2 million acres)
- Land owned by agency: NPS (37.3%), FS (23.4%), DOD (21.1%), FWS (17.8%), BLM (0.4%)

@greybeard, the feds own a little more than just military bases there. However, in comparison to other states as a percentage (the West anyway) it isn't a lot.

 

[Philip-TX]

Aren't those agency owned %'s, actually a percent of the 1.9% (32 mil acres)

NPS 37.3% (of the 32mil)? etc

I always heard 97-98% private ownership

 

[Mark Reynolds]

Aren't those agency owned %'s, actually a percent of the 1.9% (32 mil acres)

NPS 37.3% (of the 32mil)? etc

I always heard 97-98% private ownership

It's confusing the way it is written. Here is a break down of NPS (National Park Service)
3.2 million is 1.9% of 168.2 million.
NPS owns 37.3% (1.19 million) of the 1.9% (or 3.2 million) of the 168.2 million.

The short answer to your question is: yes.