The advertising and bidding methods introduced in 1905 resulted in an estimated gain of $20,783,882 to the school fund during the seven years 1906-1912 over the old methods of sale.2 Some land which would have sold at from $1 to $2 per acre under the old system sold under the new at from $12 to $22 per acre. However, the average sale price of the western lands per acre was low - between $1.50 and $3.00 - because these lands were suitable only for dry farming or for grazing.

The first school land sales were under the act of 1858, as amended in 1860, and amounted to 10,506 acres. The next land sale act was in 1874, and under it sales totaling 317,107 acres were made. Under the acts of 1879 and 1881 6,596,069 acres were sold. Up to 1883, therefore, the number of acres sold amounted to only 6,923,682. Under the acts of 1883, 1887, 1895 and 1910 and their amendments there were sold up to September 1, 1900, 21,778,395 acres. On account, however, of forfeitures and cancelations amounting to 10,256,714 acres, the total acreage either patented or whose sales were in good standing at the land office in 1900 under all the acts was 18,444,975.1 As the amount of the land unsold in 1900 was 20,613,527 acres, this added to the 18,444,975 acres gives 39,058,502 as the land endowment of the school fund up to 1900. More than five million acres were added as a result of the settlement between the state and the school fund under the terms of the act of 1900, so that the school fund received in land approximately 45,000,000 acres. There remained in 1912 only 1,636,176 acres. The purchase movement after 1900 was very heavy, the amount sold being nearly as much as that for the entire period 1858-1900.2 The unsold land lies between the Pecos and Rio Grande rivers; it is classified mainly as mineral-grazing land, and because of its extreme aridity some of it is not suitable even for grazing. Only 377,018 acres were under lease in 1912. A small revenue is derived from the sale of guayule and candalilla growing on these western lands, these shrubs having a commercial value in the manufacture of products possessing the qualities of rubber and wax.

1 Rev. Civil Stats., 1911, arts. 5433, 5904-5922. Laws of 1913, Reg. Sess., p. 409. Laws of 1913, Called Sess., p. 26. 2Land Office reports, 1906-1912.

An idea of the financial significance of the lands to the school fund may be derived from an examination of some of the items of the permanent school fund. On August 31, 1914, this fund owned $18,204,363 of state, county, and other bonds of value, and $35,028 in cash, and approximately all of this amount was derived from land sales. The fund held also the notes of purchasers of land for $47,067,427, and the interest on these notes during 1914 amounted to $1,409,491. The receipts from leases in 1914 were only $1,388.3

1 Land Office Report, 1899-1900.

2 There were put on the market in 1914, 3,769,281 acres of school lands. This is the sum of the amount unsold in 1912 plus the forfeitures since 1912.

3 Report of the State Treasurer. 1914, pp. 35-36.