The Public Domain

Land ownership is an important consideration in mineral acquisition, and the federal public domain represents the most important category of ownership on the basis of size. The federal public domain includes those lands that were or are subject to the public land laws of the United States. Acquisitions to the public domain have been by state cessions, purchase, and treaty. The original “public domain” included all of the United States except the original thirteen colonies, Vermont, Texas, and Hawaii and was acquired by treaties with France, England, Spain, Russia, and Mexico. The largest acquisitions were in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 (560 million acres) and the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867 (365 million acres).