Texas Almanac, 1990-1991 Page: 416
611 p. : col. ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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416 TEXAS ALMANAC 1990-1991
Public Lands of Texas
Taken from the records of the General Land Office of Texas, the following summary shows the disposition of the
public domain. The total area given here differs from the U.S. Census Bureau figure of 171,096,320 given elsewhere
in this volume.
Total area to tidew ater............................................................. 172,193,269
Total area to 3-league (10.36-m ile) lim it ................................................. 3,997,000
176,190,269
Grants to promote citizenship and to induce immigration- Acres. Subtotals
By governments of Spain and Mexico .......................................... 26,280,000
Headrights and bounties ................................................... 36,876,492
Colonies- (Peter's, M ercer's et al.) ........................................... 4,494,806
Homestead donations (pre-emptions) ......................................... 4,847,136- 72,498,434
Donations to veterans-
San Jacinto veterans-Act of 1879and 1881 ...................................... 1,169,382
Confederate veterans-Act of 1881 ...........................................--. 1,979,852- 3,149,234
Sold to pay public debts by Republic ........................................... 1,329,200
50c Sales scrip act of 1879and $2 sales scrip act of 1887 .............................. 1,660,936- 2,990,136
Internal improvements-
State Capitol Building ..................................................... 3,025,000
Irrigation, drainage, iron works, Kiamasha Road and sundry ........................ 4,088,640- 7,113,640
To acquire transportation facilities-
Grants to railroads ....................................................... 32,153,878- 32,153,878
For education-
State University and A&M .................................................. 2,329,168
County school purposes .................................................... 4,229,166
Eleem osynary institutions .................................................. 410,600
Public free school ............................. .... ............... ..... 44,443,744
Unsold public school land .................................................. 863,540- 52,276,218
Total surveyed land ............................................................... 170,181,540
Lessconflicts (estimated at one half of 1 percent) ...................................... 850,908
Net as per original surveys ....................................................... 169,330,632
Excess (estimated at approximately 1.1 percent) .......................................... 1,862,637
River beds and vacancies (estim ated) .................................................. 1,000,000
Submerged coastal areas to three-league lim it ........................................... 3,997,000
T otal ...... .... ...... .. .. .... .... .... .. ..... .... ... .. .... .... ...... ... ...... 176,190,269land became a most valuable economic asset to the
state. After selling off 91.4 percent of its surface land
without reserving mineral rights, Texas finally had es-
tablished the right to its subsurface minerals in 1895.
And the Relinquishment Act of 1919 gave the surface
owners of the land rights to participate in the mineral
wealth as "agents" of the state. The economic value of
the public lands of Texas in the 20th Century thus re-
sulted from the belated development of its mineral own-
ership.
Today 20.6 million acres are considered to be in the
public domain. This includes almost 4 million acres of
submerged coastal lands, which are bays, inlets and
the area from the Texas shoreline to the three marine
league line (10.36 miles) in the Gulf of Mexico. In
addition, more than one million acres are estimated to
make up the state's riverbeds and vacant areas. The
University of Texas System holds title to 2,109,000 fee
acres and other state agencies or special schools hold
title to approximately 1.9 million acres. Texas owns
mineral rights alone in approximately 7.4 million cov-
ered under the Relinquishment Act, Free Royalty Act
and the various sales acts and has outright ownership
to approximately 860,000 upland acres, mostly west of
the Pecos. Texas has liens on 1.5 million acres of land
in the active accounts of the Veterans Land Board and
another 1.7 million acres of excess land that are not
calculated into any category.
Perhaps the most valuable segment of the Texas
public domain is its coastal submerged land. And for
some time, there was serious question about the state's
ownership. The Republic of Texas had proclaimed its
Gulf boundaries as three marine leagues, recognized by
international law as traditional national boundaries.
These boundaries were never seriously questioned
when Texas joined the Union in 1845, and Texas contin-
ued to claim jurisdiction. A congressional resolution in
1930 authorized the U.S. Attorney General to file suit to
establish the offshore lands as properties of the federal
government.
The legal question was more important to Texas in
the 20th century than it would have been upon entering
the Union, since offshore oil and gas production had be-
come a source of tremendous income to the state. Gulf
of Mexico leases between the three-mile and the three-
marine league limit (the area claimed by the federal
government) have brought the state approximately $1.5
billion in revenue since the first oil lease there in 1922.
Congress returned the disputed lands to Texas in 1953,
and the Supreme Court finally confirmed Texas' own-
ership to the 1,878,394 acres in 1960. (See Tidelands His-
tory in 1972-73 Texas Almanac. )In 1978, the federal government also granted states
a "fair and equitable" share of the revenues from off-
shore federal leases within three miles of the states' ou-
termost boundary. The states did not receive any such
revenue until April 1986 when Congress clarified the
meaning of "fair and equitable" through additional leg-
islation. Under the 1986 law, coastal states are entitled
to 27 percent of all revenues in perpetuity from federal
leases within three miles of the state-federal boundary.
In addition, Texas received a one-time settlement to
cover the 1978 to 1985 period amounting to $426 million
in Fiscal Year 1986 and a deferred payment of $134 mil-
lion over 15 years.
The General Land Office handles leases and reve-
nue accounting on all lands dedicated to the Permanent
School Fund and on land owned by various state agen-
cies. The Land Commissioner, two members of the Uni-
versity of Texas Board of Regents and one A&M
University Board of Regents member make up the
Board for Lease of lands dedicated to the Permanent
University Fund. Revenue accounting for income from
Permanent University Lands is processed by the Uni-
versity of Texas; investment income from the fund is di-
vided approximately two-thirds to one-third between
the University of Texas and Texas A&M University, re-
spectively. As of May 31, 1989, the Permanent University
Fund has a book value of more than $3.2 billion; the Per-
manent School Fund has a book value of more than $6.7
billion.
All activities on state lands are reviewed for their
environmental impact, and restrictions are placed in
offshore drilling lessons where needed to protect re-
sources.
Veterans Home
Improvement Program
In 1986, the Veterans Land Board implemented the
Veterans Home Improvement Program, which is
funded through the Housing Assistance Program. The
Home Improvement Program allows Texas Veterans
to borrow between $5,000 and $17,500 to make substan-
tial home repairs and improvements.
To date, 1,300 or more veterans have received Vet-
erans Home Improvement loans. In excess of $6 million
has been loaned since the program's inception.
All three programs are administered by the Veter-
ans Land Board, which is chaired by the Texas Land
Commissioner. The bonded debt for the programs and
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Kingston, Mike. Texas Almanac, 1990-1991, book, 1989; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth162512/m1/418/: accessed May 2, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.