“The expression is new to me. Or...maybe it’s not an expression but has something to do with an actual land office..?”
It’s an expression that grew out of the Oklahoma land rush and to a lesser extent the one that took place later in Nevada east of Reno when the Lahontan Dam was built and the immediate area was opened up to homesteading. My wife’s grandparents were too young to get land in Oklahoma so they came West to Northern Nevada to lay claim to “government” land in Fallon, NV. As it happens, we were in Fallon last weekend, and there were a lot of Californians purchasing their ammunition there, hence the term “land office business.”
Ah!
Very cogent explanation, thank you.
I love learning arcana like this, awesome..!