[snarkpup]

Most of the Midwest was just given to the American people. It was settled by homesteaders. It is now land in the various States. Why don't they do that with the west? Why has the Federal government continued to control most of the land west of the Rockies?

Some history: In the Midwest, the land was immediately useful for farming, so there was an immediate demand for private ownership. In the arid West, there was no obvious (at the time) use for these lands, so the fed just kept them. They did not forsee the current uses that are now creating demands for this land (recreation, hunting, oil & gas, irrigated agriculture, etc.)

[cripplecreek]

Some history: In the Midwest, the land was immediately useful for farming

Most of it was heavily wooded east of the Mississippi. Here in Michigan it was wooded hills and swamp. Even today much of the lowland is too wet for farming and you have to pick rocks out of the farmland twice per year.