# Who owns all that empty land?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-all-that-empty-land/428477>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 1, 2007, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-all-that-empty-land/428477 "2007-12-01T19:17:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-all-that-empty-land/428477/21 "2007-12-02T19:43:46Z")

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[QUOTE=Miguel]  
In Texas, I think it’s the opposite where the state owns most of the public land than the federal government.  
[/QUOTE]  
Correct, one of the conditions under which the Republic of Texas allowed itself to be annexed was that as a state it would keep the “public domain” land it held as a republic. The federal government owns only the dribs and drabs that it acquired afterward for specific purposes–national parks, military bases, and the like.

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