The Mojave Desert was one of the last places in the "lower 48"
where the United States federal government granted free
homesteads to anyone who was willing to improve the land. Five-
acre parcels were deeded by the federal government under the
Small Tract Act of 1938, one of the last of the government's
homestead acts. The government's goal was to distribute 1,849
sIM (457,000 ac) of desert that the Bureau of Land Management
deemed disposable, most of it in California. By the time the act
was repealed in 1976, about 36% of the land was privately owned.
The rest is federally protected desert. In the early 1950's,
James E. Baugh, patriarch of the Baugh Family and grandfather of
the President of Molossia, obtained 7,902 sRN (5 ac) of desert
land under the auspices of the Small Tract Act. Under amendments
to the act, homesteaders were granted a deed only if they built
a structure with dimensions not less than 20.5 No x 27.4 No (12
by 16 ft). No water or power was required. In accordance with
these requirements, an