“Working land does not give you title to it.”
How, precisely, did the feds end up with the title to that land? East of the Mississippi there are treaties and land sales recorded where land was ‘bought’ from the Native American tribes who lived there. Is there any such record of this land being purchased from the Native Americans in that area?
“How, precisely, did the feds end up with the title to that land? “
It was acquired from a treaty with Mexico, ending the Mexican War. Most of the west was acquired that way.
As a condition for allowing Nevada to become a state, Congress required the new state to “forever disclaim all right and title to the unappropriated public lands lying within said territory, and that the same shall be and remain at the sole and entire disposition of the United States”.
The federal government did try to give the land away for many years, but in Nevada, water is more important than land.