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</ref> and the [[Preemption Act of 1841|Preemption Act]] in disposal of public lands. The frantic pace of public land sales in the 19th century American West led to the [[idiomatic expression]] "land-office business", meaning a thriving or high-volume trade.
For most of the active period of public land settlement, district land offices were the basic operating units that conducted the business of transferring title. All transactions relative to the disposal of public land within a declared land district were handled through its land office by officials designated as [[register (General Land Office)|register]]s, who recorded land applications, and receivers, who accepted payments for land and issued receipts. The position of receiver was abolished, July 1, 1925, and the functions devolved upon the register, whose title was changed to "manager" in 1946. The first of 362 district land offices was opened at [[Steubenville, Ohio]], on July 2, 1800; the last at [[Newcastle, Wyoming]], on March 1, 1920. The peak year for land offices was 1890, with 123 in operation. The subsequent closing of the public domain gradually reduced the number of land offices, until, in 1933, only 25 offices remained.<ref>[https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/049.html#49.9 National Archives. "Home > Research Our Records > Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States > Records of the Bureau of Land Management
The GLO was placed under the [[United States Secretary of the Interior|Secretary of the Interior]] when the Department of the Interior was formed in 1849. Reacting to public concerns about forest conservation, Congress in 1891 authorized the [[President of the United States|President]] to withdraw timber lands from disposal. [[Grover Cleveland]] then created 17 forest reserves of nearly {{convert|18000000|acre|km2}}, which were initially managed by the GLO. In 1905, Congress transferred responsibility for these reserves to the newly created [[United States Forest Service|Forest Service]], under the [[United States Department of Agriculture|Department of Agriculture]].
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