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As early as 1867, bills were introduced in Congress to encourage irrigation and reclamation of unproductive land and, in 1877, the Desert Land Act linked irrigation to grants of public land. Congress also authorized studies of the Westâs geology and water supply, which culminated in comprehensive reports.
  The Kansas-Nebraska act of 1854 created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, opened new lands, repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, and allowed settlers in those â¦ territories to determine if they would allow slavery within their boundaries.he Kansas-Nebraska Act pushed the North and the South more away because Franklin Pierce (A New Hampshire Democrat) supported the Fugitive Slave Act and he became president.