On May 20, 1912, an act of the First Legislature created the three-member State Land Commission to serve as the temporary Land Department of the State. They were charged with assessing, evaluating, and making recommendations about the land granted by Congress to the State for the Common Schools and other institutions. The Commission was to report back to the Legislature with its findings and conclusions by the end of the second Legislative session. The Commission concluded that Arizona should not sell its Trust land out-right, as other states had done. Instead, it should put the lands to their "highest and best use." The decision to sell or lease the land should be based upon the potential use of each parcel. The Commission recommended the creation of a permanent State Land Department "... in order that the multitudinous detail attached to the State’s varied land interests may have constant attention and to prevent irretrievable loss."

Crushed stone is the product resulting from the artificial crushing of rocks, boulders, or large cobblestones, substantially all faces of which have resulted from the crushing operation. BLM generally considers crushed stone sources a saleable mineral, which must be purchased from BLM. Some producers focusing on the Phoenix metropolitan area have searched for ways to avoid purchasing these minerals, thus avoiding payments to the BLM. One of the more common ways is to claim that the mineral material is “locatable” instead of saleable.