Kinkaid Act - Mixed Results in The Sandhills Region

Mixed Results in The Sandhills Region

An immediate land rush followed the passage of the act. One of the land offices in the region was at Alliance, in Box Butte County. The first day to claim an entry was June 28, 1904. There were reportedly 400 people in line at the Alliance office on the initial day, and the original line was not completely processed until 3:00 pm on June 30. In April 1905, the Western Nebraska Observer of Kimball reported that there was a construction boom in Kimball County, which was within the territory of the Kinkaid Act. The North Platte Telegraph reported in 1906 that merchants had been experiencing their most profitable months ever due to the influx of new residents. In her book Old Jules, an autobiographical account of living in the Sandhills region during the turn of the century, Mari Sandoz describes the scene as land was initially opened for settlement:

Population rapidly increased in the 37 counties where the law was applicable:

• 1890: 124,508
• 1900: 107,434
• 1904: Passage of Kinkaid Act
• 1910: 162,217

Nearly all of the public lands in the region had been claimed by 1912. All that remained were extremely isolated or undesirable sections. Between November 1910 and 1917, a total of 18,919 land patents were issued for 8,933,257 acres (3,615,161 ha) of land.

Some observers question the success of the Kinkaid Act in bringing new settlers into the region. There were widespread reports by 1914 that 90% of Kinkaid patents were now in the hands of large stockmen. Some argued that it was impossible to maintain a successful ranching operation in the region with only 640 acres of land. However, many of these claims came from established cattle ranchers and industry representatives who were originally opposed to the Kinkaid Act.

In congressional testimony from 1914, Moses Kinkaid reported that the sentiment of settlers in the region was that most of the claims remained in the hands of individual families. He reported that the region experienced many small festivals every year where Kinkaid homesteaders would meet and display their agricultural products. He described the average Kinkaid homesteader as a small family farmer:

He estimated that the average Kinkaid homesteader had 15 to 40 head of cattle on 640 acres.

Kinkaid’s observations were supported by a 1915 report compiled by the Agricultural Experiment Station at the University of Nebraska. It was found that there were only 200,000 acres (81,000 ha) remaining in the public domain within the boundaries of the Kinkaid Act, and there were no sites that had 640 contiguous acres available. A 1917 report from the Department of Interior looked at the first ten years of the Kinkaid Act, from 1904 to 1914. It found the following results:

• Areas in the hands of small holders: 6,422,963 acres (2,599,281 ha)
• Areas in the hands of large holders: 303,553 acres (122,844 ha)
• Areas in the hands of original entrymen: 4,589,871 acres (1,857,455 ha)
• Total area proved up: 9,726,516 acres (3,936,181 ha)

The report showed that a majority of the land was in the hands of small holders, and approximately half the acreage was still owned by the original claimants. The report also showed evidence of a general increase of economic activity for the region:

• Increase in value of cattle: 34 percent
• Increase in acres planted to rye: 92 percent
• Increase in acres planted to oats: 80 percent
• Increase in acres planted to corn: 102 percent
• Increase in acres planted to wheat: 142 percent
• Increase in voting population: 55 percent
• Total property valuations increased by 108 percent between 1904 and 1914, compared with 17 percent from 1892 to 1904

While the Kinkaid Act was able to produce an immediate burst in economic activity for the region, it was mostly temporary. Many Kinkaid homesteaders eventually failed in their attempts to raise crops, usually selling out to large ranchers. For example, there were 377 farms in Holt County in 1913, but only 144 in 1914. This pattern repeated itself throughout the region.

The Kinkaid Act was successful in removing land from the public domain, but its goal of populating the region with small family farms had mixed results. Government officials were apparently pleased with the outcome of the Kinkaid Act, as it served as the blueprint for multiple other western land acts, most notably the Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909 and the Stock-Raising Homestead Act of 1916.