The legal provisions of the Kinkaid Act were very similar to those of the Homestead Act. A claimant had to be at least 21 years of age (or 18 if the head of a household), a current U.S. citizen, or had to have started the process of becoming a citizen. Five years of residency was required to gain title to a claim, with exceptions made to account for years of military service.[3] In 1912 the residency requirement was shortened to three years, in order to attract more settlers.[4] A claimant also had to prove that improvements equivalent to $1.25 per acre had been made to the property.[5]
Only non-irrigable lands were eligible to be claimed under the provisions of the Kinkaid Act; those that were deemed to be practicably irrigable by the Secretary of the Interior were excluded. A 640-acre claim was required to be as compact as possible, and less than two miles in length.[3] A homesteader who already held land in the area at the time of enactment could accumulate additional surrounding available territory in order to acquire a total homestead unit of 640 acres.[5]
Commutation (paying cash instead of occupying a claim for the full five years, which had been permitted under the 1862 Homestead Act) was not allowed under the Kinkaid Act.[6]
Claimants of land under the provisions of the Kinkaid Act were generally referred to as "Kinkaiders."[7]
The Kinkaid Act was repealed on October 21, 1976 (Pub. L. 94–579, title VII, § 702, Oct. 21, 1976, 90 Stat. 2787). The final patent was issued in 1941 on 40 acres (16 ha) of land.[8]
Background
The economy of the Nebraska Sandhills region in the late 19th century was dominated by the cattle ranching industry. Large ranches dotted the landscape, utilizing largely-unclaimed lands in the public domain.[9] Ranchers would file claims on lands with water access, and use the surrounding public pastures for grazing. Large stockmen sometimes used fraudulent homestead filings from employees and other individuals in order to gain title to surrounding land. A shack would be erected on these fraudulent claims and the claimant would stay there once every six months in order to claim residency. A common tactic was to gain title to a thin strip of land surrounding a large pasture in the public domain; the pasture would then be used for grazing purposes.[10] This prevented anyone else from grazing their cattle in the enclosed area and discouraged homesteaders from claiming the land. Bartlett Richards and William Comstock, who formed the Spade Ranch, were famous for tactics such as these.[11]
Due to the immense land holdings required for large cattle operations, the population of the Sandhills region decreased by 10% between 1890 and 1900, and millions of acres remained in the public domain.[12] To address this issue, William Neville, a populist congressman from North Platte, Nebraska, introduced legislation in 1902 that would amend the Homestead Law to allow an individual to take a homestead of 1,280 acres in the arid and nonirrigable lands west of the 100th meridian. The bill never made it to the floor for debate.
In his 1902 address to congress, President Theodore Roosevelt made it a priority to settle the "public land problem." He appointed a Public Lands Commission in 1903 to look into the issue and recommend solutions. The commission concluded that current land laws had been framed to accommodate humid regions, while the remaining public lands were arid in character.[13] New land laws would be needed to settle the arid lands west of the 100th meridian.
Passage of the Kinkaid Act
Moses Kinkaid, a congressman from the sixth district of Nebraska, introduced a bill "to amend the homestead laws as to certain unappropriated and unreserved lands in Nebraska" on April 6, 1904.[13] The original bill provided for 1,280 acre homesteads, but the Committee on the Public Lands limited the size to 640 acres. The committee felt that 640 acres would be a good initial experiment size for dry-land farming, and the act could be amended in the future if more land were needed.[14]
Kinkaid stated that the bill had three primary purposes: to get the lands into the hands of individuals and thus make the land taxable; to end the fencing and claim fraud controversies over the land; and to build up the communities in the region.[14] It was a bill meant for "the disposition of sandy and arid lands in western Nebraska," which were too difficult to irrigate.[14] It specifically applied to the Sandhills region of Nebraska, which is approximately the northwestern two-thirds of the state. All of the land was west of the 98th meridian. Only non-irrigable lands were open for entry; those that were deemed irrigable were not eligible.[15]
The bill passed on April 28, 1904.[16] Approximately 11,000,000 acres (4,500,000 ha) of land was made available within the area of the Kinkaid Act.[17] An additional 1,000,000 acres (400,000 ha) of land was withdrawn due to potential irrigability.[18]
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.[15] 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.[19] The North Platte Telegraph reported in 1906 that merchants had been having their most profitable months ever due to the influx of new residents.[20]
In her book Old Jules, a memoir about living in the Sandhills region at the turn of the century, Mari Sandoz describes the scene as land was initially opened for settlement:
Two weeks before opening, covered wagons, horsebackers, men afoot, toiled into Alliance, got information at the land office, and vanished eastward over the level prairie. Many turned back at the first soft yellow chophills, pockmarked by blowouts and warted with soapweeds. Others kept on, through this protective border, into the broad valley region, with high hills reaching towards the whitish sky.[21]
Population rapidly increased in the 37 counties where the law was applicable:[17]
1890: 124,508
1900: 107,434
1904: Passage of Kinkaid Act
1910: 162,217
Nearly all of the public lands in the region were 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.[8]
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 had been taken over by large stockmen (ranchers). Some argued that it was impossible to maintain a successful ranching operation in the region with only 640 acres of land. But, many of these statements were made by established cattle ranchers and industry representatives who were originally opposed to the Kinkaid Act.[22]
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.[23] He reported that the region's communities held many small festivals each year, where Kinkaid homesteaders would meet and display their agricultural products.[24]
He described the average Kinkaid homesteader as a small family farmer:
They get cows, so far as they are able, and they go into dairying – those that are able to buy cattle enough to go into the stock business do so. They plow what we call the valleys ... They raise cane a good deal for feeding, and in some places alfalfa.
He estimated that the average Kinkaid homesteader had 15 to 40 head of cattle on 640 acres.[25]
Kinkaid's observations were supported by a 1915 report compiled by the Agricultural Experiment Station at the University of Nebraska. It found that only 200,000 acres (81,000 ha) were remaining in the public domain within the boundaries of the Kinkaid Act, and no sites that had 640 contiguous acres available.[26] A 1917 report from the Department of Interior reviewed the results from the first ten years after the Kinkaid Act, from 1904 to 1914. It found the following results:[27]
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:[28]
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 stimulated an immediate burst in economic activity for the region, this was mostly temporary. Because of the difficulties in dry-land farming on such small plots, many Kinkaid homesteaders eventually failed in their attempts to raise crops, and usually sold 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.[29]
The Kinkaid Act did convert land to private ownership 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.[30] Since that time, increasingly only large-scale industrial ranching and farming has been successful on the Great Plains. The area has become depopulated with the decline of small farms, and some towns have become defunct.
Asia TenggaraWilayah4.500.000 km2 (1.700.000 mil2)Populasi (2017)~ 650.423.421Kepadatan144.53 /km2 (351 /mil2)Negara dan teritori Negara (11) Brunei Filipina Indonesia Kamboja Laos Malaysia Myanmar Singapura Thailand Timor Leste Vietnam Teritori (2+1) Dependensi: Kepulauan Cocos (Keeling) Pulau NatalSubdivisions: Kepulauan Andaman dan Nikobar Agama di Asia Tenggara merupakan informasi tentang keberagaman penduduk di Asia Ten…
Hospital in Queens, New York Flushing Hospital Medical Center (also known as Flushing Hospital)[1] is one of the oldest hospitals in New York City.[2] It survived a 1999 bankruptcy[3] and subsequently affiliated first with the New York Presbyterian Hospital and then with the MediSys Health Network. The hospital is also currently affiliated with the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine to provide clinical rotations for the college's osteopathic …
British recipient of the Victoria Cross John Henry CarlessJohn Henry CarlessBorn11 November 1896Walsall, EnglandDied17 November 1917 (aged 21)HMS Caledon, Heligoland Bight, off German EmpireBuriedat seaAllegiance United KingdomService/branch Royal NavyYears of service1914–1917 †RankOrdinary SeamanUnitHMS CaledonBattles/warsWorld War I Naval campaign North Sea campaign Second Battle of Heligoland Bight (DOW) AwardsVictoria CrossJohn Henry Carless VC (11…
2016 South Carolina Republican presidential primary ← 2012 February 20, 2016 (2016-02-20) 2024 → ← NHNV → Candidate Donald Trump Marco Rubio Ted Cruz Home state New York Florida Texas Delegate count 50 0 0 Popular vote 240,882 166,565 165,417 Percentage 32.51% 22.48% 22.33% Candidate Jeb Bush John Kasich Ben Carson Home state Florida Ohio Virginia Delegate count 0 0 0 Popular vote 58,056 56,410…
نيوزيلندا في الألعاب الأولمبية علم نيوزيلندا رمز ل.أ.د. NZL ل.أ.و. اللجنة الأولمبية النيوزيلنديةرابط إضافي في الألعاب الأولمبية صيفية 2012في المتنافسون 184 في 16 رياضة حامل العلم نيك ويلز الميدالياتالمرتبة: 16 الذهب6 الفضة2 البرونز5 المجموع13 تاريخ أولمبي (ملخص…
Військово-музичне управління Збройних сил України Тип військове формуванняЗасновано 1992Країна Україна Емблема управління Військово-музичне управління Збройних сил України — структурний підрозділ Генерального штабу Збройних сил України призначений для плануван…
Військово-музичне управління Збройних сил України Тип військове формуванняЗасновано 1992Країна Україна Емблема управління Військово-музичне управління Збройних сил України — структурний підрозділ Генерального штабу Збройних сил України призначений для плануван…
Pemandangan Freudenberg (Baden) dari puri Freudenberg (juga: Freudenberg am Main) merupakan nama dari sebuah munisipalitas di distrik Main-Tauber-Kreis, Baden-Württemberg, Jerman. Wilayah ini memiliki populasi sekitar 3.700 jiwa. Freudenberg terletak di ujung timur laut negara bagian Baden-Württemberg, di tepi kiri Sungai Main yang merupakan perbatasan ke Bayern. Pada tahun 1806 Freudenberg menjadi bagian dari Keharyapatihan Baden,[1] di seberang sungai adalah munisipalitas Collenberg.…
2004 TV Movie This article is about the Disney film. For other uses, see Native resolution. Pixel PerfectPromotional advertisementGenreComedyDramaMusicSci-FiScreenplay byNeal ShustermanStory byAlan SacksNeal ShustermanDirected byMark A.Z. DippéStarringRaviv UllmanLeah PipesSpencer RedfordTheme music composerPhilip MarshallOriginal languageEnglishProductionProducerDon SchainCinematographyRodney ChartersEditorDebra LightRunning time85 minutesProduction companyAlan Sacks ProductionsBudget$4 millio…
1953 American romantic drama film For other uses, see Mogambo (disambiguation). MogamboOriginal movie posterDirected byJohn FordScreenplay byJohn Lee MahinBased onRed Dustby Wilson CollisonProduced bySam ZimbalistStarringClark GableAva GardnerGrace KellyCinematographyRobert SurteesFreddie YoungEdited byFrank ClarkeMusic byRobert BurnsProductioncompanyMetro-Goldwyn-MayerDistributed byLoew's, Inc.Release date October 9, 1953 (1953-10-09) Running time115 minutesCountriesUnited States…
Wildlife refuge in Oregon, United States Cape Meares National Wildlife RefugeIUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)Cape Meares as seen from nearby beachShow map of OregonShow map of the United StatesLocationTillamook County, Oregon, USANearest cityCape MearesCoordinates45°29′14″N 123°57′49″W / 45.4873248°N 123.9637426°W / 45.4873248; -123.9637426[1]Area138.51 acres (56 ha) [2]Established1938Governing bodyU.S. Fish and…
Spanish anarchist militant (1896–1936) In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Durruti and the second or maternal family name is Dumange. Buenaventura DurrutiDurruti in 1936Birth nameJosé Buenaventura Durruti DumangeBorn(1896-07-14)14 July 1896León, SpainDied20 November 1936(1936-11-20) (aged 40)Madrid, SpainBuriedMontjuïc CemeteryAllegiance CNT-FAIService Los Justicieros (1920–1922) Los Solidarios (1922–1924) Confederal militias (1936)Years of service19…
Cet article est une ébauche concernant l’histoire et la Belgique. Vous pouvez partager vos connaissances en l’améliorant (comment ?) selon les recommandations des projets correspondants. Si ce bandeau n'est plus pertinent, retirez-le. Cliquez ici pour en savoir plus. Cet article ne cite pas suffisamment ses sources (mai 2024). Si vous disposez d'ouvrages ou d'articles de référence ou si vous connaissez des sites web de qualité traitant du thème abordé ici, merci de compléter l'a…
Overview of intersex people's rights in China Intersex rights in ChinaLocation of the People's Republic of ChinaProtection of physical integrity and bodily autonomyNoProtection from discriminationNo Rights by country Argentina Australia Canada Chile China Colombia France Germany Kenya Malta Mexico Nepal New Zealand South Africa Spain Switzerland Taiwan Uganda United Kingdom United States Intersex topics Human rights and legal issues Compulsory sterilization Discrimination Human rights reports Le…
National park in British Columbia, Canada Kootenay National ParkIUCN category II (national park)[1]Stanley Valley and Mount Whymper viewed from the Stanley Glacier Trail.Location of Kootenay National Park in CanadaShow map of CanadaLocation of Kootenay National Park in British ColumbiaShow map of British ColumbiaLocationEast Kootenay, British Columbia, CanadaCoordinates50°52′59″N 116°02′57″W / 50.88306°N 116.04917°W / 50.88306; -116.04917Area1,406 …
Iloilo Football AssociationAbbreviationIFATypeFootball associationHeadquartersIloilo CityRegion IloiloPresidentRoceller SumbilloParent organizationPhilippine Football Federation The Iloilo Football Association is a Filipino football association based in Iloilo City. It works under the Philippine Football Federation as provincial football association for the Iloilo province area. The Iloilo FA sends a team to represent the region in the yearly PFF National Men's Club Championship. Most of competi…
State park in New York State, United States Darien Lakes State ParkView of Harlow Lake at Darien Lakes State ParkLocation of Darien Lakes State Park within New York StateTypeState parkLocation10475 Harlow Road Darien Center, New York[1]Nearest cityBatavia, New YorkCoordinates42°54′N 78°26′W / 42.90°N 78.43°W / 42.90; -78.43Area1,845 acres (7.47 km2)[2]Operated byNew York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic PreservationVisi…
ضريح فولينغ إحداثيات 41°49′34″N 123°34′49″E / 41.826111111111°N 123.58027777778°E / 41.826111111111; 123.58027777778 معلومات عامة الدولة الصين المساحة 53.86 هكتار، و702.36 هكتار موقع اليونيسكو للتراث العالمي رقم التعريف 1004-013 معلومات أخرى تعديل مصدري - تعديل ضريح فولينغ (بالـصي…