Nebraskaland

44 Nebraskaland • May 2026 I n s o m e p l a c e s, 1 6 0 a c re s w a s n o t e n o u g h . T h e Homestead Act of 1862 promised a free quarter-section to claimants who "proved up" on the land by building a home and farming for five years. That was considered a good-sized farm, plenty of land to support a large family. But as the land filled up, settlers proceeded westward into a progressively drier climate. For a few decades a popular notion held that "rainfall follows the plow"— in other words, that farming the prairie increased its evaporation, leading to greater rainfall. The severe droughts of the 1890s brought that idea to a painful end. By the early 1900s, it was clear that a farmer needed more than a quarter section to make a living on the High Plains of western Nebraska. In, 1904 Nebraska congressman Moses P. Kinkaid authored a new law that allowed 640-acre homestead claims — a square mile — in non-irrigable lands in the Nebraska Sandhills and Panhandle. The new law led to a land boom as "Kinkaiders" came to western Nebraska to claim farmland. Mari Sandoz — whose father, "Old Jules" Sandoz, helped locate the new settlers — described it in her book "Love Song to the Plains." " Tw o w e e k s b e f o r e t h e o p e n i n g, c ove r e d w a g o n s, horsebackers, men afoot and finally railroad trains long with extra cars for the boomers toiled into Alliance, Valentine, North Platte and Broken Bow. The more serious, the more intelligent homeseekers got information at the land office and vanished into the sandhills. Many turned back at the first soft yellow chophills pockmarked by blowouts and warted with soapweeds, yuccas, their elegant spikes of waxy greenish- white blossoms standing tall." Others found better land, but even on opening day, settlers often found that somehow the best parcels had already been claimed by local cattlemen. A ra i l ro a d p ro m o t i o n a l b ro c hu re fo r K i n ka i d l a n d s included a thank-you letter from J. W. Crouse of Read (Arthur County), who said his Kinkaider farm "has released us from the thralldom of city life and put upon us the highway to independence and prosperity." That was the dream the railroads and land offices were selling — a final chance at a fading frontier. In 1907, a group of black Kinkaiders founded the town of DeWitty in Cherry County. The town had 100 families by 1917, making it Nebraska's largest black settlement. But similar to most other Kinkaid settlements, it declined after World War I and was gone by the mid-1930s. The Sandhills proved to be poor country for farming. Plowing opened the sandy ground to wind erosion, with dunes forming along fence lines. Most of this land soon reverted to rangeland, but even 640 acres was not enough for a viable ranch. Most Kinkaiders either failed to prove up on their claims or eventually sold out to large ranchers. Few physical traces remain of Nebraska's final homesteading era, but thanks to photographers, descendants and writers such as Mari Sandoz, the story remains part of western Nebraska lore. N Detail of a map from a 1912 brochure, free government lands in Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota along the Burlington Route. Red areas show regions eligible for the Kinkaid Act (640 acres) and the Enlarged Homestead Act (320 acres). NSHS M78 1912 B961h Church at DeWitty, built by members of the congregation, circa 1910. NSHS RG2301-1-3 By David L. Bristow, Nebraska State Historical Society The Kinkaiders Learn more at the NSHS's website at history.nebraska.gov

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