Kinkaid Act

The Kinkaid Act of 1904 (ch. 1801, 33 Stat. 547, Apr. 28, 1904, 43 U.S.C. § 224) is a U.S. statute that amended the 1862 Homestead Act so that one section (1 mi², 2.6 km², 640 acres) of public domain land could be acquired free of charge, apart from a modest filing fee. It applied specifically to 37 counties in northwest Nebraska, in the general area of the Nebraska Sandhills. The act was introduced by Moses Kinkaid, Nebraska's 6th congressional district representative, and was signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt on April 28, 1904 and went into effect on June 28 of that year.

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), and a current U.S. citizen or in 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. The residency requirement was shortened to three years in 1912. A claimant also had to prove that improvements equivalent to $1.25 per acre had been made to the property.

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. 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.

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