Ranchers Vs. Homesteaders

• Ranchers and homesteaders often came into conflict on the Great Plains
• The Homestead Act of 1862 was designed to encourage migration onto the plains for farmers
• Under the Homestead Act of 1862, farmers were granted 160 acres of land
• Farmers had to pay a $10 administration fee and farm the land successfully for five years to prove it up into farmland
• If farmers managed to prove the land into farmland, they could keep the 160 acres of land for free
• Ranchers required huge amounts of public grazing land, around two thousand acres or more
• Ranchers used both legal and illegal tactics to block homesteaders from claiming public grazing land
• Ranchers were often phenomenally wealthy, making it difficult for poor homesteaders to claim back against them
• Homesteaders turned little pockets of public land into private farms under the Homestead Act
• Ranchers accused homesteaders of rustling, which meant stealing free-roaming cattle on the plains
• Ranchers complained that homesteaders' barbed wire fences harmed their cattle
• Homesteaders complained that ranchers' cattle were damaging their crops
• Ranchers usually had money and power on their side, while small homesteaders did not
• Ranchers claimed bits of land with watering holes, making the surrounding land unattractive to homesteaders
• Ranch hands and family members of ranch owners made Homestead Act claims and handed the land back to the ranch, which was not legal under the Homestead Act
• Rich ranchers bought patches of land from railroad companies where railroads crossed the land in a checkerboard pattern, effectively doubling the amount of land they could own
• Rich farm owners could take homesteaders to court, knowing that the homesteaders didn't have the money to back up their claim in court
• Ranchers threatened homesteaders
• Ranchers could own again


  Legal but not particularly moral
• Rich farm owners could take homesteaders to court


  Homesteaders didn't have the money to back up their claim in the courts and usually lost their case
• Ranchers threatened homesteaders with violence


  Homesteaders would give up before finishing their five years of farming
• Ranchers would damage homesteaders' crops deliberately


  Homesteaders' farms would fail
• Ranchers accused homesteaders of rustling


  Homesteaders were too poor to prove this in court
• Homesteaders convicted of cattle wrestling faced heavy punishments

  In cattle states, ranches relied on making money
• Ranchers vandalized and cut barbed wire fences


  Cattle wandered onto homesteads and ruined crops
• Ranchers might accuse homesteaders of rustling their cows


  Homesteaders were at a significant disadvantage in terms of their wealth and power against the powerful cattle barons