Ranchers V. Homesteaders

• Ranching needed lots of land (at least 2000 acres), so ranchers used public land. When the Homestead Act came in, ranchers used several tactics to block homesteading on their land.

  
• Ranchers filed claims under the Homestead Act for the best bits of land - the areas with springs and waterholes.

  
• Ranchers divided the land so that ranches and public land was all mixed together – making the public land impossible to access.

  
• Ranchers got relatives and employees to claim homesteads, then hand over the rights to them.

  
• Ranchers took homesteaders to court, knowing they wouldn’t be able to pay the court costs.

  
• Ranchers threatened homesteaders and accused them of stealing cows

  
• Ranchers annoyed homesteaders because their cattle often wandered onto fields and ate crops.

  Homesteaders annoyed ranchers because (it was claimed) their sheep ate all the grass and spread disease.

  Ranchers put up fences to keep out sheep, but homesteaders would just cut them. Long-running conflicts often developed into range wars between ranchers and homestead