In 1904, Nebraska's representative from the 6th district, Moses Kinkaid, introduced a U.S. statute to Congress. President Theodore Roosevelt signed the act into law on April 28, 1904, and it went into effect on June 28 of that year. The Kinkaid Act amended the Homestead Act of 1862 so that one section of undeveloped land in each township in 37 Nebraska counties could be claimed by homesteaders. The act was an effort to respond to the fact that 160-acre tracts were far too small for productive agriculture and ranching in the relatively arid Sand Hills and high plains regions of Nebraska.

While the General Land Office has no precise records for the number of homestead patents granted before November 1900, approximately 1,600 patents were granted for around 800,000 acres by that date. After the Kinkaid Act of 1904, that number dramatically increased. Between November 1910 and July 1917, a total of 18,919 patents were issued for 8,933,527 acres. However, from that point on, the allotments through this act declined.

In contrast to the decrease in homestead grants, population in these areas increased. By 1900 the population of the above-mentioned thirty-seven Nebraska counties was 136,615. By 1910 it had increased to 199,676 and in 1920 to 251,830. There was also a major increase in corn and wheat production from 1900 to 1910.

The average size of the farms in the area steadily increased, either indicating Kinkaiders added to their holdings or, more likely, sold out to others who used the Kinkaid homesteads to add to their already large holdings. Farmers who claimed land through the Kinkaid Act mostly failed, due to the arid dune topography of most of the affected land. Ranchers, however, profited by taking over land that the homesteaders abandoned.

Moses P. Kinkaid returned to Congress again and again. He died in office in 1922 while serving his tenth consecutive term.

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