<P> Recognizing that arid lands west of the 100th meridian, which passes through central Nebraska, required more than 160 acres for a claimant to support a family, Congress passed the Kinkaid Act which granted larger homestead tracts, up to 640 acres, to homesteaders in western Nebraska . </P> <P> Because by the early 1900s much of the prime low - lying alluvial land along rivers had been homesteaded, the Enlarged Homestead Act was passed in 1909 . To enable dryland farming, it increased the number of acres for a homestead to 320 acres (130 ha) given to farmers who accepted more marginal lands (especially in the Great Plains), which could not be easily irrigated . </P> <P> A massive influx of these new farmers, combined with inappropriate cultivation techniques and misunderstanding of the ecology, led to immense land erosion and eventually the Dust Bowl of the 1930s . </P> <P> In 1916, the Stock - Raising Homestead Act was passed for settlers seeking 640 acres (260 ha) of public land for ranching purposes . </P>

When was more land settled than at any other time in american history