While most people know how homesteading officially started, with the signing of the 1862 Homestead Act by President Lincoln, and the first homestead claims being allowed starting January 1, 1863, fewer know how it ended.  

 

The possibility to file for a new homestead claim in the United States ended in the mid-1930s, except for Alaska and within a few special reclamation projects areas in dry land regions.  It happened as the result of the passage of the Taylor Grazing Act, approved June 28, 1934.  This law permitted 80 million acres of public lands to be placed into grazing districts with the land thereafter no longer open for homesteading.  Under this act, President Franklin Roosevelt withdrew all public lands in the western United States for classification as part of grazing districts within months after passage of the 1934 law.  He did it by issuing two Executive Orders: E.O. 6910 on November 26, 1934, and E.O. 6964 on February 5, 1935.  After February 5, 1934, the ability to file a new homestead claim was diminished, though not over, in the contiguous United States.   

 

So, what led to the passage of the 1934 Taylor Grazing Act?  This law, and the two Executive Orders implementing it, were a recognition that virtually all of the federal lands suitable for creating sustainable, individually-owned, family farms, except in Alaska, had already been claimed by homesteaders.  What remained were lands thought better suited, in large part, only for grazing purposes.

 

But there was another event, less known, that happened at this time that adds perspective to what was otherwise going on for some homesteaders in the 1930s.  It was the passage of the final homestead law that applied to all of the United States.  It was approved on May 21, 1934, just five weeks prior to the Taylor Grazing Act.  

 

This last national homestead act is referred to as the 1934 Homesteaders' Relief Act.  It was stated to be "an act granting a leave of absence to settlers of homestead lands during the years 1932, 1933, and 1934."  Its purpose was to help homesteaders stressed by the Great Depression to not lose their homesteads.  The law temporarily allowed extra time to prove up on homestead claims by those homesteaders who had "to seek employment in order to obtain the necessities of life for himself and/or family, or to provide for  the education of his children."

 

Although that was helpful for some people, the 1934 homestead law didn't wave any of the requirements for homesteading.  Instead, it only allowed a reasonable delay in their fulfillment, with the local land office left to determine if the homesteader was acting in good faith in wanting extra time to prove up.  And to help establish the truth of the matter, the distressed homesteaders' claims had to be corroborated by signed affidavits of "two disinterested persons." 

   

While this 1934 final national homestead act did aid some homesteaders of the mid-1930s keep their land, for others it didn't work or simply came too late.  Sadly, for many, the twin disasters of the Great Depression coupled with the effects of the Dust Bowl were just too overwhelming to successfully prove up on their homesteads.  Consequently, they were forced to abandon their claims.  

 

But the problems of the Great Depression years also affected many homesteaders throughout the nation who had already gotten patent to their homesteads.  Some tried to sell out, usually at rock-bottom prices.  Or unable to do that, others simply moved away and abandoned the land to their debtors including the county for failure to pay property taxes.  Still other homesteaders did everything possible to hang on, hoping to get at least some money eventually for their land and the years of work they put in to get it.

 

In 1937, the passage of new law provided help for some of the tenacious homesteaders just barely able to hang on.  Yet it was the exact opposite of a homestead law.  It was the 1937 Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act, approved July 22, 1937.  Until a 1962 amendment changed this law, it authorized the federal government to acquire damaged lands to rehabilitate and then use them for various purposes.  Under this act, certain privately owned homesteads were bought up by the federal government from their distressed owners and added back into federal ownership.  This happened in hundreds of cases resulting in certain patented homesteads in Montana and in other western states being bought by the federal government and returned to federal ownership.  Today, some of these "Bankhead-Jones homesteads," as they are sometimes called, are still managed by the Bureau of Land Management