28 NEBRASKA CATTLEMAN November 2025 - CATTLEBUYERCOVERAGE - THROUGHOUT THE MIDWEST OWNED FAMILY It was common at the time to sell land based on possessory rights, which in fact only amounted to squatters’ rights, not having either deed or lease to the land. This worked for a time until the homesteaders – or grangers as they were commonly referred to – moved in, receiving a quarter section (160 acres) of land to farm, which became their deeded property if they built a residence, made improvements and successfully farmed the land for five years. In addition to the grangers, when the “Herd Law” took effect in various counties, which called for all unbranded cattle on the open range to be auctioned off each fall with the proceeds going to the state, the system of having land based on possessory rights became untenable. Therefore, ranches like Bay State moved their cattle across the border to Wyoming. Although the Bay State holdings encompassed possessory rights to huge swaths of multiple counties in Nebraska, in reality, they only owned the 527 acres of deeded land from the original Coad Ranch and a patchwork of leased and unpaid deeded land they had secured from the Union Pacific Railroad. Stocking the West In terms of improving herds, up until the 1880s, red-hided Shorthorns were used almost exclusively. These were mainly An 1890 poster promoting free homes, government lands and cheap deeded lands in South Dakota. Credit: Yale University Library. GREAT PLAINS CATTLE AND GRASS GOLD RUSH CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27 CONTINUED ON PAGE 30
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