Moses Kinkaid

Moses Pierce Kinkaid (January 24, 1856 – July 6, 1922) was an American politician who was a member of the United States House of Representatives from the state of Nebraska. He was the sponsor of the 1904 Kinkaid Land Act, which allowed homesteaders to claim up to of government land in western Nebraska.

Early life and career Kinkaid was born near Morgantown, Virginia, which is now in West Virginia. As a boy, he piloted Canada-bound fugitive slaves to his grandparents' home in Pennsylvania, where food, shelter, and aid were given to them. He attended the public schools and graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1876.

In O'Neill, Kinkaid continued to practice law. He also served as an officer of the Holt County Bank from its foundation in 1884 until 1886. Rainfall percolates readily into the sandy soil, recharging the aquifer and giving rise to hundreds of permanent lakes; but the sandy soil is poorly suited for cultivation, and the area is chiefly used for cattle ranching.

At the time that Kinkaid entered Congress, the 1862 Homestead Act allowed settlers to obtain a quarter-section (160 acres, or 65 ha) of government land for a nominal fee; the 1873 Timber Culture Act allowed them to claim an additional quarter-section. However, in much of the Sandhills, a half-section was not enough land to sustain a family. Instead, the pattern of development was one of large cattle ranches on federal land, It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The Kinkaider Brewing Company in Broken Bow, Nebraska, was named in honor of the congressman and the "Kinkaiders" who settled this area of the state.

In 1963, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.