The need to populate vast areas of the open West dictated an ever more
openhanded land policy by the Federal government in the mid-1800's. This
culminated in the Homestead Act of 1862, a law that would transfer millions
of acres to settlers virtually free of charge. The base price of public
land was lowered from $2 to $1.25 an acre and the minimum purchase was reduced
from 160 to as few as 80 acres. Heads of household, widows, and singles
over 21 years who were citizens or had declared their intention to become
citizens were granted the right to settle on 160 acres of unoccupied
public land, which, provided that he cultivated it, he would own after living
on it for five continuous years. An entryman could commute a claim to cash
entry and pay minimum price per acre but was still required to build a home
and cultivate the land. Only half of the homestead entries filed before
1900 went to patent.
Public Domain States are those in which the land was once owned by the Federal government and where the Federal government oversaw the transition of land from public to private. There are a total of thirty such states, mostly in the West and Midwest. Rather than naming them, they are most often designated by listing the states that are not public domain: The original 13, KY, TN, TX, and HI. In these non-public domain states, the State government controlled the disposition of land.
When the Federal Government undertook to survey the public lands, they used a rectangular survey system that imposed a grid over the land. The units of measurement were "sections" composed of one square mile, and therefore containing 640 acres. A piece of property could then be described precisely using the number of units North and South of a baseline (Township) and East and West of a meridian (Range). Thus a 40 acre plot in Eureka Township of Aurora Co., Dakota Territory, might be described as SW4-NE4-S28-T103N-R65W. This would be read "the southwest quarter of the northeast quarter of Section 28, township 103 north and Range 65 west [of the 5th Prime Meridian]."
When land passed from government ownership into the hands of an individual, a document was issued to certify ownership. This document is called a Land Patent. It was then used by the individual to prove his ownership when he registered the deed with the appropriate county government officer.
The government set up local land sales offices in areas where land transactions were occurring. You must know the name of the land office in order to request your ancestor's records.
Completing the homesteading process generated a considerable amount of paperwork. This paperwork, called a Land Entry Case File, is kept on file at the National Archives facility in Suitland, MD. Included are both completed and canceled transactions that occurred before 1 July 1908. Documents available in a given file include the homestead application, certificate of publication of intention to complete claim, homestead final proof, testimony required of claimant and two witnesses, certified copy of naturalization papers, and the final certificate authorizing patent.
For the period of South Dakota settlement, this will usually either be "Cash Purchase" or "Homestead". Some "cash" transactions may have begun as a homestead transaction; a homestead could be converted to a cash purchase at any time after six months of residency. These are worth checking, since the paperwork associated with the homestead initiation should still be in the case file.