"In 1854 all of Union Township, Clay County, Kansas, was part of the Public Domain. By 1894, every parcel in the township had moved from the government into private ownership. This book explores how these 155 settlers obtained their land. It examines various federal programs in the nineteenth century that moved Public Domain land into private hands (homesteading, preemption, railroad grants, school lands, timber culture, military bounties). The chapters discuss how these settlers met the various requirements of these programs for ownership. Union Township's 36 square miles is similar in many ways to hundreds of townships in the American Midwest."--Back cover.