In practice it was violated thousands of times--in fact, of necessity violated by any cattle man who wished to acquire sufficient range to run a considerable herd.

Our great timber kings, our great cattle kings, made their fortunes out of their open contempt for the homestead law, which was designed to give all the people an even chance for a home and a farm.

It made, and lost, America.
Swiftly enough, here and there along all the great waterways of the northern range, ranchers and their men filed claims on the water fronts.
The dry land thus lay tributary to them.

For the most part the open lands were held practically under squatter right; the first cowman in any valley usually had his rights respected, at least for a time.

These were the days of the open range.