People who wanted to free land through the homestead act needed to

People who wanted to free land through the homestead act needed to apply through the federal government, although practically all applications were accepted since the government wanted people to inhabit the territory.

History guy is correct but he forgot to add that the person had to be head of a household or 21 years old to claim a 160 acre parcel of land. Each person also had to live on the land, build a home, make improvements, and farm for 5 years in order to legally own a parcel of land.