John, Suppose I should have sited sources. This is from the GovLandOffice Questions and Answers section. Although 1820 is not specified here it is quoted as the authority on the early land certificates. How was the land sold or disposed of? A. The land was disposed of by the authority of many acts of Congress - sale, homesteads, military warrants for military service, timber culture, mining, etc. One of the primary purposes of these public land laws was to encourage people from the East to move West. In the early 1800's people could buy public land for $1.25 an acre. For a time, they could buy up to 640 acres under this law. The sale of public land under the "Cash Act" is no longer in effect. [notice for a time, I am of the opinion the acreage was reduced, about 1840, from 640 to about 240 acres based on purchases made by some of my ancestors] Several Military Warrant Acts granted public land to soldiers instead of pay. These acts have been repealed. The Homestead Act of 1862, allowed people to settle up to 160 acres of public land if they lived on it for five years and grew crops or made improvements. This land did not cost anything per acre, but the settler did pay a filing fee. This act is no longer in effect. =0= A History of Missouri Volume II 1820 to 1860 by Perry McCandless contains numerous references to land because land was the main drawing card for new settlers. pg 42, after a discussion on land speculators, Land acquisition occurred in various ways. At the time of Missouris entry into the Union, national government lands were being auctioned at t minimum price of $ 1.25 per acre in plots as small as eighty acres. Although no credit was allowed, a farm site could be purchased in Missouri for a relatively small outlay of capital. With some obvious exceptions most land went at or only slightly above the $ 1.25 minimum price. By prior agreement or sometimes as a result of personal pressures, men at auctions frequently held the bids down. Some of the land never came up for auction because men had already settled on a selected spot and were allowed in most areas by special legislation to purchase it for the minimum price before it was put up for auction by the land office. The right of general pre-emption was granted by Congress in 1841. [as small as eighty acres should read as small as forty acres, many land certificates are on record, forty acres for fifty dollars] Bill Landers