A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume I, Part 36

Author: Hill, L. B. (Luther B.)
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pubishing Company
Number of Pages: 645

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President Harrison proclaimed the open- ing of the unassigned lands to settlement on April 22, 1889, and placed in that proclamation the statutory provision against any person "entering upon or occupying said lands" before the date of opening at noon on April 22, 1889.

This led to people gathering in large numbers around the edges of these unas- signed lands waiting for the opening at noon on April 22.

James B. Weaver, ex-congressman of Iowa, was in Oklahoma after the issuance of the proclamation and prior to April 22, 1889. He was a member of the Congress that passed the bill opening these lands to settlement, and worked very hard for the passage thereof.

There was great and serious dispute as to the meaning of the words "Enter upon and occupy" contained in both the bill and the proclamation opening these lands. One construction was that in order for a settler to be disqualified under that act he must do

two acts before noon of April 22, 1889- first, enter upon these unassigned lands, and, second, settle upon some selected quar- ter section of land or town lot, and that the bare entering upon the land would not disqualify, and the persons holding to this view contended that so long as they did not settle nor go upon the quarter section of land or lot intended to be taken that there would be no disqualification, while others contended that any entry into these unas- signed lands, and especially being within the borders of them at or before noon of April 22, worked a disqualification of the person so entering. Congressman Weaver and Captain Couch adhered to the first view, and all these old boomers followed them blindly, as did many, many other per- sons, and as a result nearly every one of the old boomers, along with thousands of others, were in these unassigned lands be- fore noon of April 22, and near by the lands or lots that they intended to take, and with which they had become familiar in boomer days, while thousands of others, adhering to the latter view, remained around the borders and outside of the land until noon April 22, and then rushed into the country pell-mell, seeking claims or lots wherever they could be found. On the borders in waiting were many persons well mounted who knew the country thoroughly, knowing every quarter section and just how to run to get to it, while others were indifferently mounted, and many not mounted at all, and who knew nothing about the country nor the best paths to be followed in order to get to good lands; knew nothing about where the school lands were located, and were at a tremendous disadvantage as against the parties thus well mounted and knowing the country. These strangers knew in advance that they stood no chance whatever of getting prop-

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erty as against their well informed com- petitors.

To these uninformed persons on the bor- ders, the law said, in effect: "Be obedient unto my mandates and you shall, for such obedience, not have an acre."

These uninformed men at once sought to even matters up, by slipping into the country, and getting in such a position that they might possibly get something in the scramble, and thousands of them did it. The 22d of April fell on Monday. On Sunday morning before the country opened, thousands of people were in the camps on the borders. By Monday morn- ing, fully one-half of them were gone, and were evidently within the prohibited lands. At that time, there were few roads in the country, and no bridges, and through the country were running many streams which could be crossed only at certain points, and this being true, the stranger could make no headway whatever, as against the person who knew every pathway and every ford, and every piece of bottom land, and it was impossible to keep these uninformed per- sons, who knew and thoroughly appreci- ated their disadvantage, to do otherwise than seek to even the matter up by getting within the country beforehand.

I saw thousands of these uninformed persons, who remained without, until the grand rush was made at noon, and I do not think I have ever met or heard of one who obtained a tract of land or lot of any value, by settlement thereon.

Many of them bought off illegitimate settlers, after the country was opened, and thus obtained valuable lands and lots. As certainly as a piece of land was of excellent quality, or a lot of great prospective value, just so certainly the first settler thereon was what was afterwards known as a "sooner." Immediately after the opening

thousands of these persons who had been within the land before noon, boldly de- clared it but asserted that they had not set- tled upon any tract of land or lot before noon.

In the course of time, the land depart- ment decided that any person who had been within these unassigned lands prior to noon was disqualified, and at once si- lence fell on the lips of those who had be- fore so loudly boasted of the fact that they had entered before noon, but had not occu- pied, and at once unlimited perjury took the place of such boastings, and unlimited numbers of witnesses swore in rows, that they had not been within the unassigned lands before noon, and swore in bands for each other, and even sent innocent men to the penitentiary, on conviction for perjury charged against them, and one of the most valuable quarter sections of land, now an addition in the heart of Oklahoma City, was saved to sooners by thus sending two inno- cent men to the penitentiary. By this means, contests against that quarter section were defeated. Circumstances pointed strongly to the fact that United States offi- cers, sent to Oklahoma to prosecute and break down this criminality, became remiss in their duties in consideration of great val- ues being passed to such officers, and as a monument tending to support such charge, there today lies in one of the most valuable portions of Oklahoma City, and completely surrounded by beautiful homes, forty acres of unplatted lands, and many were the val- uable lots, the titles to which afterwards turned up in the names of the wives of such officers.

The results were, as they almost always are in such cases, that conflict of interests led these men who were thus falsely swear- ing in land contests, into difficulty with each other, and led to quarreling, and

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finally to confessions, and the results were that large numbers of them found their way into the penitentiary, and many others escaped by relinquishing all claims to the lands and lots in Oklahoma.

Many of those who were thus sooners, saw the storm coming, and relinquished their lands or lots in such a way that they were taken and proved up, by brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers, or friends, and in many cases, after being so proved up, this relative or friend conveyed the prop- erty to the sooner, while in scores of other cases the party who thus proved up forgot the sooner, or quarreled with him and kept all he got, and left the sooner in mourning and in rage.

The sooner, while thus in rage, in turn gave away some other sooner, and would swear that if he could get nothing, no other sooner should have anything. In this way the land titles to Oklahoma were settled.

The real conflict arose and was born when the boomers began to go into Okla- homa in advance of time, under the con- struction of the words "enter upon and oc- cupy," as promulgated by Gen. James B. Weaver, of Iowa, and by the slipping in of persons not boomers, under all kinds of pretexts, such as working for the railroads, and as deputy United States marshals, teamsters, and by any other device or ex- cuse, that would permit the party to remain within these unassigned lands, and also the slipping into said lands by so many other persons, and then the coming in afterwards of those who left the borders on time, and finding everything of value grabbed in ad- vance of their coming.

Nothing but conflict could come from such a condition of affairs, and the wonder is, that the results were not more trouble- some and serious than they really were.

It is due to these boomers to say that

many of them were thoroughly honest and truthful men, and always and under all cir- cumstances told and swore to the truth, and they were, of course, very dangerous men on the witness stand, to the dishonest ones who sought to save their lands or lots by false swearing, in contest trials.

Another very fruitful source of trouble arose from the fact that these strangers knew nothing about where the section lines were, and knew nothing of what were or were not school lands. As a result, it often turned out that several settlers were on the same quarter of land, and the question arose as to who first settled, and then they quarreled and commenced . testifying against each other, sometimes truthfully, and many times untruthfully. Many times they adjusted their own difficulties, by all kinds of trades, purchases and adjustments.

The townsites had all been surveyed by sooners or town companies, but the streets were shown only by some frail mark, and when these people came in from the bor- ders, directly after noon, they rushed in thousands all over the lands lying around the railroad stations, and were in inextrica- ble confusion, and settled almost any num- ber on the same lot, and on what after- wards became streets, and this too after- wards led to an enormous amount of liti- gation in the adjustment of these claims.

Many of the persons who came in legally from the borders, on April 22d, were angered at the fact that these sooners had rushed in beforehand and seized the valu- able property, and they defied and rushed upon the property taken by the sooner, and by litigation in the land department after- ward obtained some of the most valuable property in Oklahoma.

In this way Captain Couch, and his father and their heirs, lost two of the most valuable quarters now covered by Okla-

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homa City, and fourteen other claims, ly- ing immediately around the city, were lost to the sooner in the same way, and the value of these sixteen claims, today, would exceed the million dollar mark, and if the improvements now upon these lands were counted, the value would be several mil- lions. The result of all this was a vast amount of litigation in the land depart- ments, and the courts, and I think I can safely say, that there was more litigation than was ever before known in the United States in the same length of time and over the same amount of land, in Oklahoma, over lands opened in the manner they were at first opened in Oklahoma.

On account of this serious trouble, the government abandoned that method of opening and resorted to a distribution of the land by lot. The Cherokee Strip was the last piece of land opened in this rac- ing manner, and the same trouble was ex- perienced there that had been previously experienced in old Oklahoma.

This in brief shows the general manner in which Oklahoma was opened to settle- ment, and the incidents that followed the same, so far as acquiring title to the lands are concerned.

II.

The following is the explanation of the causes which led to so many jogs and crooks in the streets of Oklahoma City, and in order to have this better under- stood, it will be necessary to briefly state some of the laws, relating to townsites of that time.

The act of Congress, opening these un- assigned lands to settlement provided that the secretary of the interior might, after the proclamation, and not before, permit entry of lands for townsites, under sec-

tion 2387 and 2388 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, but that no such entry should embrace more than three hundred and twenty acres of land, equal to a half section.

The laws of the United States, opening Oklahoma, provided that the lots and town- sites, in Oklahoma, should be for the use and benefit of the occupants thereof. Very soon a dispute arose over the meaning of that law. One party contended that an occupant was an actual dweller in Okla- homa, living upon or using the lots; the other party contended that anybody could be an occupant who put improvements upon the lots, or leased them out to others, while the incorporated townsite companies claim- ed that the incorporated company could occupy the whole townsite, and sell it off in lots, as had been done in Kansas.

Prior to the opening, a body of men, of whom Sidney Clark, ex-member of Con- gress, and Captain Couch, were two, formed a corporation in the state of Kan- sas, and there took out articles of incorpor- ation, for the purpose of entering and sell- ing townsites in Kansas and elsewhere, and the name of the corporation was, "The Seminole Townsite and Improvement Com- pany," and these parties, with their adher- ents, afterward became known as the "Seminoles."

Another company was formed at Colony, Kansas, and was afterwards known as the "Colony Crowd." This latter crowd did not take out articles of incorporation, but were advised by counsel in Washington to enter the territory in the afternoon of April 22d, and rush to the lands they desired, and at once hold an election, and elect town officers, and then have those officers enter the townsite. It seemed that neither the Seminoles nor the Colony Crowd had any

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knowledge whatever of each other's ex- istence, until they met on the townsite in Oklahoma City.

Prior to noon on April 22, 1889, the Seminole incorporators were on the grounds, on the track and about the depot of the Santa Fe Railway, at what was then "Oklahoma Station,", and had with them the plat of their townsite, as they intended to lay it upon the ground, and as the evidence in many cases abundantly showed, had laid off the land in streets and squares prior to noon, and as some claimed, did the sur- veying in the night-time, so as to have everything in such a condition, that they could promptly seize the townsite instantly at 12 o'clock, on April 22d.

The land they intended to take, cornered at where Reno avenue now crosses the Santa Fe Railroad, and ran west on the sec- tion line, in the middle of what is now Reno avenue, one-half mile, to what is now Walker street, and ran north on Walker street, that being a half section line, to a point very near what is now the corner of Tenth and Walker streets, and ran east from that point to the Santa Fe track, and then down that track to the place of beginning. In going from this starting point on the section line, where Reno ave- nue now lies, the Santa Fe road ran almost due north, bearing a little to the east. Either intentionally, or by mistake in their

hurry, the Seminoles failed to run their east and west streets due east and west, but ran them at right angles to the Santa Fe track, which caused all of their streets run- ning west from the Santa Fe, to bear a little north of a line running due west.

The Seminoles' survey located Main street where it now is, and located a street south of Main street, which they named "Clarke street," and two other streets south of that, the names of which I have now for-

gotten, and located Broadway, and Robin- son, and Harvey and Hudson streets, where they now lie, from Grand avenue north. And also located First to Seventh streets as they now lie. The Seminoles also caused all the lots lying along Broadway to front on Broadway, except the lots at the corner of Main and Broadway, and the lots at those four corners were. so laid that they fronted on Main and ran back one hundred and forty feet, along Broadway, to an alley, so that from the alley south of Main street to the alley north of Main street there were no lots fronting on Broadway.

Promptly at noon, the Seminoles rushed on to this townsite, with a lot of other sooners, and seized all the lots, and claimed to take the whole townsite, by occupancy. They were mostly settled, however, along Main street and on Broadway north and south of Main street for a distance.

The Colony Crowd also had their plat prepared to cover this same land, but that crowd remained on the South Canadian river until noon of April 22d, when they rushed pell-mell to the same townsite, and at once erected a large tent at a point near where the city jail now stands. This Col- ony Crowd were unquestionably legal and qualified settlers, as they had not entered the unassigned lands prior to the hour of noon.

This crowd began to settle at once ac- cording to their plats, which did not at all fit the Seminole plat or survey. In addi- tion to these, there came as much as ten thousand other people, from the borders and on the trains and every other way. These men were all strangers to each other, and while the Seminoles and the Colony Crowd knew each other, yet they were both unknown to this rushing crowd, and this rushing crowd ran all over the townsite, grabbing whatever they could find, and

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paying no attention to the surveys of either one of the other crowds.

Under these circumstances, the Colony Crowd opened a voting booth, and invited everybody to come to the election, and every fellow who wanted to, voted, not knowing or understanding what it all meant, and as a result Rev. Mr. Murray, of Baldwin, Kansas, was elected mayor, and a full set of city officers was chosen from the Colony Crowd, the Seminoles tak- ing no part whatever in the election.

It must be said to the credit of the Col- ony Crowd that the Rev. Mr. Murray and all the aldermen chosen on the afternoon of the 22d, were conscientious and honest men, and were trying to do, and as experi- ence afterward showed, did do everything they could, justly and honestly towards the settlers. Their plats of the city were freely shown, and large numbers of persons, not Colony men, settled on the lots as shown by the Colony plat.

The Colony plat also had a Broadway street, running north and south, and made all lots front on Broadway, thus putting their Broadway lots at the corner of Main street directly across the Seminole lots at the same point.

On Tuesday morning the 23rd, all was confusion. The Seminoles had carloads of houses, on the cars at the Santa Fe depot, the houses being made of boards, and all exactly alike, and so cut that any board would fit into any house at the point at which it was intended to go. These after- wards came to be known as "Seminole Shanties." During the forenoon of the 23rd, the Seminoles were actively engaged in getting these shanties on to the best lots in the town. It was then found by the location of these shanties, that their Broad- way street was not in the same place oc- cupied by the Colony Broadway street, and

it was also discovered that the streets of the Seminoles did not run straight east and west through the city, while the Colony streets did so run. Under the circum- stances, a large public meeting was called in front of the Colony tents, to which everybody was invited, and everybody who desired permitted to participate. That meeting chose a committee to properly sur- vey the city, the surveyors to be accom- panied by one person from each state which could furnish a representative, and that committee was to adjust the settle- ments on lots, so far as it could be peace- ably done.

The surveyors began their survey that day, and were accompanied by the commit- tee so chosen. The surveyors started at the government corner on the Reno line near the Santa Fe track, and ran directly west in what is now Reno avenue, and estab- lished that street and named it Reno avenue.

They located their north and south streets at the points where the streets now run north from Reno avenue, divided off the lots and adjusted them among the set- tlers, without trouble, and came up and laid out California avenue, and likewise laid out what is now Grand avenue-these three streets running straight east and west. This was afterwards known as the "Citizens' Survey." Their streets running north from Reno avenue did not quite meet the streets as fixed by the Seminole survey, and Clarke street, so called by the Seminoles, was fifty feet (50) farther north than the Grand avenue, as fixed by the Citizens' survey. The Citizens' survey destroyed Clarke street and established Grand avenue where it now lies, and gave that street that name.

This of course took fifty feet off of the north part of the lots lying on the south side of Clarke street, and left the north half of what had been Clarke street to be

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lots. All the lots from Reno avenue up to Clarke street were almost all peaceably ad- justed, and there was never thereafter much litigation, except over those at the corner of Grand avenue and Broadway. [See decision on McMaster case on pre- vious pages.]

When this point was reached, it became very evident, that if this Citizens' survey and adjustment went on, that Main street too would be moved about fifty feet south of the Seminole location, and made to run due east and west, and that Broadway where it crossed Main, would be moved west about half of its width, as would all the other north and south streets.

This of course brought the Citizens' sur- vey and crowd immediately in conflict with the Seminoles, and it became clearly ap- parent that the conflict was going to result in violence, unless some adjustment could be made. The Seminoles were freely de-

claring war and their intention to fight for the lots they held, and their streets as lo- cated, and things looked very threatening.

To avoid this threatened trouble it was finally proposed, and the proposition ac- cepted, that each of the "Crowds" should appoint a committee of adjustment, which was done.

This committee finally agreed that the Citizens' survey and adjustment should stand and be adopted, including the lots on the north side of Grand avenue, and that it should there stop, and that the Seminole survey should remain along Main street and north, including all lots on the south side of Main street. This of course left the Seminoles' streets where they had been located by the Seminoles, and left the Cit- izens' streets where located by them, and in as much as the north and south streets did not squarely meet, the jogs were placed on Grand avenue, and this accounts for the

jogs in the north and south streets at that point. In as much as Grand avenue had been moved south fifty feet, the distance between Main and Grand avenue was greater than the length of two lots and an alley; and in as much as Main street did not run straight west, but bore a little to the north as it went west, while Grand avenue did run straight east and west, it left a space of ground, between the two streets, not covered by lots fronting on either Main or Broadway. At Broadway this strip was fifty feet wide, and widened as it went west, by reason of the fact that Main street and Grand av- enue were not parallel. Consequently this strip of ground was wider at the west side of the town plat than it was at the east side. To overcome this diffi- culty, and in order to place an alley at the back end of the lots fronting on Grand avenue, and also at the back end of the lots fronting on Main street, two alleys were put between these two streets, and the space between those two alleys was laid off into lots fronting on the north and south streets, being two narrow lots at the east end, and three wide lots at the west side of the town.

In as much as all the lots in the city were one hundred and forty feet deep, and the distance between the streets running north and south was four hundred feet, it left pieces of vacant ground in each of these squares, between the back ends of these lots fronting on the north and south streets, and between these two alleys. This vacant ground was afterwards retained by the city, and is now used for city purposes, the old jail now occupying one of them.

The fact that the Seminole streets, before named, do not run straight east and west, and in as much as the streets in the ad- ditions, since laid out on the east and west

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side of Oklahoma City, do run straight east and west, there appears a bend in each of these streets, as they extend east or west through these additions, the bend being at the east and west lines of the old city plat.

The north eighty acres of the three hun- dred and twenty acres taken for Oklahoma City, was lost to the city, by being home- steaded by one Frank Gault.

As only three hundred and twenty acres could be taken for one townsite, and as there were so many people here, a crowd composed largely of people from Texas, organized what was known as the South Oklahoma townsite. This crowd laid off and platted a quarter section, immediately south of Reno avenue, and surveyed their streets straight east and west, and hence there are no bends in those streets when extended through additions, but their north and south streets did not meet the north and south streets made by the Citizens' sur- vey, and hence these jogs in the north and south streets made on Reno avenue.

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A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume I, Part 36

Author: Hill, L. B. (Luther B.) Publication date: 1908 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pubishing Company Number of Pages: 645

Author: Hill, L. B. (Luther B.)
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pubishing Company
Number of Pages: 645