USA > Oklahoma > A standard history of Oklahoma; an authentic narrative of its development from the date of the first European exploration down to the present time, including accounts of the Indian tribes, both civilized and wild, of the cattle range, of the land openings and the achievements of the most recent period, Vol. II > Part 26
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ENTERING THE PROMISED LAND BY TRAIN AND TRAIL
booths, intending settlers were to file a declaration in writing, showing their qualifications for the right to make a homestead entry. A certificate was then issued by the registry clerks and this was attached to the declaration already made out and the whole was to be preserved by the entryman for his identification when he appeared at the district land office after the opening for the purpose of filing his homestead claim upon a given quarter section of land.
The opening of the Cherokee Strip was not a pleasant incident in the history of Oklahoma. In the first place, the season had been hot and dry and, in consequence, water was scarce and dust drifted in every breeze. Vast throngs of people came to the opening; the registration booths were insufficient in number as well as clumsy and impracticable in the service rendered. People stood in line at the booths all day in the hot sun and, when the clerks quit work
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for the day, in the evening, the lines of waiting applicants were scarcely diminished in number. Such lines remained in formation throughout the night so that each might reach the booth in due turn the next morning. Under such circumstances, there was nat- urally considerable suffering. In some instances, women as well as men were found standing in line for hours in order to qualify for the privilege of filing a homestead entry.
Aside from the registration booths and the formalities incident thereto, the opening of the Cherokee Strip did not differ mate-
THE RACE FOR CLAIMS, SEPTEMBER 16, 1893
rially from those which had preceded it in 1889, 1891 and 1892. The same vast throngs gathered on the border of the "promised land;" there was the same variety of equipment and preparation for the race; the same suppressed excitement as the eventful hour drew near and, when the signal was given, there was the same wild race to possess the wilderness lands which would be wild no more. But this was not all-ah, no-for lo, when the homesteader, who had abided the time in good faith, came to the land that should have been his by right, there was the "sooner," with no sign of sweat on the hair of his untired horse, aye, and with a registration cer- tificate in his possession! What wonder that there was more com- plaint than ever, or that there was official scandal, with much talk of incompetency or corruption (or both) on the part of some of the officials directly concerned ?
Perry was eight miles from the line, yet there were 100 horse-
1
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men on the townsite seven minutes after the hour appointed for the opening. " 'Soonered' in the most approved fashion," was the comment of thousands of disgusted people who had waited on the line until the signal for the beginning of the race had been given.
It was estimated that 50,000 people entered the strip from Arkansas City and its vicinity. Vast crowds were also gathered at Caldwell, Kiowa, Englewood and intermediate points on the border. Likewise, on the southern border of the strip, at Orlando, Hennessey and intermediate points, the line was crowded with people. Perry probably had a larger population the first night of its existence as a settled town than it had for many years afterward, if, indeed, it can even yet equal in numbers the people who sojourned there so briefly for a day or two at the opening.
By the opening of the Cherokee Strip, there was added to the settled and organized portions of Oklahoma seven new counties, which were respectively designated as "K," "L," "M," "N," "O," "P," and "Q." The names subsequently adopted by vote of the people of these counties respectively were Kay, Grant, Woods, Woodward, Garfield, Noble and Pawnee.
THE HORSE THAT WON A CLAIM AND AN ELECTION
In the race for homestead claims at the opening of the Cherokee Strip, there were fine race horses used by many of the more enter- prising homeseekers. One of the finest of these was that which was ridden by Will T. Little, of Guthrie. Will Little was a born horseman-a horseman after the order of Alexander, or Washing- ton, or Grant-and nothing delighted him more than the privilege of subduing and training a horse that had proven to be utterly intraetable in the hands of every one else. As the time for the opening of the Cherokee Strip drew near, he began to make inquiry for a speedy horse with which to make the race for a claim. In the course of this search there was soon brought to his notice a pedigreed race horse, which had won many races and lost none. The name of this horse was La Junta. But, sure footed and swift though he was, La Junta was notorious for his vicious temper-he was reputed to have killed two men already and was only waiting to kill more men when the opportunity was afforded. But for this, he could not have been bought for $10,000. His owner was afraid of him and La Junta knew it.
Will Little went to see the horse and looked him over with a
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discriminating judgment that noted every line in perfection of equine form-the fierce eyes were a matter of after consideration. The owner frankly told Little the reason for his willingness to dispose of the animal. He named a price of $150, but refused to ride the brute to show his gaits and paces or even put a saddle on him. Little paid the purchase price down on the spot and led the animal home. There he roped La Junta, threw him, tied him and battled with him for an hour-until man and horse were both well nigh worn out with the struggle. Then he took off the ropes and allowed La Junta to get to his feet, leaving neither bridle nor halter on his head, and told the horse to follow him-and La Junta followed Will Little up and down the street, with his vicious temper subdued, conquered ! La Junta had never been harnessed, yet Will Little harnessed him, hitched him to a buggy and drove him down to the stable whence he had been led, a veritable equine demon, less than two hours before. The former owner could scarcely believe his eyes, yet there was La Junta, harnessed and hitched to the buggy, a mute witness to the triumphant will of a man who pas- sionately loved a good horse. After that first battle, the new owner had no more trouble with La Junta.
With Will Little in the saddle, La Junta was in the race for a homestead claim, that bright autumn day-September 16, 1893- and La Junta carried his appreciative owner to a choice quarter section in the valley of Bear Creek, a few miles from Perry which was henceforth the Little homestead. A year later, Will Little was nominated for representative to the Legislature from Noble County. Up and down the length and breadth of the county Will Little rode La Junta in his campaign of personal visitation, until nearly every man, woman and child in Noble County knew both horse and rider. No wonder that the latter used to proudly declare: "La Junta elected me to the Legislature."
. Subsequently, Will Little was persuaded to sell La Junta for a goodly price that he might return to the racing stable and the speed ring. But La Junta never won another race, for, such was his former bad name that grooms were afraid of him and jockeys would not ride him.
OPENING OF THE KICKAPOO RESERVATION
The reservation of the Kickapoo Indians was located in Lincoln, Oklahoma and Pottawatomie counties. As a tribe, the Kickapoos have always been numbered among the most conservative Indians.
-
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They did not want to adopt the ways of the white people and they were bitterly opposed to accepting individual allotments of land for personal fee simple ownership. The Government commissioners seemingly could make no headway in the effort to induce them to accept allotments and sell their surplus lands. It is said that they were finally induced to sign a power of attorney to certain persons, ostensibly for the purpose of collecting some money alleged to have been due the Kickapoos, and that this power of attorney was used in signing an agreement on behalf of the Kickapoos to accept allot- ments and sell their surplus lands in order that the same might be thrown open to settlement under the homestead laws. The lands were opened to settlement by the usual executive proclamation and race, May 25, 1895. The Kickapoos were never satisfied, most of them leaving and going to Mexico for a time. The migration to Mexico aided if not instigated by scheming white men conspired to buy Kickapoo allotments for a mere fraction of their value. This resulted in a scandal and a Congressional investigation which is alleged to have covered up quite as much as it exposed.2
GREER COUNTY
When the Government exploring expedition of Captains Marcy and McClellan traversed Southwestern Oklahoma, in the spring and summer of 1852, it did some very effective work but a serious mistake was made in drawing the maps which accompanied its report. This blunder consisted in locating the 100th Meridian (which then as now constituted the eastern boundary of the Texas Panhandle) just one degree too far east. This made its intersection with the Red River at a point near the mouth of the north fork of the Red River; hence all the land lying between the Red River and the North Fork apparently fell within the territorial dominions of the State of Texas. Moreover, the Marcy report habitually re- ferred to the Red River above the mouth of the North Fork as the Kc-che-ah-que Hono, which, in the language of the Comanche Indians, meant "Prairie Dog Town River," while its principal tributary from the north in its upper course was always called the north fork of the Red River rather than by its Comanche name. which was Mobeeteh Hono, meaning "Walnut River." Now, by
2 The published report of the Senate subcommittee, which con- ducted the investigation of the Kickapoo frauds, is contained in Senate Document No. 215, Sixtieth Congress, first session, compris- ing 2,300 pages in three volumes.
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the terms of a treaty made with Spain in 1819, the 100th Meridian of Longitude West had been determined upon as the boundary between the United States and the Spanish dominions from the Arkansas River south to the Red River. Of course the accidental miscalculation as to the location of the 100th Meridian on Marcy's maps could not affect the international boundary which in the course of time had come to be a boundary between the State of Texas and the Indian Territory, but the substitution of the name of Kecheaque Hono, or Prairie Dog Town River, for that of the
WAITING IN LINE SOUTH OF PERRY
Red River made it possible for the State of Texas to assert that the Meridian boundary line ended at its intersection with the channel of the North Fork. The authorities of that state therefore laid claim to all the lands lying between the Red River, proper, and the north fork of the Red River.
In assertion of this claim, the Legislature of the State of Texas created a county of the region embraced between the Red River, the North Fork and the 100th Meridian, which was named Greer, in honor of John A. Greer, who was once a lieutenant governor of Texas. But, though it was thus dignified by name and bounds, it was destined to remain for a score of years as a part of the wilder- ness of the Great Plains, the grazing ground of the buffalo herds and the hunting range of the untamed Comanches and Kiowas. During the '70s, it was occasionally visited by white buffalo
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hunters from the Texas frontier, though that was a very hazardous field for such operations then, for the Indians were hostile to all white hunters then found in that region.
In 1880-1, the first cattlemen began to seek ranges for their stock in Greer County, establishing their ranches at places which were conveniently near a dependable water supply. Other settlers arrived and located in various parts of the county during the course of the next few years. In 1884, the Federal Government took cognizance of their presence, President Arthur issuing a proclama- tion warning them against trespass, and in 1885 troops were sent to expel the settlers as intruders. They were merely warned to leave, however, and none of them paid any attention. Practically all of the settlers were from Texas and they felt assured of the moral support of the authorities and people of that state, so the situation was scarcely analogous to that of the "boomers" in the Oklahoma country. The order for the expulsion of the settlers was afterward modified as the result of representations made the Texas authorities. A year later (August 1, 1886) Greer County was formally organized as a county of the State of Texas.
While the dispute between Texas and the Federal Government as to the ownership of Greer County was of long standing, neither party to the controversy had been in haste to press for a settlement of the same. Bills were introduced into Congress at various times to provide for the adjudication of the conflicting claims, but nothing ever came of such efforts. Finally, when the Organic Act was passed by Congress, in the spring of 1890, one section made it mandatory that the attorney general of the United States should file in the Federal Supreme Court, a suit in equity to determine the long standing dispute. There followed several years of careful preparation for the trial of the issue. The archives of Mexico and Spain were searched; an elaborate set of copies of old maps was procured and depositions were taken in many places both in Texas and Oklahoma. Nearly six years had passed since the Organic Act had authorized and directed the beginning of the suit before the Supreme Court of the United States rendered its decision in the Greer County case, March 16, 1896.
The court of the Forty-sixth Judicial District of Texas was in session at Mangum, with the late Justice G. A. Brown, of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, then a resident of Vernon, Texas, pre- siding as district judge, and a trial was in progress when a mounted courier arrived from Quanah, Texas, with the announcement of the decision of the United States Supreme Court in the Greer
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County case, which had been handed down the day before. With- out the formality of adjourning the court, Judge Brown stated that he had no jurisdiction in Greer County and he returned forth- with to Texas. Within a few weeks Congress had passed an act, approved May 4, 1896, providing for the organization of Greer County under the laws of the Territory of Oklahoma. The people of Greer County participated in Oklahoma elections for the first time in November following. By the terms of an act of Congress approved January 18, 1897, the Greer County lands were declared to be open to entry under the homestead laws, and were constituted a new land district, the land office being at Mangum.
The area thus added to the settled and organized part of Okla- homa was larger than either of the States of Delaware or Rhode Island. In addition to the present Greer County, it included all of the Counties of Harmon and Jackson and also that part of Beckham County which is located south of the north fork of the Red River.
THE LAST GREAT LAND OPENING
On the 6th of October, 1892, David H. Jerome, Alfred M. Wilson and Warren G. Sayre, as commissioners on the part of the Govern- ment, concluded an agreement with the Indians of the Comanche, Kiowa and Plains Apache tribes, whereby the people of those tribes were to accept allotments of land in severalty and cede the surplus lands to the Government in order that the same might be thrown open to settlement under the homestead laws. On the 4th of June, 1891, a similar agreement had been entered into with the Indians of the Wichita, Caddo and affiliated tribes and bands for a like purpose by the same Government commissioners. In those days, however, much of the land in both reservations was leased to cattle- men who were naturally very reluctant to quit business. It was evident that some if not all of the cattlemen had friends in Congress, as it was nearly four years before an act was passed approving the agreement made with the Wichitas and affiliated bands and tribes and nearly eight years before the Comanche- Kiowa-Apache agreement was similarly ratified by Congress.3 Then, even after the Wichita agreement had been duly ratified, the opening of its surplus lands to homestead settlement was deferred
3 The Wichita-Caddo agreement was ratified by act of Congress, approved March 2, 1895, and the Comanche-Kiowa-Apache agree- ment was ratified by an act approved June 6, 1900.
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from year to year until the other agreement had been ratified and another year was consumed in delays before an opening proclama- tion was issued by President Mckinley.
Allotments were made and the two reservations were resurveyed, many of the marks of the original surveys (made nearly thirty years before) having disappeared. The Fort Sill military reserva- tion was enlarged to an area of 56,000 acres and a forest reservation in the heart of the Wichita Mountain range was reserved from settlement. Pasture reservations aggregating 500,000 acres were also withheld from homestead entry-ostensibly for the benefit of the Indians but really as an act of accommodation to favored cattle-
DRAWING LOTS AT EL RENO
men. At last, on the one hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of American Independence, President Mckinley issued a proclamation giving due notice that the surplus lands of the Comanche-Kiowa-Apache and the Wichita-Caddo Indian reservations should be thrown open to homestead settle- ment on and after the 6th day of August, 1901, and prescribing the rules and regulations for the government of such proceedings. These rules and regulations differed radically from any of those which had been adopted or used in preceding land openings.
DISTRIBUTION OF HOMESTEAD PRIVILEGES BY LOT
In order to prevent the disorders which had attended former land openings, the new rules drawn up by the Secretary of the
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Interior, and included in the executive proclamation, directed that all persons desiring to take up homesteads on the surplus lands of either reservation should be allowed to register; that the names so registered should be written on cards and enclosed in envelopes, which envelopes were to be thoroughly shuffled and then drawn out and numbered, the applicants to be permitted to file in turn on homestead claims at the district land offices in the order that their names were thus drawn. Thus, at last, it was hoped and believed that the "sooner" was effectually circumvented.
Two new land districts were created, with offices at El Reno and at Lawton, and all registration had to be done at one or the other of these two places; though any person could register for either district or reservation at either land office, no one was per-
POSTOFFICE
FIRST POSTOFFICE AT LAWTON
mitted to register for a chance in both. The offices were opened for registration on July 9th and the drawing began August 6th. The work of shuffling and drawing the envelopes was all done at El Reno. With about 16,000 quarter sections subject to homestead entry, there were ten times that many registrations, so interest was keyed up to a high pitch when the day arrived for the beginning of the great "land lottery," as it was called. In the meantime, El Reno had been about the busiest place in the whole country. Every incoming train was crowded. Several registration offices had to be provided. Numerous notaries did a thriving business in filling out and certifying to registration applications. The center of the principal business streets was leased out to booths, refreshment stands. Gamblers and sharpers plied their wiles and fleeced the unwary. Land office officials had a small army of clerks and assist- ants on hand. Many were the expedients resorted to in order to make money. Certain self-appointed persons (doubtless with the connivance of land office clerks) charged the people 10 cents apiece for forming them in line at the registration offices and most Vol. II-19
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people laughed as they paid it, even though they knew it was a species of petty extortion. While it has been asserted that there was some sleight of hand performance by which the sealed en- velopes of several favored ones were slipped into the drawing for the first two or three days, there were no grounds for it beyond a vague suspicion and, on the whole, the system gave much less grounds for complaint than any that had been tried before.
THREE NEW COUNTIES
Three new counties, designated as Caddo, Comanche and Kiowa, were added to the organized portion of the territory as the result of the opening of these reservations. The townsites of their county seats were reserved from entry, were surveyed and platted and the lots were sold at auction to the highest bidders, the Government devoting the proceeds to public improvements and other public purposes for the towns and counties-such as the erection of court- houses, waterworks, bridges, schoolhouses, etc.
The pasture reservations, for the segregation of which there had been much just criticism, were thrown open to settlement five years after the opening of the rest of the reservations, the land being placed on the market and sold to the highest bidders. Thus, excepting only the reservations of the Osage, Kansas, Ponca and Otoe-Missouri tribes of Indians, all of the unallotted lands of Oklahoma Territory were finally thrown open to settlement.
The following is the text of the proclamation of President McKinley for the last great land opening in Oklahoma :
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
PROCLAMATION JULY 4, 1901
Whereas, by an agreement between the Wichita and affiliated bands of Indians on the one part, and certain Commissioners of the United States on the other part, ratified by act of Congress ap- proved March 2, 1895, (28 Stats., 876, 894), the said Indians ceded, conveyed, transferred and relinquished, forever and absolutely, without any reservation whatever, unto the United States of America, all their claim, title and interest of every kind and
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character in and to the lands embraced in the following described tract of country now in the Territory of Oklahoma, to-wit:
Commencing at a point in the middle of the main channel of the Washita river, where the ninety-eighth meridian of west longi- tude crosses the same, thence up the middle of the main channel of said river to the line of ninety-eight degrees forty minutes west longitude, thence on said line due north to the middle of the channel of the main Canadian river; thence down the middle of the said main channel of the main Canadian river to where it crosses the
TOM MOORE KONCIGAR.
WALL PAPER
LEMONADE BURNING OF HENRY
STANDING IN LINE TO REGISTER AT EL RENO
ninety-eighth meridian ; thence due south to the place of beginning.
And, whereas, in pursuance of said act of Congress ratifying said agreement, allotments of land in severalty have been regularly made to each and every member of said Wichita and affiliated bands of Indians, native and adopted, and the lands occupied by religious societies or other organizations for religious or educational work among the Indians, have been regularly allotted and confirmed to such societies and organizations, respectively ;
And, whereas, by an agreement between the Comanche, Kiowa and Apache tribes of Indians on the one part, and certain Commis- sioners of the United States on the other part, amended, and ratified by act of Congress approved June 6, 1900, (31 Stat., 672, 676), the said Indian tribes, subject to certain conditions which have been duly performed, ceded, conveyed, transferred and relinquished and
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surrendered forever and absolutely, without any reservation what- soever, expressed or implied, unto the United States of America all their claim, title and interest of every kind and character in and to the lands embraced in the following described tract of country now in the Territory of Oklahoma, to-wit :
Commencing at a point where the Washita river crosses the ninety-eighth meridian west from Greenwich; thence up the Washita river, in the middle of the main channel thereof, to a point thirty miles, by river, west of Fort Cobb, as now established ; thence due west to the north fork of Red River, provided, said line strikes said river east of the one-hundredth meridian west longi- tude; if not, then only to said meridian line, and thence due south on said meridian line to the said north fork of Red river; thence down said north fork, in the middle of the main channel thereof, from the point where it may first be intersected by the lines above described to the main Red river; thence down said Red river, in the middle of the main channel thercof, to the intersection with the ninety-eighth meridian of longitude west from Greenwich ; thence north, on said meridian line, to the place of beginning.
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