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The Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889 was the first land run into the
Unassigned Lands The Unassigned Lands in Oklahoma were in the center of the lands ceded to the United States by the Creek (Muskogee) and Seminole Indians following the Civil War and on which no other tribes had been settled. By 1883 it was bounded by the Cher ...
of former
Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans who held aboriginal title to their land as a sovereign ...
, which had earlier been assigned to the Creek and
Seminole The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...
peoples. The area that was opened to settlement included all or part of
Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
,
Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...
,
Kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...
,
Logan Logan may refer to: Places * Mount Logan (disambiguation) Australia * Logan (Queensland electoral district), an electoral district in the Queensland Legislative Assembly * Logan, Victoria, small locality near St. Arnaud * Logan City, local gov ...
,
Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...
, and Payne counties of the present-day US state of
Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...
. The land run started at high noon on April 22, 1889. An estimated 50,000 people were lined up at the start, seeking to gain a piece of the available . The Unassigned Lands were considered some of the best unoccupied public land in the United States. The Indian Appropriations Act of 1889 was passed and signed into law with an amendment by Representative William McKendree Springer ( R- IL) that authorized President
Benjamin Harrison Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833March 13, 1901) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 23rd president of the United States from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia–a grandson of the ninth pr ...
to open the two million acres (8,100 km2) for settlement. President
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...
had earlier signed the
Homestead Act of 1862 The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a homestead. In all, more than of public land, or nearly 10 percent of ...
, which allowed settlers to claim lots of up to , provided that they lived on the land and improved it.


Overview

During the mid-19th century, the time when the American Civil War was at its peak, President
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...
developed a strategy to increase land ownership and development by signing the
Homestead Act The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a homestead. In all, more than of public land, or nearly 10 percent of t ...
into law. It was intended to open western lands to allow people to settle on what the government considered to be "idle" tracts of land. The conditions set for the claimants included that one had to improve the condition of the land for the five years that they were allowed to settle in it, and to cultivate part of it for agricultural purpose. When the Act became law, the majority of occupants in Indian Territory (which became most of present-day Oklahoma) belonged to the so-called
Five Civilized Tribes The term Five Civilized Tribes was applied by European Americans in the colonial and early federal period in the history of the United States to the five major Native American nations in the Southeast—the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek ...
: the
Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, th ...
,
Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands. Their traditional territory was in the Southeastern United States of Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee as well in southwestern Kentucky. Their language is classif ...
,
Choctaw The Choctaw (in the Choctaw language, Chahta) are a Native American people originally based in the Southeastern Woodlands, in what is now Alabama and Mississippi. Their Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choctaw people are ...
, Creek, and
Seminole The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...
, who had been forcibly removed in the 1830s from their traditional territories in the Southeast. The government passed an Act called the Dawes Severality (or
Dawes Act The Dawes Act of 1887 (also known as the General Allotment Act or the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887) regulated land rights on tribal territories within the United States. Named after Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts, it authorized the Pres ...
) in 1887 that aimed to extinguish communal tribal holdings. It proposed that the tribes' communal lands be allocated to heads of households by 160-acre plots, to encourage them to adopt subsistence farming. A stated aim of the Act was to enhance assimilation of tribal members to mainstream European-American practices. It markedly reduced the amount of land owned by the tribes, because the government declared as 'surplus' any lands left over after distribution, and made them available for sale to non-Native Americans. The settlers were also allowed to take up the subdivided land in many places. However, the Dawes Act was not enforced on the five tribes that were considered civilized since they were later exempted. The exemption was to take effect until the year 1902, when the household heads of the five “civilized” tribes were to take 160-acre plots. After the Civil War, the other Indian tribes that had been relocated to the Territory had been assigned approximately one half of the total landmass occupied by the five tribes. The five tribes had allied with the Confederacy and were forced to give up some of their lands in treaties made with the US after the war. In the last 19th century, two of the five tribes, the Seminole and the Creek, were persuaded to sell part of their land, approximately , to the US government. This part of the land included that occupied by the
Arapaho The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho ba ...
and the
Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enr ...
tribes. The Annual Indian Appropriation bill was passed on March 2, 1889, and it authorized opening up the 1.9 million acres of the “unassigned” lands for settlement. On March 23,
Benjamin Harrison Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833March 13, 1901) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 23rd president of the United States from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia–a grandson of the ninth pr ...
, the newly inaugurated president of the United States, signed the bill and stated that the land would be opened for settlement on April 22, 1889. In the bill, it was provided that anyone settling on the land prior to the exact stated time would forfeit the right of owning a homestead in Oklahoma Territory. In preparation for the settlement scheme, the US army were deployed in two regiments to ensure that no one entered into the territory before the stated time. The people who tried to settle in the land before time came to be identified as “Sooners”. The army troops cleared all the “Sooners” from the land, and also helped in surveying and subdividing the land into 160-acre plots that were to be shared among the settlers on a first come, first served basis.
Kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...
and Guthrie were the sites of land offices where claims and grievances to the government were registered, as provided by the Homestead Act. Prior to the date of settlement, numerous people identified as potential settlers camped along the perimeter of the Indian lands. On April 22, 1889, the day that the government had set aside for the settlement, the crowd in the Oklahoma settlement land was overwhelming. When the signal for the process of land registration was raised, thousands of people rushed across the border as the Oklahoma land rush began. Approximately fifty thousand people; young and old, men and women rushed to try their luck in acquiring the 12,000 land tracts that were available.


Native American tribes in Indian Territory

The removal of Native Americans to
Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans who held aboriginal title to their land as a sovereign ...
started after the election of
Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
to the presidency in 1828. He believed that Indian Removal from the Southeast was needed to extinguish Native American land claims and enable development by European Americans in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, which still had numerous Native Americans occupying their territories. President Jackson signed the
Indian Removal Act The Indian Removal Act was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by United States President Andrew Jackson. The law, as described by Congress, provided "for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for ...
on May 28, 1830.


Choctaw

The
Choctaw The Choctaw (in the Choctaw language, Chahta) are a Native American people originally based in the Southeastern Woodlands, in what is now Alabama and Mississippi. Their Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choctaw people are ...
were the first tribe to concede to removal in 1830. They agreed to give up their land and move to the designated Indian Territory. The main portions of the Choctaw tribe moved to Indian Territory from 1830 to 1833, with the promise that they would be granted autonomy and receive annuities to aid in resettlement. Many died on the long journey to the new territory.


Creek

The Creek were the next tribe to move to Indian Territory. In 1829 they had held a council, agreeing that they would submit to state laws in order to stay on their lands. But, continued pressure from settlers and the state government resulted in the Creek ceding most of its lands in what became Alabama to the United States. By 1836, the entire Creek Tribe had been removed to Indian Territory. They had suffered armed conflict with settlers and effectively a civil war within the bands of the tribe.


Cherokee

The
Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, th ...
were the third tribe to be removed to Indian Territory. Tribal leaders Chief John Ross, and other high-ranking families worked to keep their lands, challenging Georgia state actions against them. They were upheld by the US Supreme Court in ''
Worcester v. Georgia ''Worcester v. Georgia'', 31 U.S. (6 Pet.) 515 (1832), was a landmark case in which the United States Supreme Court vacated the conviction of Samuel Worcester and held that the Georgia criminal statute that prohibited non-Native Americans from bei ...
'', which said that Georgia had no authority over them. But President Jackson refused to enforce the ruling that recognized the
Cherokee Nation The Cherokee Nation ( Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ ''Tsalagihi Ayeli'' or ᏣᎳᎩᏰᎵ ''Tsalagiyehli''), also known as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. ...
as a community with its own boundaries, and that Georgia residents could not enter their lands without consent of the Cherokee. Chief John Ross believed that removal was inevitable and worked to gain the best deal possible from the federal government. Opponents gained a new treaty, but by the end of the 1830s, most of the tribe was forced to remove to Indian Territory, accompanied by US military forces. By the end of 1838, most of the Cherokee tribe had been fully removed from the Southeast. Those who remained became state and federal citizens without tribal standing. Of the 18,000 who traveled west from 1835 to 1838, about 4,000 died on what became known as the
Trail of Tears The Trail of Tears was an ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of approximately 60,000 people of the " Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850 by the United States government. As part of the Indian removal, members of the Cherokee, ...
.


Chickasaw

The
Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands. Their traditional territory was in the Southeastern United States of Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee as well in southwestern Kentucky. Their language is classif ...
elected to leave their lands freely and did not suffer like the Cherokee tribe. The tribe had adopted some European-American practices: gaining some formal education for their children, building churches, and farming. They struggled with encroachment by the state government of Mississippi. Beginning in 1832 they signed a collection of treaties with the US, and gained some better terms than the other tribes. They left for Indian Territory in the winter of 1837–38 and paid the Choctaw to be able to settle on some of their lands.


Seminole

The
Seminole The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...
Tribe was tricked into signing a removal treaty and the
Seminole War The Seminole Wars (also known as the Florida Wars) were three related military conflicts in Florida between the United States and the Seminole, citizens of a Native American nation which formed in the region during the early 1700s. Hostilities ...
is what followed. This was the bloodiest and costliest Indian war in United States history. Chief Osceola and his tribe hid in the
Everglades The Everglades is a natural region of tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orlando with the Kissim ...
in Florida, where the military sought to hunt them down. Many were captured and sent to Indian Territory in chains. Osceola surrendered and died in prison. The war and removal reduced their population by 40%. The Seminole in the Everglades never surrendered and their descendants today comprise two federally recognized tribes in the state. According to the 1859 census, 2,254 Seminole remained in Florida.


Plains tribes in the territory

The US also relocated tribes here from the upper Midwest. After the Indian Wars on the Great Plains, the US also relocated some western tribes to Indian Territory. The
Quapaw The Quapaw ( ; or Arkansas and Ugahxpa) people are a tribe of Native Americans that coalesced in what is known as the Midwest and Ohio Valley of the present-day United States. The Dhegiha Siouan-speaking tribe historically migrated from the Oh ...
and Seneca were placed in Northeast Oklahoma with the Cherokee. By 1845 they were joined by the
Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...
,
Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent ...
(Lenape), and Kickapoo. After Texas was admitted into the Union in 1846, the US forced removal of the
Caddo The Caddo people comprise the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, a federally recognized tribe headquartered in Binger, Oklahoma. They speak the Caddo language. The Caddo Confederacy was a network of Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, w ...
,
Kiowa Kiowa () people are a Native American tribe and an indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries,Pritzker 326 and e ...
, and parts of the
Comanche The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in ...
tribes in Indian Territory. By 1880, the Wyandot,
Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enr ...
,
Arapaho The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho ba ...
, Wichita, and other smaller tribes had been removed from surrounding states and reassigned to Indian Territory.


Start of the Boomer Movement

Americans at this time were facing the troubles of land overpopulation in the east where millions of people were occupying thousands of square miles of land. With the end of the
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...
, land hungry people sought land in the West. European Americans pressed their legislators to open the Indian Territory. and certain Native Americans like
Elias C. Boudinot Elias Cornelius Boudinot (August 1, 1835September 27, 1890) was an American politician, lawyer, newspaper editor, and co-founder of the ''Arkansan'' who served as the delegate to the Confederate States House of Representatives representing the ...
encouraged other Native Americans to participate in the effort to welcome westward expansion. From 1870 to 1879, thirty-three bills were introduced in Congress to open the territory for settlement. Legislation was passed by Congress in 1866 that permitted railroads to be laid in sections of on either sides of the Indian Territory. The two companies in charge of creating these railroads were the Atlantic and the Pacific. Their contracts were eventually rescinded due to not finishing the projects in the agreed time. Railroad companies that came after them took it as their responsibility to finish the project, and saw a way to strengthen their contracts by introducing the movement of settlement in the Indian Territory. The railroads employed people such as C. C. Carpenter to spread false information in newspapers of the Indian Territory being open to settlement through Congress's Homestead Acts. Both black and white migrants began to move to the Oklahoma Territory. President
Rutherford B. Hayes Rutherford Birchard Hayes (; October 4, 1822 – January 17, 1893) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 19th president of the United States from 1877 to 1881, after serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and as governo ...
warned these early agitators for settlement (who came to be known as " boomers" in figurative reference to the loudness of their demands) against moving into the Indian lands. He ordered the military to use force to ensure this.


Boomers and Sooners

A number of the people who participated in the run entered the unoccupied land early and hid there until the legal time of entry to lay quick claim to some of the most choice homesteads. These people came to be identified as "
Sooners Sooners is the name given to settlers who entered the Unassigned Lands in what is now the state of Oklahoma before the official start of the Land Rush of 1889. The Unassigned Lands were a part of Indian Territory that, after a lobbying campaign, ...
". This led to hundreds of legal contests that arose and were decided first at local land offices and eventually by the U.S. Department of the Interior. Arguments included what constituted the "legal time of entry". While some people think that the settlers who entered the territory at the legally appointed time were known as " boomers", the term actually refers to those who campaigned for the opening of the lands, led by David L. Payne. The University of Oklahoma's fight song, "
Boomer Sooner "Boomer Sooner" is the fight song for the University of Oklahoma (OU). The lyrics were written in 1905 by Arthur M. Alden, an OU student and son of a local jeweler in Norman. The tune is taken from " Boola Boola", the fight song of Yale University ...
", derives from these two names. The school "mascot" is a replica of a 19th-century covered wagon, called the "
Sooner Schooner The Sooner Schooner is an official mascot of the sports teams of the University of Oklahoma Sooners. Pulled by two white ponies named Boomer and Sooner, it is a scaled-down replica of the Studebaker Conestoga wagon used by settlers of the Okl ...
." When the OU football team scores, the Sooner Schooner is pulled across the field by a pair of ponies named "Boomer" and "Sooner.” There are a pair of costumed mascots also named "Boomer" and "Sooner" as well.


David Payne

Captain David L. Payne grabbed hold of this booming movement to occupy and create the Oklahoma Territory. He and other enthusiasts created the Oklahoma Colony, allowing settlers to join with the fee of a minimum of one dollar. Then once settled in the Oklahoma Territory they organized themselves as a town-site company that sold lots of land from a range of $2–25 depending on the demand of the Boomer Movement. Cattlemen, afraid that these boomers would take their land, worked alongside the military to keep them out. Settlers thought it their right to occupy the lands as they had purchased it with cash and by doing so, their title was invested in the U.S. government. Even so, the military was at constant work to arrest the boomers unlawfully on Indian Territory, although they were generally released without having to go to trial. On November 28, 1884, Payne met his end at a hotel in Kansas due to poison found in his glass of milk. It is speculated that it was organized by cattlemen unhappy with the success of the Boomer Movement.


William Couch

William Couch William Lewis Couch (November 20, 1850 – April 21, 1890), a native of North Carolina and later a resident of Kansas, was best known as a leader of the Boomer Movement and as the first provisional mayor of what became Oklahoma City, Oklah ...
was a former lieutenant under Payne. He did not possess the brash personality of his predecessor, but, he had a kindred personality and spoke with strength. He rigorously studied all treaties, court cases, and laws regarding the Oklahoma land issue in order to present logical and concise boomer claims. He had led unsuccessful movements into Indian Territory, but under military and legal pressure the Oklahoma movement stagnated. It was rebooted with the construction of the
Santa Fe Railroad The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...
line across the middle of Indian Territory from
Arkansas City, Kansas Arkansas City () is a city in Cowley County, Kansas, United States, situated at the confluence of the Arkansas River and Walnut River in the southwestern part of the county. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 11,974. The ...
, to
Gainesville, Texas Gainesville is a city in and the county seat of Cooke County, Texas, United States. Its population was 16,002 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Texoma region and is an important Agri-business center. History Founded in 1850, the city of Gai ...
. Certain that the lands would be opened to settlement shortly after the construction of the railroad was completed in the spring of 1887, the Oklahoma movement again slowed down. By December 1887 the inaction of Congress reignited the movement behind Couch's leadership. After a conference of boomers was held in Kansas, the conference sent delegates Sydney Clarke, Samuel Crocker, and Couch to Washington to promote the passage of an act to open Oklahoma lands for settlement. After Couch and company presented the bill to Congress, it faced opposition from state representatives George T. Barnes of Georgia, Charles E. Hooker of Mississippi, and Colonel G.W. Harkins of the Chickasaw Nation. They opposed it because the U.S. government had promised the land to the Indian Nations living there and the government did not have the right to open up land in the territory to settlement. The Springer Oklahoma Bill, which was proposed by Illinois representative William M. Springer, was meant to use the Homestead Act to open the lands for settlement. Arguments over the payment for the lands continued until the legislative session ended and the bill was not passed. In December, Couch presented the Springer Oklahoma Bill to Congress again, which led to the passage of the Indian Appropriation Bill. With this bill, Congress paid $1,912,952.02 to the Seminole and Creek Nations in exchange for 2,370,414.62 acres of unassigned land. A section giving the president the authority to open the land to settlement was added.


African-Americans

African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
had been trying to find communities they could settle without the worries of racism against them. When the Land Rush took place, black families had been building their own way of life and culture since the
Reconstruction era The Reconstruction era was a period in American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865) and lasting until approximately the Compromise of 1877. During Reconstruction, attempts were made to rebuild the country after the bloo ...
. Even in the Oklahoma Territory, the five main Native American Tribes had to sign agreements with the US government that they would no longer practice slavery, and if they continued, they would be exempted from their land by the United States. During the Land Rush, it was a growing belief within the African American community that this opening of free land was their opportunity to create communities of their very own, without the influence of racism. Their intentions were to make Oklahoma a state just for them. One organization that took advantage of this movement was the Oklahoma Immigration Organization owned by W. L. Eagleson. Eagleson spread the announcement of recolonization to the black community throughout the United States, especially focused in the South.One attempt to make Oklahoma a black state was to appoint Edward Preston McCabe as the governor of the Oklahoma Territory. This would make it easier for black families to settle within the region during the land rush. This plan failed, as there seemed to be less and less excitement of immigrating to the new land, and instead McCabe had to settle to being a treasurer in Logan County of Oklahoma. The attempts of people like Eagleson and McCabe were not completely futile as their support of the black family did enthuse many to continue to move to the Oklahoma Territory. These movements did become townships, such as
Kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...
.


Rush for land

After the passage of the Indian Appropriation Bill,
President Benjamin Harrison Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833March 13, 1901) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 23rd president of the United States from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia–a grandson of the ninth pre ...
made the declaration that on April 22, 1889, at 12 o'clock noon that the Unassigned Land in Indian Territory would be open for settlement. At the time of the opening, which was indicated by gunshot, the line of people on horse and in wagons dispersed into a kaleidoscope of motion and dust and oxen and wagons. The chase for land was frenzied and much chaos and disorder ensued. The rush did not last long, and by the end of the day nearly two million acres of land had been claimed. By the end of the year, 62,000 settlers lived in the Unassigned Lands located between the Five Tribes on the east and the Plains Tribes on the west.


Rapid growth

By the end of the day (April 22, 1889), both
Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...
and Guthrie had become cities of around 10,000 people each. As ''
Harper's Weekly ''Harper's Weekly, A Journal of Civilization'' was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many subjects, and humor, ...
'' reported:
At twelve o'clock on Monday, April 22d, the resident population of Guthrie was nothing; before sundown it was at least ten thousand. In that time streets had been laid out, town lots staked off, and steps taken toward the formation of a municipal government.
Many settlers immediately started improving their new land or stood in line waiting to file their claims. Children sold creek water to
homesteaders The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a homestead. In all, more than of public land, or nearly 10 percent of ...
waiting in line for five cents a cup, while other children gathered buffalo dung to provide fuel for cooking. By the second week, new settlers had opened schools; children were taught by volunteers paid by pupils' parents until regular school districts could be established. Within one month, Oklahoma City had five banks and six newspapers. On May 2, 1890, the Oklahoma Organic Act was passed creating the
Oklahoma Territory The Territory of Oklahoma was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 2, 1890, until November 16, 1907, when it was joined with the Indian Territory under a new constitution and admitted to the Union as t ...
. This act included the
Panhandle A salient (also known as a panhandle or bootheel) is an elongated protrusion of a geopolitical entity, such as a subnational entity or a sovereign state. While similar to a peninsula in shape, a salient is most often not surrounded by water on ...
of Oklahoma within the territory. It also allowed for central governments and designated Guthrie as the territory's capital.


Expansion of cities

With the signal of troops to cross into the territory, over a dozen Santa Fe trains pulled into Oklahoma Territory, but most migrants traveled on horseback, in wagons, and on foot. Establishing a claim involved placing a stake with the claimant's name and place of entry at a U.S. land, one of which was located in Guthrie and the other in Kingfisher. The settler had to live on the claimed section of land for a five-year period and visibly improve it (including with buildings) before they could attain the title to the property. That period could be shortened to fourteen months if the settler paid a price of $1.25 per acre. Guthrie,
Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...
, Kingfisher, El Reno, Norman, and Stillwater were six of the townsites established in 1889. They were designated as county seats. Guthrie was named capital of the Territory and later was capital of the state of Oklahoma for a brief period. Oklahoma City was designated as the permanent capital of the state. On April 23, Oklahoma City contained more than 12,000 people. Within an hour of land being opened, 2,500 settlers occupied lands in a township that they initially named Lisbon, but would later be called Kingfisher.


In popular culture

* Hollywood has produced motion pictures illustrating the Oklahoma Land Run of 1889 and pioneer life on the land claims. Two of these, both named ''Cimarron'', were based upon the 1929 novel of the same name by
Edna Ferber Edna Ferber (August 15, 1885 – April 16, 1968) was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels include the Pulitzer Prize-winning '' So Big'' (1924), '' Show Boat'' (1926; made into the celebrated 1927 musical), '' C ...
: ** ''Cimarron'' (1931): directed by
Wesley Ruggles Wesley Ruggles (June 11, 1889 – January 8, 1972) was an American film director. Life and work He was born in Los Angeles, California, younger brother of actor Charlie Ruggles. He began his career in 1915 as an actor, appearing in a do ...
; cast includes
Richard Dix Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...
,
Irene Dunne Irene Dunne (born Irene Marie Dunn; December 20, 1898 – September 4, 1990) was an American actress who appeared in films during the Golden Age of Hollywood. She is best known for her comedic roles, though she performed in films of other gen ...
, and Estelle Taylor. It was an Academy Award Winner for Best Art Direction, Best Picture, Best Writing and Adaptation. ** ''Cimarron'' (1960): directed by
Anthony Mann Anthony Mann (born Emil Anton Bundsmann; June 30, 1906 – April 29, 1967) was an American film director and stage actor. Mann initially started as a theatre actor appearing in numerous stage productions. In 1937, he moved to Hollywood where ...
and
Charles Walters Charles Powell Walters (November 17, 1911 – August 13, 1982) was an American Hollywood director and choreographer most noted for his work in MGM musicals and comedies from the 1940s to the 1960s. Early years Charles Walters was born in Pasade ...
; cast includes
Glenn Ford Gwyllyn Samuel Newton "Glenn" Ford (May 1, 1916 – August 30, 2006) was a Canadian-American actor who often portrayed ordinary men in unusual circumstances. Ford was most prominent during Hollywood's Golden Age as one of the biggest box-offi ...
, Maria Schell, and
Anne Baxter Anne Baxter (May 7, 1923 – December 12, 1985) was an American actress, star of Hollywood films, Broadway productions, and television series. She won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe, and was nominated for an Emmy. A granddaughter of Fr ...
. * The
Oklahoma City 89ers Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...
was the original name for the Oklahoma City Triple-A Minor League Baseball from 1962 to 1997, when the team played at the now-demolished
All Sports Stadium All Sports Stadium was a stadium located at the State Fairgrounds in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It had a capacity of 15,000 people and opened in 1961. History While it was primarily used for baseball and was the home of Oklahoma City 89ers, it ...
at the state fairgrounds. The team is known now as the Oklahoma City Dodgers. Among the most notable players for the 89ers were Juan González,
National Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...
inductee Ryne Sandberg, Rubén Sierra and
Sammy Sosa Samuel Peralta Sosa (born November 12, 1968) is a Dominican-American former professional baseball right fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 19 seasons, primarily with the Chicago Cubs. After playing for the Texas Rangers and C ...
. * The drama film '' Far and Away'' (1992), starring
Tom Cruise Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962), known professionally as Tom Cruise, is an American actor and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actors, he has received various accolades, including an Honorary Palme d'Or and three Go ...
and
Nicole Kidman Nicole Mary Kidman (born 20 June 1967) is an American and Australian actress and producer. Known for her work across various film and television productions from several genres, she has consistently ranked among the world's highest-paid act ...
, depicts a young Irish couple immigrating to the States with hopes of participating in the Cherokee Outlet (or Strip) land run (1893 just north of the Unassigned Lands) and staking claim to their own land. * The Rush is the central theme of the comic album '' Ruée sur l'Oklahoma'', the 14th album of the Belgian comics series ''
Lucky Luke ''Lucky Luke'' is a Western '' bande dessinée'' series created by Belgian cartoonist Morris in 1946. Morris wrote and drew the series single-handedly until 1955, after which he started collaborating with French writer René Goscinny. Their ...
''.


See also

* Nannita Daisey, claimed to be the first woman to file a claim on Oklahoma land *
Boomers (Oklahoma settlers) "Boomers" is the name used for two groups of settlers in the Southern United States in what is now the state of Oklahoma. The first group were participants in the "Boomer Movement." These participants were white settlers from 1879–1889 ...


References


External links


NY Times, April 22, 1889, ''Into Oklahoma at Last''Oklahoma Land Openings 1889–1907
from ''
Harper's Weekly ''Harper's Weekly, A Journal of Civilization'' was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many subjects, and humor, ...
'' (May 18, 1889)
Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture – Eighty-ninersDigital Map Collections at Oklahoma State University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Land Rush Of 1889 Pre-statehood history of Oklahoma History of agriculture in the United States History of Oklahoma City History of United States expansionism American frontier 1889 in Indian Territory April 1889 events