Armed to the teeth, they thronged the tiny raw town, without sidewalks or lights or any other convenience, where the gambling halls ran far into the night, and liquor ran freely, in spite of federal law banning alcohol from these Chickasaw lands. And still more came, by wagon and train and horseback and foot, eager and hopeful and ready to compete for land they could call home.
The Oklahoma Land Rush, April 22, 1889 depicts the race at full tilt. Riders dash forward, the drivers stand as they urge on their galloping horses. Note that Curry's address is painted on the side of the wagon.
Artist: John Steuart Curry
Medium: Mural--oil on canvas
Dimensions: 8 ft. 8 1/2 in. high, 18 ft. 8 1/2 in. wide.
Date: 1939
All the while they were stalked by legions of confidence-men and criminals. One railway detective said he knew of 42 thieves in Arkansas City, and thought there were at least twice that many in town. A more sophisticated class of criminal were the "town companies," whose aim was to stake out complete townsites before the official start of the Run, and sell later at a huge profit.
For those who had no transportation of their own, there were the railroad, some locally-formed wagon companies, and a whole fleet of old stagecoaches, specially brought back into service and painted in vivid colors for the event. A "land office" business was done in groceries and supplies, and in every sort of conveyance, including some wagons so feeble that even the "horses hung their heads in shame" when hitched to them.
For those who would use their own transport, there was every means of conveyance except balloons. In Caldwell, to the north, there was even a wagon carrying a ready-built house made out of sheet iron, fully equipped with chickens, cattle and other livestock.
Already the new territory was crawling with those who had tried to steal a march. These were the "Sooners," who hoped to claim prime land and pretend they had staked it out legally. The Cavalry and U.S. marshals hunted them, driving back across the start line whomever they found. It was not always easy work.
At Purcell, on April 13th, as a marshal's posse rounded up a group of Sooners, the lawmen were struck by a volley of gunfire that slightly wounded one deputy. In the firefight that followed, the possemen flanked their attackers, ending the fight by pouring rifle fire into them from the rear. The lawmen took some 25 prisoners, mostly Texans, some of them wounded, and returned the entire party to a makeshift stockade near Purcell.
But there were never enough soldiers and marshals, and no end to the land-desperate people who would pay any price for those 160 acres. And there was nothing like enough of the precious land to go around. The new country contained about 12,000 quarter-sections, but anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 eager people were poised for the rush. They waited all around the 300-mile perimeter of the Promised Land, although most of them were massed along the territory's northern border.
In Line At The Land Office, Perry, Sept. 23, 1893. 9 o'clock A.M. waiting to file.
They waited with strings of thoroughbred horses, in buggies with fringed tops, on prairie schooners festooned with crates of chickens and bundles of farm tools, beside stubborn, durable Missouri mules, next to creaking wagons drawn by teams of oxen. Some, grim and determined, would go on foot, hoping something would be left for them. Incredibly, a few hardy souls showed great faith in their sense of balance by daring the prairie on tall, teetering, high-wheeled bicycles.
For many it was one last chance after repeated failures to find a home. One wagon sign put it plainly: "Chinz buged in Illinoy, sicloned in Newbrasky, white caped in Missoury, prohibited in Kansas, Oaklahomy or Bust."
And so they waited out the last day, Easter Sunday, some in worship, and many in worry, and all in last-minute preparation. Tomorrow would bring their dreams to life, or smash them, perhaps forever.
Oklahoma City
The day was cloudless and sunny, with a stiff southerly breeze. The prairie was carpeted in green, the lush grass spotted with wild flowers as far as a man could see. Out along the boundary waited a thin picket-line of the faithful Cavalry, doing what it could to hold the increasing stream of Sooners--men dishonest or only hungry--trying to steal a march on their competition.
By nine o'clock the rushers were massing along the line, and a great buzz went up from them of excited talk, song, or argument. The sound, said one observer, "wasn't human at all, but like thousands of wild animals penned up."
The railroad stations were jammed. In Arkansas City, 10,000 or more people pushed and shoved for places on the 15 trains due to leave that day. For the Santa Fe had collected everything that would roll on tracks for the occasion. There were all kinds of coaches, flat cars, cattle cars, even an old baggage car crammed with reporters and railroad officials who had turned out for the event.
The First Bank of Guthrie
The cars overflowed with excited, sweating, chattering humanity, with people sitting and standing both inside and on the platforms, or clinging to the handholds on the outside corners of the cars. One fortunate Englishman, hanging on to the running gear beneath the press car, was rescued by some reporters and rode the rest of the way in style, plied with drink and made the subject of news stories on their way to papers all over the country.
At last the moment came. Along the boundary at Arkansas City, young Lieutenant Henry Waite of D Troop, 5th Cavalry, sat his horse calmly in front of the line of troopers holding back the milling mob. In his hand the officer held his watch while the eager throng of rushers watched their own timepieces, most of which had earlier been set to agree with the Lieutenant's.
As the hands of the officer's watch closed on noon, he signaled to his buglers, and the clear notes of, of all things, "mess call,' echoed over the green prairie. The rush was on.
The Head of the Line Outside of the Guthrie Land-Office on the Opening Day
In a colossal cloud of red dust, the torrent of shouting riders and frightened horses, clattering buggies and bouncing, ponderous wagons, flowed over the boundary, fanning out across the new country...The rumbling of wagons and carts, and the yelling of the crowd, sounded to one rusher "like ten thousand head of cattle on a stampede."
The fast horsemen were quickly far in front, bent over their mounts' necks. In their hands they clutched claim-stakes about two feet long, their initials carved or painted on the top, ready to drive into the waiting soil of Oklahoma. Each quarter-section had been surveyed, and its corners marked with stones, but the markers were often difficult or impossible to find. There was much guesswork, and every rusher had to hope he or she had not staked one of the sections reserved for public schools.
Some rushers had been into the new country before, however illegally, and headed directly for specific parcels. Others took the first unoccupied 160 acres they came upon. For still others, where they settled depended on where their horses' strength gave out.
Quickly the prairie became spotted with wrecked wagons and buggies, as the ravines and buffalo wallows took their toll. Horses, galloped too hard too long, fell and could not rise again. One rider went down with his horse, and became the first casualty of the race, dead of a broken neck. Another died when struck by a shot fired by another rusher to speed up his horses.
The fastest riders made the mile-and-a-half into the stage-relay station, Kingfisher, in about four minutes, dashing through the town on frantic, lathered horses. Many had already fallen trying to cross a deep ravine west of the little town. Behind them was a long line of 40 stages, crammed with people inside and on top.
The Sooners were already there before them, hiding in thickets and ravines, hurrying to claim the best parcels. Some even lathered their horses with soap, pretending they had entered legally and simply outdistanced their competition. Ugly confrontations festered between regular rushers and Sooners, between legitimate claimants and late-coming claim jumpers. One woman rusher, staking her claim near the railroad, was shot by a claim-jumping Santa Fe engineer, but managed both to survive the bullet and to hold onto her claim.
Two men on fast horses were astonished to come upon an old man already settled deep in the center of the new country. When they arrived, he had already plowed a field with his ox-team, and in his garden onions stood three or four inches high.
Why, of course there was an explanation, the old man said. He was no Sooner, not at all. It was just that his oxen were the fastest in the world, and the soil was so rich that his onions had grown that high in only 15 minutes.
Wisps of smoke began to rise into the dean blue sky as rusher camps popped up all across the prairie. On Big Turkey Creek, fertile, virgin prairie, lush with grass six to eight inches high that morning, was by evening turn into wagon-ruts a foot deep.
Those who had the least trouble were bands of men who rode into the new land together and vowed to support and protect each other's claims. One tired claimant found a pretty place and began to cut his initials into a tree to claim the land. He looked up to find a big, red-whiskered man watching him, armed with a rifle and two six-guns.
"Thinking of staying?" said the red-bearded man.
"Well, it's a pretty place," replied the newcomer, "but I'm just letting my horse rest a while."
"That would be all right," said the man with the Winchester. "But I wouldn't stay long if I were you. Sixteen of us in here have an oath to stick together. It's really quite an unhealthy place. There is lots of malaria, and some people even die of lead poisoning..." And the newcomer promptly decided there was much better land farther along.
Along Big Turkey, two men faced with waves of envious latecomers dug four-foot rifle-pits, prepared to defend their new titles with hot lead. In the end, they did not have to fight. All the same, holding the land was tense, exhausting work. After backing down still another claim-jumper, one tired settler wearily remarked: "Hits sure hell to get things regulated in a new country."
It was indeed, and nobody knew it better than the hard-riding, overworked U.S. Marshals. For inevitably there was killing. In a claim dispute west of Guthrie, a legitimate rusher died with three Sooner bullets in his body. The killer got away clean, well ahead of the pursuing marshals.
Oklahoma claim 1889 near Fort Reno, IT.
But when three claim-jumpers killed a Missouri pilgrim north of Guthrie, a local posse took the law into its own hands. Cornering one of the killers on the Cimarron River, they dealt with him without the sanction of the law. When he declined their generous summons to surrender, they "filled him with lead." It was simple Western justice, carried out without ceremony, loss of time or cost to the taxpayers.
Sometimes men competing for the same claim could solve their problem without fighting. There were incidents of real generosity, in which young, vigorous men gave up a claim to families, or older people in desperate need of a home. Sometimes one claimant would buy the other out on the spot.
Additional Sources: personal.inet.fi
www.pbs.org
www.library.cornell.edu
www.belmont.k12.ca.us
www.geocities.com/Heartland
www.doi.gov
www.kancoll.org
rogercooke.com
gallery.unl.edu
www.oksenate.gov
www.texasbeyondhistory.net
www.rootsweb.com
www.antiquemapshop.com
On This Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on February 24:
1304 Muhammad ibn Battutah Arab travel writer (Travels in Asia & Africa)
1463 Giovanni Pico della Mirandola Italy, scholar/platonist
1500 Emperor Charles V king of Spain (1516-56)/Holy Roman Emperor
1536 Clement VIII [Ippolito Aldofireini], Fano Italy, last Counter-Reformation pope (1592-1605)
1545 Don Juan of Austria the elder, Austrian general (The Battle of Lepanto)
1557 Matthias C Sarbiewski [Sarbievius], Vienna, Polish Jesuit/poet/Holy Roman emperor (1612-19)
1684 Catherine I Empress of Russia 1725-27, Dorpat, Estonia
1750 Miklós Révai Hungarian linguistic/poet
1786 Wilhelm Karl Grimm Hanau Germany, story teller (Grimm's Fairy Tales)
1811 Daniel A Payne Bishop/reformer/educator of AME Church
1811 Edward Dickinson Baker Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1861
1824 John Crawford Vaughn Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1875
1827 Charles Davis Jameson Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1862
1836 Winslow Homer US, painter (Gulfstream)
1838 Thomas Benton Smith Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1923
1848 C Grant B Allen Canadian writer (Woman Who Did)
1874 Honus Wagner HOF shortstop (Pittsburgh Pirates, 1900-17)
1885 Admiral Chester Nimitz US Admiral (commanded Pacific fleet in WWII)
1898 Kurt Tank German WWII aircraft designer
1909 Max Black Dutch/British/US philosopher (analytical philosophy)
1909 Michael Francis Morris Lindsay orientalist
1917 William Fairbank Minneapolis MN, physicist (superconductivity)
1921 Abe Vigoda New York NY, actor (Barney Miller, Fish)
1924 William Pillar British Admiral
1932 John Vernon Canada, actor (Animal House, Chained Heat, Dirty Harry)
1934 Bettino Craxi Italy's 1st socialist premier (1983-87)
1938 James Farentino Brooklyn NY, actor (Dead & Buried, Final Countdown)
1940 Jimmy Ellis WBA heavyweight boxing champion (1968-70)
1942 Joe Lieberman (Senator-D-CT)
1946 Barry Bostwick San Mateo CA, actor (Spin City, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Lexx, Megaforce, Movie Movie, Scruples, Foul Play)
1947 Edward James Olmos California, actor (Miami Vice, Stand & Deliver, Triumph)
1955 Steven Jobs cofounder of Apple Computer
1968 Kendall Cross Hardin MT, 125½ lbs freestyle wrestler (Olympics-gold-92, 96)
1972 Patricia Regan Leines Medford OR, Miss Oregon-America (1996-3rd)
1977 Floyd Mayweather Grand Rapids MI, featherweight boxer (Olympics-bronze-96)
1978 Louise Woodward Elton England, nanny who killed Matthew Eappen
Deaths which occurred on February 24:
1563 François Guise French General/duke, assassinated at 44
1624 Vicente Espinel Spanish adventure/chaplain (Marcos de Obrégon), dies at 72
1686 Ferdinando Tacca Italian painter/son of Pietro Tacca, dies at 66
1785 Carlo Bonaparte Corsican attorney, dies at 39
1815 Robert Fulton steamboat pioneer, dies
1825 Thomas Bowdler self-appointed Shakespearean censor, dies
1926 Eddie Plank pitcher (won 327 games in 17 years), dies at 51
1944 Leo H A Baekeland Belgian/US chemist (bakelite), dies at 80
1945 Ahmed Maher Pasha Egypt's PM, assassinated in parliament
1953 Karl R G von Rundstedt German General-field marshal (Ardennes), dies at 77
1975 Nikolai A Bulganin marshal/premier of USSR (1955-58), dies at 79
1976 H Allen Smith TV host (Armchair Detective), dies at 68
1983 Tennessee Williams US playwright (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), dies at 71
1990 Johnnie Ray singer (Cry), dies of liver failure at 61
1990 Malcolm Forbes CEO (Forbes Publishing), dies of a heart attack at 70
1991 George Gobel Chicago IL, comedian (George Gobel Show), dies after surgery at 71
1991 Webb Pierce US country singer (Bye Bye Love), dies of cancer at 64
1996 Laurence Richard Deniz jazz guitarist, dies at 71
1998 Henny Youngman comedian (Take my wife please), dies at 92
Reported: MISSING in ACTION
1965 FRAKES DWIGHT GLENN---LOS ANGELES CA.
[TANGELED IN PARA SANK]
1966 HETRICK RAYMOND H.---BROOKVILLE PA.
1968 FRIESE LAURENCE V.---HURON SD.
[03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV,ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1968 MARVEL JERRY W.---EVANSVILLE IN.
[03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV, DIED MAY 1995 ENROUTE FROM FL VA HOSP TO NC
POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.
On this day...
0303 1st official Roman edict for persecution of Christians issued
1208 St Francis of Assisi, 26, received his vocation in Portiuncula Italy
1389 Battle at Falköping Danes defeat King Albert of Sweden
1496 England's Henry VII ends commercial dispute with Flanders
1510 Pope Julius II excommunicates the republic of Venice
1525 Battle at Pavia Emperor Karel V's troops beat French king, François I caught taken/8700 killed
1527 Ferdinand of Austria crowned as king of Bohemia
1528 János Zápolyai, Hungarian king, recognizes Sultan Suleiman's suzerainty
1530 1st imperial coronation by a Pope, Charles V crowned by Clement V
1541 Santiago, Chile founded by Pedro de Valvidia
1582 Pope Gregory XIII announces New Style (Gregorian) calendar
1613 English princess Elizabeth marries earl Frederik of Palts
1779 George Rogers Clark captures Vincennes IN from British
1786 Charles Cornwallis appointed Governor-General of India
1803 Supreme Court 1st rules a law unconstitutional (Marbury vs Madison)
1821 Mexico gains independence from Spain
1835 Siwinowe Kesibwi (Shawnee Sun) is 1st Indian language monthly magazine
1836 3,000 Mexicans attack 182 Texans at the Alamo, lasts 13 days
1839 Steam shovel patented by William Otis, Philadelphia
1848 King Louis-Philippe abdicates, 2nd French republic declared
1855 US Court of Claims established for cases against the government
1857 1st perforated US postage stamps delivered to the government
1863 Arizona Territory created
1863 Forrest's raid on Brentwood TN
1864 Battle of Tunnel Hill GA (Buzzard's Roost)
1868 House of Representatives vote 126 to 47, to impeach President Andrew Johnson
1868 1st US parade with floats (Mardi Gras-Mobile AL)
1876 Henrik Ibsen's "Peer Gynt" premieres in Oslo
1888 Louisville KY becomes 1st government in US to adopt Australian ballot
1895 Cuban war of independence begins
1902 Battle at Yzer Spruit Boer General De la Rey beats British
1903 US signs agreement acquiring a naval station at Guantanamo Bay Cuba
1917 German plan to get Mexican help in WWI exposed (Zimmerman telegram)
1917 Russian revolution breaks out
1918 Estonia declares independence from Russia
1920 Peace treaty gives Estonia independence
1920 NSDAP begins at Hofbräuhaus Münich
1921 1st transcontinental flight in 24 hours flying time arrives Florida
1923 Mass arrests in US of Mafia
1924 Greek parliament proclaims republic
1924 Johnny Weissmuller, swims 100 meter record (57:2/5 seconds)
1925 Thermit explosive 1st used to break up ice jam, Waddington NY
1932 Malcolm Campbell drives record speed (253.96 mph) at Daytona
1933 Final demonstration of German communist party in Berlin
1933 League of Nations tells Japanese to pull out of Manchuria
1938 Du Pont begins commercial production of nylon toothbrush bristles
1941 Anti Nazi meeting at Noordermarkt Amsterdam
1942 Voice of America begins broadcasting (in German)
1943 Texas League announces it will quit for the duration of WWII
1944 Argentina coup by Juan Peron minister of war
1945 Egypt & Syria declares war on Nazi-Germany
1945 Manila freed from Japanese
1948 Communist Party seizes complete control of Czechoslovakia
1949 V-2/WAC-Corporal 1st rocket to outer space, White Sands NM, 400 km
1949 Israel & Egypt sign an armistice agreement
1955 Pact of Baghdad between Iraq & Turkey signed
1964 Cassius Clay beats Sonny Liston for heavyweight boxing championship
1965 Beatles begin filming "Help" in the Bahamas
1968 1st pulsar discovered (CP 1919 by Jocelyn Burnell at Cambridge)
1968 US troops reconquer Hue Vietnam
1969 Mariner 6 launched for Mars fly-by
1971 Algeria nationalizes French oil companies
1974 Pakistan officially recognizes Bangladesh
1976 Leonid Brezhnev opens 25th congress of CPSU
1977 President Carter announces US foreign aid will consider human rights
1979 Highest price ever paid for a pig, $42,500, Stamford TX
1979 War between North & South Yemen begins
1981 Jean Harris is convicted of murdering Scarsdale diet doctor Tarnower
1981 Britain's Prince Charles announces engagement to Lady Diana Spencer (AH True Love!)
1984 Iraq resumes air attack on Iran
1986 Voyager 2, 1st Uranus fly-by
1988 Supreme Court votes 8-0 Jerry Falwell cannot collect for Hustler parody
1989 150-million-year-old fossil egg (oldest dinosaur embryo) found
1989 US Boeing 747 loses parts of roof over Pacific, 9 die
1991 End of World League of American Football's (WLAF) 1st draft
1991 US & allies begin a ground war assault on Iraqi troops
1995 Dow-Jones hits record 4011.74
1996 Cuba downs 2 US planes
1997 Deng Xiaoping, leader of China, cremated (died Feb 19th)
1997 South Africa announces it is constructing largest modern day blimp
Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
Cuba : Baire Uprising
Estonia : National Day (1920)
Ghana : Liberation Day (1966)
Indiana : Vincennes Day-George Clark's defeat of British (1779)
México : Flag Day
US : Null and Void Day
US : Obnoxious Day
Canned Food Month
Religious Observances
Anglican, Lutheran, Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Matthias the Apostle (non-leap years)
Religious History
303 The first official Roman edict for the persecution of Christians was issued by Roman Emperor Galerius Valerius Maximianus.
1208 St Francis of Assisi, 26, received his vocation in the Italian village of Portiuncula. He founded the Franciscans the following year, and is regarded by some Catholics as the greatest of all Christian saints.
1500 Birth of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Reigning 1519-56, it was Charles who officially pronounced Martin Luther an outlaw and heretic.
1782 Pioneer American Methodist bishop Francis Asbury wrote in his journal: 'It is my constitutional weakness to be gloomy and dejected; the work of God puts life into me.'
1967 Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth wrote in a letter: 'The statement that God is dead comes from Nietzsche and has recently been trumpeted abroad by some German and American theologians. But the good Lord has not died of this; He who dwells in the heaven laughs at them.'
Thought for the day :
"Any sufficiently advanced bureaucracy is indistinguishable from molasses."
