University:
Felician University
Course:
HIST-110 | World Geography and Culture
Academic year:

2024
Views:

203

Pages:

17
Author:

Clint W.

Almost immediately, “Sooners” moved in. A Sooner was someone who illegally settled on the land in order to own it. Patrolling troops removed hundreds of these squatters between March and April. Finally, the day arrived. People were up early on the morning of April 22. Estimates of the number who made the Run vary between 50,000 and 100,000. Settlers in their prairie schooners, or covered wagons, waited on the banks of the South Canadian River. At noon, the signal was given, and the race was on. By sundown, all of the two million acres had been claimed. Surveyors had previously left an inscribed cornerstone on each quarter section of land. Claimants had to find the stone and file the land description at a federal office in Guthrie or Kingfisher. There were often disputes over who filed first for a particular section of land. Some cases were settled in court, while others were settled with fists – or guns. Oklahoma City was “Born Grown.” It had a population of 12,000 on its first day. Other First Day cities were Guthrie, Edmond, Moore, Norman, Kingfisher, and Stillwater. In Guthrie, a man set up a private latrine on Cottonwood Creek and charged 10¢ per use. Three men with only $8.31 between them opened The Bank of Guthrie using an old pot-bellied stove as their vault. Nearly a thousand African Americans made the 1889 Land Run, and many others came to the Territory soon afterward. They hoped to escape the prejudice they had found in the South and Midwest. Edward McCabe, the state auditor of Kansas, established the town of Langston east of Guthrie. He was also the founder of Langston University. McCabe published The Langston Herald newspaper and promoted the creation of an all-black state. West of the Cross Timbers, there were few trees, and hauling in lumber was too costly. Some farmers lived temporarily in dugouts. “Sodbusters” built their houses from plowing up the prairie grass and stacking the strips for walls. “There was nothing but land… not a country at all, but the material out of which countries are made.” from “My Antonia,” by Willa Cather Section 2: Organizing Oklahoma Territory In May 1889, citizens met in Guthrie to ask the U.S. Congress to form a territorial administration.