The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1889-04-24
LAND OF THE BOOMERS.
Description Of the Fertile Region
Now Opened to Settlement.

NOW OR6noO 10 S6tu0m6nIs
General Grant once said to friend that If
the Indian Territory was cultivated as 1t
should be by white men instead of Indians,
its products would feed the nation. That
remark indicates more forcibly than any de-
scription of land, water courses and meteo-
rological conditions can, the richness of the
Territory in a portion of which white men
are now to be permitted to settle for the first
time Today. Oklahoma: Is open and the
thousands Of boomers who have been wait
ing for years to take up their abodes with
in its borders have at last their desire graft
1ed,
Oklahoma lies in the heart OF the Indian
Territory, and some portions of its lands are
as rich as any others on the continent. In
shape it is an 0bl0ng square, at the south
strip hedged in BY the Canadian River and
the Pottawatomie.reservat At the north
west and northeast also the boundaries widen
out in narrow strips. Take a map of the
State of New York and stand it up on its
Buffalo end, and very clear idea will be OBJ
tanned of the shape Of the Territory.
At present the only railroad entering Ok
lahoma is the Atchison, Topeka and Santa
Fe. Several other lines, however. run near
its borders, and will eventually enter its do
mains. The Atchison road, after leaving
Arkansas City, in Kansas, runs almost due
south across the strip of land known as the
Cherokee Outlet. 1t crosses the Ponca res
eryation. and skirts that Of the Otoes and
Missourias. 1t enters Oklahoma near Al
freed, and, continuing in .southerly direc-
tion, crosses the Red Fork of the Arkansas
River or Cimarron River, as 1t is more COM
monty called, at Guthrie. 1t then runs
through the settlements Of Seward, Edmond,
Oklahoma. Moore, Newman and Walker, and
crosses the Canadian River, on the southern
bank of which is Purcell. The entire line
within the limits Of Oklahoma is less than
100 miles, and the distance from Arkansas
City to Purcell is only 143 miles.
On the western side of the territory, rum
ming almost parallel with the railroad which
skirts the eastern border, Is the Abilene cat
tie trail and stage route. Situated on this
trail, few miles south Of the Cimarron, Is
sae e sat ssan pa ne o e ep
tory. From Guthrie, where the Federal gov
eminent has established one of its land
Offices, to Kingfsher, where there is another,
is less than 30 miles as the crow flies. The
entire width Of the body Of the territory is
To the north of Oklahoma is the Cherokee
strip or Outlet, which is about 60 miles wide,
end which contains the reservations Of the
Nez Perces. Poncas, Otos and Missourias.
the entire strip. which is about 17O miles
long from East to West, has been ceded to
the United States by the Cherokees, and
will probably be opened to settlers in the
near future. To the west of Oklahoma Is
the great reservation of the Cheyennes and
Arrapahoes, while to the South Is the Chick
asaw nation. On the East are the Pawnees,
Sacs and Foxes. Iowas, Kickapoos and Pot
tawatomies.
The entire territory opened to settlement
Is about the size of the States of Rhode ISL
and and Delaware combined and comprises
about 81 townships or something like 3,00O,-
600 acres of land. There are about 8, 200 sec
tions Of GAO acres or Il, 800 quarter sections.
No settler can acquire more than 0ne-quarter
section by settlement, and, as the boomers
are said to outnumber the quarter sections,
1t follows that many of them will not get any
land.
The country consists of undulatory plains
and elevated prairies, and Is watered by in
Vulnerable streams, which are tributaries to
the Cimarron and Red Rivers. The climate
is mild and salubrious, but generally dry,
and is said to be the most delightful on the
continent. The average mean temperature
is from 55s to 60o, and the mercury is said
never to 60 below 90 In the coolest winter.
The vegetation Is very much like that Of
Northern Texas and Southern Kansas. The
country is well wooded, belt of forest
known as the "Cross Timbers" being from
Ave to thirty miles in width. Three impor-
tant rivers traverse the Territory from west
to east, namely: The Red Fork Of the Ar
kansas, or Cimarron, the North Fork of the
Canadian, and the Canadian River proper,
the latter forming the southern boundary