The Springdale news., 1889-04-26
VOL. II.-NO. J.
WIDE OPEN.

The Gates of the Promised Land Swing
 Open at Last and the Grand Rush for
 Homes In Oklahoma Eclipses Any Thing
 of the Kind Ever Secn-Nearly Enough
 People the Ground to Organize a
 State Already,
 GUTHRIE I. T., April 22.-The gates of Oklahoma were swung open at noon to- day, and resjstless torrents of humanity began to pour over its soil. From the Cherokee Strip came the great fleet or prairie schooners across the Canadian; from the Chickasaw Nation came troop after troop of sturdy ponies, each one carrying a boomer; from the Arapahoe and Cheyenne reservations on the west, came a yelling mob of horsemen, who fired volley after volley to celebrate their final victory. The Kiowa of the south west and the Cherokee and Creek Natlons on the east, also furnished their contin- gent of boomers. At the starting signal they moved all together, great waves or cheering breaking upon the air.
 The wagons continued on over the level green plain until they were about hal way across the northern tier of C. llms, and then upward of a hundred of them were brought to a staudstill. The others rolled on to the lower tiers. Men, women and children poured from the stationary schooners, and in an incredibly short time the foundations for the pioneer homes of Oklahoma had been lad by willing hands. Every farm had more than one claimant, all ready to swear that they crossed the border first, ana that theirs were the first Improvements So 1t Is all over the Territory, and es- pecially on the sections adjoining Guthrie and Oklahoma City.
 Between twenty and thirty thousand people were dumped here to-day by the . Santa Fe road, which ran twenty Ih- mense trains from Arkansas City. lhe trains moved across the Cherokee strip cautiously and slowly, and arrived here scarcely more than five minutes apart' As they approached the land of promise thousands of heads protruded from the windows, and curious eyes feasted on the green panorama that lay before them. There was much fighting to get out ot the cars when the little building that an swerS for station was reached. Nobody was hurt however, and the coaches were soon emptied. It was a curious sight to watch the boomers after they had got fair ly on foot. The majority of them seemed to be dazed by the vastneSs or their surroundings. Many of them gazed stupidly to the north, southeast and west, and then moved ahead like men who were lost. Others started for the hills, and still others bent themselves to the task of raising tents which they brought with them to open various kinds of business. Those who went for the hills were after claims. Just how we'll their explorations succeeded is not known, for very few or them have returned. 1t is safe to say that to. night every farm in the Territory Is In possession of one or more claimants, ana that besides there are from twenty to thirty thousand more wandering almlesS- ly about in search of land.
 The rush at the land office here Is terri fc. The building is surrounded by mob of bowling men, which is being constant ly augmented by horsemen who are gal loping in from every quarter. Land Agent Dilley and his force of assistants are unable to give attention to hun dredth part of the business that Is being forced upon them. The detachment of troopers which has been detailed around the building with view to keeping the mob in an orderly line, is completely worn out.
 A dispatch from Oklahoma City states that the rush there is even greater than here. Over at Kingisher, or Lisbon, where the crowds brought in on the Rock Island are gathering, there has been no i trouble as yet,