Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-03-22
WAITING.
Scenes Along the Border of the Cherokee
Strip-The Craze for Homes.
The Original OIL homa Flush and the After Re-
suits insignificant, Compared with
What is to Come
Special to the Gazette.

Special to the Gazette.
KANSAS CITY, NO., March 21.-About
one year ago the American people were
shown how their brethren could build up
q new territory and bring savage waste
TO a center of civilization in very short
time. The opening of Oklahoma had
been long deferred and the time set for
it had been postponed from month to
month until the pioneers who waited pa
tientIy on the border became heartsick
and weary with the delay. But with all
the anxiety and WEAKNESS, all the desti-
tuition and want, even on the verge of
starvation, these people were patient and
long-suffering in their endeavor to OBJ
tain a home where they might build up
family and name. Never faltering in
their set purpose they watched on the
line of the forbidden land, listening for
the signal which was to tell them that
their time of trial was over. Here they
lay Choking with longing eyes up to the
gates of paradise.
When at last on that Spring morning
the booming cannon announced that the
bars were down and that they might en-
ter there came mighty rush which has
been the wonder of the world. These
people were making history. They were
forming a new star in the galaxy of the
Union. The whole people looked on and
with bated breath watched for the out
come. The result justified the faith in
the American IS ability to govern them
selves under any and all circumstances.
Thousands and tens of thousands of peo-
pie went heller SHELTER across the fertile
fields of the Cherokee Strip as fast as
cars or horses could carry them and were
thrown in one grand heterogeneous mass
into q land which was without law and
here they quietly spread themselves over
the territory and settled down without
drop of blood being spilled and with
scarcely ripple of discomfort
TO DISTURB THE PEACE OF THE LAND.
The great heart of the nation beat free
and feeling Of pride filed every breast
when the country realized that the teach
in gs of liberty had made this possible. A
fr ee people had shown that the prinoi-
pies for which their forefathers had
fought still lived.
from the exciting scenes of Oklahoma
when the opening of the great Sioux re-
serve drew another vast crowd of boom
ers to that region, but here the nature Of
things was different. Oklahoma,
Beautiful Land - Nas country which
offered every inducement in the way of
climate and fertile soil to the settlers.
The land was covered with vegetation
which by its rankness evidenced the
wonderful productiveness of the soil.
On the Sioux lands the greater portion
was sterile and sandy. Beds of barren
alkali extended for miles and presented
a most uninviting' appearance to those
who were accustomed to the grassy val
legs and hillsides of the Eastern states.
The rush to the Sioux reserve was of
short duration and there are to-day
thousands of acres which we're not
touched and which will never be any
thing but grazing lands upon which cat
tie can gather but scant heritage.
Hundreds of those who went to Dakota
from the Oklahoma rush have now re-
turned to the borders of another prom
ised land and have all signified their in
tention of waiting until the day of open
ing. AS one of them tersely expressed it:
"Neighbor, 1 got left before. 1 am
here to stay till the opening day. 1 shall
leave the wife and babies in Guthrie and
intend to tramp over the new field until
find the place [ want. l Will have a
home this time or die trying
This man is but one of thousands who
were here too late last year to get fair
show against the "schooners' who had
their claim ready staked out month be-
fore the day of opening. While the gov
eminent promised that no unfair adj
vantage would be allowed by any one, 1t
is well recognized fact that those who
adhered strictly to the letter of the law
in the rush are the ones who are
STILL HUNTING HOMES.
The open connivanoe Of the officials
with the illegal acts at the opening of
Oklahoma will now bear its fruit. It
was supposed that when a test case was
brought before the land commissioner
the decision would be in favor of the man
who had acted in good faith with the
but the decision favored the
man who had openly defed the law and
boosted of it.
This decision could have but one
effect, to make the men who are now
here believe that if they want homes they
must act contrary to the law as set forth
in the presidents proclamation. This
has resulted in the Strip swarming with
men looking for suitable claims, which, |
when found, are staked out and marked |
ready for occupancy. Some have gone |
even farther in the matter, and have |
broken the ground and put in crop,
trusting to their luck for opportunities to
get back to give the needed blowing to |
the corn.
The original Oklahoma rush and the |
after results were wonderful, but they |
will pale into insignificance before the !
opening day when the settlers go on the |
Cherokee Strip. The Cherokee Strip /
homesteaders association is making every |
endeavor to induce people to come to the |
border in order that they may make a
concerted invasion on April %. The is
suance of the call for the invasion pub