Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-09-22
That Fairer Land.

| opened for settlement tomorrow at noon
| consists of the country of the Sac and Fox
| 4.2 600 acres. of Iowa. 300. $50 acres. and of
| Pottowatamie's 400 900 acres in all. /. 10l. 559
! acres. Some of this is adapted for raising
as fine crops as any land. and some of it fer
| tilted with tin can would afford pasturage
| for goats. The Indians do not lose all their
| land; each buck gets quarter of Il section,
and not only that. but he is Il lawful
sooner" and has already picked out
prize spots. He can't sell his farm for
| twenty-five years, but during that
time he does not have to pay any
taxes. CAfter the Indian lands and lands
| held for school purposes have been de-
| Quoted from the l ,l0l, $50 acres, about 500,
| 900 acres are opened for actual settlement.
| This makes 5000 hOmeSteads and about
| twenty men for every homestead are on the
| ground. Some are lowering around
the line, and some are already in what is
! known as the forbidden country. II is the
old Oklahoma rush over again, with some
notifications. There are not as many
| boomers, and a smaller number of them are
III wagons. For the last week, however,
there has been almost d continuous stream
of wagons over the Santa Fe trail
across the Cherokee Strip, and there are
wagoners all around the border. The rush
over the railroad has been just the same.
Big crowds for the last three days have
packed the aisleS of the cars. They look
like the same men who came to Oklahoma
at the opening. A composite picture of the
whole outfit would represent young man
with harYest-feld complexion and white
felt nat drawn so as to bend
to his ears. He would have a four-year-old
yellow muStache and 4 four-day-Old beard.
He would have blue eyes and he would
sport a red cotton handkerchief, Just as
sure as ne would have a big revolver. All
the little scenes are much the same as dur
inrr ha 70 lob, In, rhn pNE-I
there is Il man from Arkansas with his
fiddle in hand, with gray beard. and Il man
with Il red nose who dances in the aisle of
the cars.
There is the man who shoots his gun out
of the window, the man from Missouri who
consults his bottle and the tired mother
with the baby that cries. As the train runs
through the strip the emigrants are greeted
with sight that seems to delight them.
On both sides Of the road the
grass is burning. The cattlemen swear
roundly to hear them cheer at the sight of
the burning grass and express the wish
that every head of cattle in the Strip might
be burned. The grass is not quite dry
enough to burn well Yet, but it will I'M
undoubtedly be all fired as soon Us it does
get dry enough. Settlers are very bitter
against the ''cowmen.'
Guthrie is 4 lively town to-day and the
streets are crowded. Hotels are oyerrun,
saloons doing rushing business. At every
street corner now boys are selling ponies.
They are asking big money for them, too,
and get it.
The men who rushed into Oklahoma are
dispoSing of horses and wagons they used
to excellent advantage.
Every few minutes an outfit leaves for
the line. The nearest point of the new
country is only nine miles from Guthrie,
and the crowd will enter from near this
point. But the truth is that the greater
part of the crowd is not waiting to enter:
the country is already full of ''SoonerS.'
The plan is for one man to go in and Jump
a claim and then turn it over to a partner
who starts in after the legal hour. Thus
between them they get good claim.
There will be Il great rush for town lots.
The new country will be divided into two
counties, and the government has selected
sites for county seats although there is not
even the shadow of town in either of the
counties. Both towns have been named.
The one to be the county seat of the north
ern county is Chandler named for the as
sistant secretary of the interior, and the
southern town is Tecumseh. H. d. Baker
of Oklahoma City has already been APP
pointed postmaster of the coming town of
Tecumseh. This town will be located in
Pottawatomie county, forty-tive miles from
Guthrie. Chandler will be in the Sac and
Fox country forty miles from Guthrie
with the work on the town sites, and Gov
ernor Steele has announced that the
sites shall not be taken up until the
survey is finished. No attention will be
paid to this, however. and the force of SOL
diers on the ground will not be large
enough to keep them OFF A crowd of Guth-
RE men has been organized to move on to
Chandler. Everyone is going. Cooks
have deserted their stoves, Law
yers their offices and mer-
chants their stores. The townsite of
Chandler is said to be poor one and those
who rush there will suffer for a drink of
water until wells are dug. The plan of the
Guthrie men is to get quarter of a section
west of the town site and throw the town
over to them. Men will rush to
Chandler, however, to take lots |
for a city of 10000. and it is
hard to see how the place can support more
than 10000 people for many years. Many |
are bound to be disappointed whether they |
go for town lots or quarter sections, for |
there are at least 1900 people waiting for |
the hat to drop At noon tomorrow.
Governor Steele this morning received a |
telegram from j. II. Buford, receiver OF |
the land Office at Oklahoma City, calling |
for assistance to protect the governments |
interests. The land Office is up two flights |
of stairs and the entire building is overrun |
with boomers. The receiver is fear |
full that his office will be |
takeRk possession of and states that |
- deputy United States marshal or terri |
torial officers can be had. The governor |
does not desire to send troops to Oklahoma