Passaic City record., 1891-09-26
MAD RUSH FOR HOMES.
Exciting Scenes at the Opening
of Eastern Oklahoma.
Boomers Pour Over the Line and
Pick Out Their Farms.

oPch dtiu iulig OOspOO pCISOuo OntCKcA pL0
reservation from the west and south. The
widest of scenes were enacted and several
persons were shot.
Two colored men killed in a fight at Langs-
ton, the shooting of a woman who attempted
to cross the border before the allotted time
and the drowning of two men in the Cimar
ron River were the principal events reported
in the great rush for the Oklahoma lands.
The population of Oklahoma increased
TO- 600 in one day. No country in the world
has record of any such sudden growth.
That morning the settled area of the Terri
tory numbered 3, 900, 900 acres and the popu-
lation was 60, 900. Between noon and sunset
l. coo acres were added to the area, and
the population is now 80, 000
All along the line during the morning the
scene was one of great excitement. People
on foot, people on horseback, people in bug
gies, in wagons men, women and children
were gathered in groups short distance
apart. The scene at 12 O'Clock, when the sig
mails were fred was one never to be
forgotten. Out from the. line and across the
rolling prairie horsem an shot like missiles
from a catapult. Covered wagons filed
with people rushed UP hill and down dale
and hundreds of home-stakers on foot started
valiantIy forth in search of the coveted
claim.
The pent up excitement found vent in the
firing of revolvers and rifles, shouting and
singing and cracking of whips and furious
driving and running. The horsemen. Of
course, had the advantage over every other
man in the race and most of the racers were
horsemen. The man who had pro-
ceeded to the border on prairie schooner
with his family left the schooner, family
and one horse on the border and mountei
the other and became horseman. After To-
eating his claim he will return and direct his
possessions to his new home. Men
who came with nothing but
money purchased saddle horses.
ponies, mules or any kind of an animal that
would carry man, while others rented
them. Some of the more desperate COWBOYS
mounted steers. and the latter, joining in
the stampede. carried their riders to the in
terror, while others were uncsremoniou sly
unhorsed, or unsteered, not far from the
border.
A pistol shot fired by an army Lieutenant
was the signal for the waiting crowd at
Choctaw City to start in the big race for
the new country.
When the signal shot was fired it was ex-
actly 12 o'clock. according to central
standard time The crowd had ranged
up as closely as possible to the line
until they looked right into the eyes of
that no one got in ahead Of time.
The tall young Lieutenant galloped along
the line of waiting settlers and told them
that the signal for starting would soon be
given. When he arrived at point near the
centre he drew his revolver and rapidly dis
charged its six loads into the air.
The first report had no longer rung out
when the great crowd commenced to move
1t was a Derby that is simply beyond de-
scription. There were blooded Kentucky
racers Texas bronchos, mules and OK teams.
Everybody applied the whip and spur,
and many were the catastrophes, although
none of them was serious. 1t was race that
few men want to undergo more than once.
and the man who reached claim and found
it unoccupied was lucky indeed.
Every man going into the country carries
gun and a whisky bottle, and many are
going to their death.
A crowd of nearly 5000 that was in camp
in Topee started in body for the new
county seat of Chandler. They declared
that they would not wait for the survey to
be completed, but will take the town by
force. and if they fail in this they will
company of soldiers at the town have orders
to shoot and blood will flow il the attempt
is made.
At Langston the colored people were very
excited The signals of a gang of cowboys
camped near by inhamed their anger, and
mutterings were heard on every side. From
Cimarron City five hundred Presbyterians
led by tall, raw-boned preacher, started
for the land of promise led by their modern
Messiah.
At the Sac and Fox Agency on the east
side the crowd was very turbulent, and sew
eral men were killed during the morning.
Along the line whisky jugs and bottles were
plenty and many men were intoxicated. The
one hundred deputy marshals and handful
of soldiers were unable to do anything with
the crowd. The number of women on horse
back was remarkably large, and fully twen-
ty per cent. of the claims will be secured by
the fair sex.
In Guthrie everything was deserted. Stores
are closed and doctors, lawyers, preachers
and everybody has gone to the new e.
dorado. The boomers bought so many sup
plies that a provision famine now exists.
Hundreds of men who arrived on the mid
night train could not get conveyances and
are walking to the line, while scores slept In
the streets.
One girl of twenty-one from Winfield,
Kan, walked ten miles on foot to establish
claim A colored woman with a baby in
her arms and leading six-year-old boy,
walked fifteen miles and secured claim.
horseback, and two women rode on
with little children on horses behind them.
There are 5000 people in town. and the worst
kind of scra nble for the 1000 lots Is going
on. At the northern county seat, the survey
is not completed, and 10, 600 people are being
held at bay by soldiers. The crowd will at
tempt to capture the town site.
The reservations of Pottawatomie, Shaw
nee, Iowa, Sac and Fox Indians amount to
1.2S7, 900 acres. Part of the land is prairie
part in timber and much broken, and not
over half of it is suited for farming. The
reservations lie directly east OF
the settlement part of Oklahoma, and
are divided into two counties, with
800 acres reserved at the centre of each for
the county seats. The location OF
the county seats is on poor broken
ground, timber underbrush and
rocks, with absolutely no water.
Both towns have been named. The one that
is to be the county seat of the northern
county is Chandler, named for the Assistant
Secretary of the Interior, and the southern
town is Tecumseh. Fl. d. Baker, of Okla
homa City, has already been appointed
Postmaster Of the coming town OF Tecumseh.
A careful man estimates the number of
actual settlers who went into the Indian
lands on the opening day to be close to 70.
O0O. OF these it is estimated that 10, 600 will
settle in the new cities and towns which
will spring up. The other 10000 are men
and women who want farms. The total
number of acres which have been thrown
open to settlement is 500 600. This, divided
into tracts of 1850 acres each, will give farms