Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-04-11

An Expectant Crowd Waiting on the Borders
Of the Indian Land.

THE PREPARATIONS THAT ARE DEMO MADE TO
yIND HOMES IN TIE COUNTRY TO BE OPENED
TO SETTLEMENT IN OKLAHOMA TERRITORY
THE EXTENT OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.
Some time this month. perhaps this week,
the public domain will be enlarged by the ad-
dition Of nearly four million acres, which was
recently purchased by the government from the
Cheyenne and Arapahcs Indians in Indian ter
ritory. now Oklahoma. All the preliminaries
have been arranged with the Indians and now
it only remains for the proclamation to be is.
sued declaring the land open to settlement In
anticipation Of this event thousands Of people
are waiting on the borders of this their land of
promise for the signal to enter in and take pos
session.
A QUESTION OF ''aEr THERE"
It IL purely . question Of ''get there" and
hence these enterprising searchers for homes
are holding themselves in readiness to rush in.
The first come the first served is the rule that is
followed In the disposition of this land. The
man who gets on to piece of land first and
plants there stake is regarded as the owner,
although, Of course, the requirements of all
homestead entries must be observed When
the Wild scramble is over then the settler can
fnd time to 60 to the land Office and make the
fling. If, however, it should happen that
land Office and las made a fling in the same
tract Of land where the stake 10 planted, then it
becomes necessary to establish the priority of
the two clalmA
QUESTIONS OF PRIORITY
II there is evidence to show that the stake
indicating possession was driven before the
filing was made at the land Office then the
owner Of the stake has established his prior
claim. On the contrary, if the man who made
tha .L<,~, L. = A.
the land 10 awarded to him. There are. there
fore, two points of interest in this land scram-
BILE, the one is the land office and the other is
the land ITSELF Both methods are adopted,
and while there is a crowd hanging on the out
skirts of the coveted land a line of equally
nxious land seekers is formed in front Of the
land Office But after all there is satisfac ton
in getting on the land and selecting some rich
piece.
fHR VALUE OF THE LAND.
When a section Of land from an Indian reser-
walton is thrown open to public settlement the
idea seems to be prevalent that this particular
land Is more valuable than any other which has
ever been offered for public settlement. Under
this fever Of delusion men leave their homes
and start out to seek their fortunes in the new
country. Some OF them are mere SPECTATORS.
who propose to simply get possession of q
quarter section and then sell out their claim as
soon as possible. Others are bona fide set
tiers. who look forward to a better opening in
the new country than their present surround
ings offer Atany rate, whatever the motive these
events always attract large and eager throngs
OF people. The excitement becomes so great
that the military are ordered to the spot to
protect the interests of the government and to
prevent the people from entering upon the
land before it is formally declared to be a part
OF the public domain.
SOME EXCITING SCENES.
1yb hava off pipo
up Of portions of Indian reservations during
the past five or six years have helped very ma
terially to give the impression that the extent
Of tine public domain had become very much re-
stricted. The hungry clamor that raised
for the land. the privations and sacrifices made
to get it has further strengthened this belief.
Yet the facts show q very different condition of
affairs. Since the policy of reducing the area
OF the Indian reservations was begun a few
years back only about 100000 C0 acres Of In
dian lands have been restored to the
public domain. In round numbers the
Indian tribes still hold in common
about 81, 600, 900. This land as a whole is bv no
means the richest and most fertile in the coun-
try. The Indians were not allowed, as rule,
to retain the garden spots of the west Some
portions OF the land to be opened to public set
tlement this month is available for agricultural
purposes. but the bulk OF it is fit only for graz
ing purposes, yet people are tumbling over
each other in their anxiety TO get it.
UNUSED LAND IN STATES.
At the same time, according to an official
Extraordinarily prepared by the general land
Office, there are now no less than 579, 700, 600
acres of land in the various states and
territories open to settlement. This land
Of course comprises the good, bad and inGif-
ferent, but SO does the land in Indian reserva-
tions. 1t will no doubt be surprising to the
average citizen to know how great extent OF
land is still owned by the government. The
following table of vacant public lands, which
was recently prepared at the generalla land office,
gives in a concise form information not hitherto
generally available.
LAND OWNED BY THE GOVERNMENT.