Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1892-12-26
BOOMERS cAMPsp FOR WINTER.
Two Thousand Families Already Gatheres
on the Kansas Border.

on the Kansas Border.
Although the opening to settlement oi
the 100000 acres of land in the Cherokee
strips somewhat problematical as to time,
the boomers are already gathering along
the southern border of Kansas prepared to
make the last rush for public lands this
country will ever see. As nearly as can be
ascertained there are now encamped within
the counties Of Cowley. Sumner, Barber
Harper and Comanche at least 1000 fami
lies awaiting the slow action Of congress
The city officials Of Winfield. Arkansas
City and Caldwell have called upon the
more generous Of their citizens to provide
temporary shelter for those who have
entered the winter In their wagons or
tents, camping in the woods near water
They have already responded, and barracks
have been prepared where women and
children can find some little comfort.
A sad feature of this advance wave is the
amount Of suffering that has already come
to the knowledge of the proper officers
Poor Commissioner Lorry, of Cowley
county, says the boomer element on the
border counts very largely in the expense
OF the pauper fund, as these people must
not be allowed to starve, even II they are
not permanent residents. The same re
ports come from the counties Of Sumner,
Harper and Barber. In order to be first
in the coming mad rush, many Of these
boomers have left places where they have
been at work, and their little stock of
money has been exhausted. The expert
ences of others in the former rushes count
as nothing - they see only prospective
homes, never even giving thought to the
future when the purchase money must be
secured from some source.
There is something remarkable about
these boomers. Many Of them have been
in the former rushes, have endured the
trials of long waiting and claim that they
were always just little too late Their
families were with them then, as they are
now, and as they congregate about the
campfire, sheltered from the winds by old
wornout wagons, whose covers show that
they have been through many campaigns,
notes are compared of previous experiences
1t Is nothing to them that there are lands
which they might now secure in the terri
tory last opened, which were abandoned
almost as soon as taken. They know every
mile Of that country and pronounce II
worthless, showing the correctness of their
Judgment. Before they could enter it pre-
sented the same alluring prospect that the
Cherokee strip now offers. 1t was so when
the Sac and Fox country was opened, and
before that when the original Oklahoma
was given to the public.
The well built cities of Oklahoma sur
rounded as they are with finely cultivated
farms, seem to offer short road to wealth
in the now new country if fortune gives
favorable location. For some reason the
government exacts good pay for all the
lands now at it's disposal, and only those on
the inside can hope to reap harvest when
the country is opened. These people now
waiting ON the border will be crowded out,
as they were before. and their privations
and hunger through the winter will avail
them nothing. After the rush their wagons
will head north and south, and they will
be but mounted tramps. coming from no
where and going to the same place.
Visiting one of these camps about three
miles from Arkansas City, The Times cor
respondent found family of persons who
last spring had been among the campers
in front of Ell Reno. They were as hope
full then as now and were sure of finding
a location near some good city to be- The
year before had made their acquaintance
when they were camped near Langston, on
the border of the Sac and Fox lands, where
. claim was secured. but was jumped by
negro, who bought them off for the sum Of
fifty dollars.
This is the secret Of this early gathering
Not more than one in ten of these families
will be found among the permanent set
tiers They will, when the time comes,
join the rush and squat on some fine land
and then sell out to the more moderate
mover, who prefers to let some one else
hunt and hold the land until he can make
his choice. The possession of fifty dollars
will enrich one Of these families and rem
der work unnecessary for an entire year
AS rule, they come from the order that
is represented among the hills Of Arkan
sas or the pine woods of North Carolina
The women and children are happy, be
cause their present life is the best they
ever knew. They are honest SO far as GOV
citing other peoples goods are concerned
and their morality will stand the test Of
close scrutiny. They are simply worthless.
and yet they are citizens, ard there are
many Of them.
Before spring, II congress acts during
the short session, there will be $4,000 peo
pie along the border.--Cor. New York
Times.