People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1893-09-22
STRIPOPENED
Grand Avalanche Of Home
seekers Crosses the Cher
okee Strip Line at
High Noon,
DASH OFF At THE CANYONS ROAR.
Railroad Trains the Slowest Method
of Conveyance in Use Because
Of the Crush,
DASH OFF At THE CANNONS ROAR.

-A-A-'S@AS 80 - ONPbs AZ ~
FIVE minutes before noon to-day 1OO,-
900 men were gathered upon the
north and south boundaries of the
Cherokee Strip awaiting breathlessly
the signal which should announce the
arrival of the hour when the land
should pass from the ownership of
the United States government into
the possession of individual citizens.
All were ready for the race which
would bring fortune and happiness to
disappointment and suffering
to others. Some were mounted on
thoroughbred racers, some on the
feet, but surer-footed COW ponies, and
some on bicycles. Others made the
race in buggies and wagons. An air
of strained expectancy pervaded the
throngs, and each was eager for the
signal,
Bang" "Bang" went the revolvers
OF the United States army officers who
had the affair in charge, giving the
signal to start, and the race for homes
is on. $4,000 men and women
rush over the boundariesand into the
coveted land, as if their very lives
rather than the mere possession of a
farm or town lot depended on their
going. The shouting of men, the
screaming of women, the neighing of
frightened horses, the creaking of
prairie schooners, the cracking of
whips, the rafting of wheels, the
clatter of hoofs and the explosion of
firearms, combine to cause confus-
ion of sound IN keeping with the
general confusion of the start, and to
render the scene one of indescribable
pandemonium.
After the line is crossed and the
racers spread out over the Strip, an
exciting contest takes place. Here is
a neck-and-neck race between horse
men who have selected a certain lot
in a certain townsite as the only
thing worth having in the whole
country, The stake is alluring and
each horseman puts forth every effort
to snatch the prize, There a choice
farm is the stake and the race is
equally exciting. Here the racers
come upon a gully over which they
cannot urge their horses. They aban-
don the animals, trusting to luck to
and them again, and make for the
goal on foot, stumbling over rocsk,
wading streams, climbing PERCEPTIONS
banks in the mad race. Here women
engage IN the race for a prize, and
there men and women are chasing
over the prairie for the same piece of
land. During the long.
hot days of registration while stand
ing In line the in the blazing sun
entailed great suffering, the men chiv-
alrously surrendered to the weaker
sex their places in the lines. There is
no chivalry now. This race is bust
ness affair, and no sentiment inter-
teres with the transaction of the mat
ter in hand on business basis. Wom-
en- must take their chances. Their sex
avails them nothing in this contest.
As the train pulls into the townsite
or county seat, it disgorges its load,
and the townsters swarm over the
land like an army of ants. A lot of
ground which fifteen minutes before
was nothing but surveyed patch of
prairie, with not an inhabitant. be-
comes populous community. Innum-
cradle disputes, many alterations and
some fights take place. There are no
officers of the law to interfere, and
the lot-seekers are too busy with their
own affairs to mix in other peoples
business; so the fighters fight it out
until one is incapacitated, while his
victor captures the prize. Immediate
~ when a lot is claimed stakes are
driven; in some cases tents are erected
and in few instances town meetings
are held, officers are elected, and be-
fore the thing seems possible a munic.
ipality has sprung into existence.
In the mean time, out on the prairie
the farmers continue their race for
homesteads and prescriptions. The
The head of the family and his sons of
legal age make the race on horses or
atoot, If there are not enough horses
to go round, while the women folks"
follow in the more leisurely prairie
schooner, which pitches and rolls about
on the broken p airie like sure
enough schooner in rough sea. From
the line south of Arkansas City
a number of young men make the race
on safety bicycles. They need safe
ties. They had practiced for days rid
ing over rough prairles in preparation
for the race.
Enough people make the race to
take possession of every one of the
homesteads and to give to every
county seat and townsite at least
l,5OO inhabitants. 1t is estimated that
100000 people made the race. 1t is
known that over 100, 200 certificates.
we're issued from the various registra-
ton booths, but majority of the pros
pective settlers took both homestead
and TOWNSHIP certificates, SO that the
number of certificates does not repre-
sent the number of settlers. 1t is es-
timated that $4,000 people made the
race from Arkansas City; $1,000 from
Caldwell, $4,000 from Orlando. 10, coo
from Hennessey, 900 from Still
water, 10000 from Kiowa, 5000 from
Hunnewell, and from 5000 to 1000
from other points. The total number
was nearly double the crowd which
raced into Oklahoma when that ccun.
try was oponed. The greatest rush
was into the eastern portion of the
country, which contains by far the
most fertile and best watered farm
ing lands in the whole Strip. Perry
a town on the Santa Fe, was the fav.
orite destination of the spectators
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