Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-09-02
svYiNa okLAHonA TOWN. tors.

During our sale Of lots the other day
in Lawton there was a brisk bidding on
a piece of corner property adjacent to-
the school reserve land" said Land
Commissioner Richards the other day,
having just returned from three months
in Oklahoma Territory. One OF the bid
ders was a woman wearing calico
dress and sunbonnet. The figure Of
fered climbed higher and higher till
finally 1t reached $500. 1t was a TWEEN
ty-five- foot front, and the rate was even
higher than real estate would bring here
in the national capital The woman
reached down toward one stocking and
pulled out a mighty roll of greenbacks
The government, you know, requires
cash payments on all sales of land. She
counted out $500 in money and passed.
IL up to the land office clerk. She had a
good deal left after she had paid for her
property. That is only one example IL
Illustrating the zeal with which people
are buying real estate in those future
cities of Oklahoma. Take the sale over
in Hobart. We offered a certain lot in
the business section of that town the
other day, and there were many bidders
In hand The price went up steadily,
but among the bidders was man who
kept pace with all the others, and al
ways went a little higher. At last the
other got tired, and the lot, also a
twenty -five-foot front, went to him at
$500. He drew out of his pocket four
punches of bills, each containing $1,000,
and counted off $1,000.
''You came determined to get that
property. / remarked to him.
We'll. i had $1,000 more could have
lpaid for it. he replied to me. He wanted
the lot for a wholesale jewelry store,
and was ready to pay almost any price
| to get it,
Altogether it looks to me as tho this
| land in the new towns might prove a
good Investment" said Mr. Richards,
"altho it is going for such high prices.
| The people who buy are of a good, sub
stantial class of citizens. They appear
Intent on remaining in the country and
participating in its development. Most
OF them come from the southwest-from
Mississippi, Georgia, Texas. Arkansas,
Nebraska and neighboring states They
! have money and are Industrious. Few
seem to be buying for speculation, for
they are unwilling to sell after they buy.
/
tamcunt of the real estate sales in the
| three towns of Lawton, Hobart and An
adarko will aggregate $4,000. The
sales in Lawton, which regard as the
| finest town of all, have already ex-
ceeded s2so,O0O, and will go to 100000
at least. The sales at Hobart now ex-
coed $4,000 and will go to s15o.0O0. In
Anadarko the government has already
disposed of land that brought 100000
Before the government auction sales
conclude, at the end of August, be-
4 lieve they will aggregate 100000. The
1 banks in FL Reno We're simply bursting
with money for a time. Newcomers
Ihastened to bank to deposit their
funds. and it happened that a little
bank with only $4,000 capital would
sometimes have deposits amounting t.
100000 and even more. The officials and
their clerks We're kept busy night ant
day attending to this large business
The population of the territory has nat.
urally increased enormously with tn,
coming of SO many settlers, and the,
have brought a great deal of none,
with them. Accordingly, business ha
been on the boom. regard it as con
servative estimate that the town of E
Reno alone has taken in nearly 81, 900, 90
from these new settlers in the last few
weeks. There were 175,000 arrivals in E
1 Reno, and 1t is a low estimate tina
every one of them spent at least $40 be
fore getting out of the town.