Evening star., 1901-07-31
Thousands Seeking to Better Them
selves.
LESSON OF The OKLAHOMA RUSH
Millions Of Good Land Needing
Only Irrigation.
AID BY THE GOVERNMENT
special Dispatch to The Evening Star.

Va hoiC pScplc WHO nave mdUS dppHC3tloH
for homesteads upon the Kiowa and Wi
chita reservations, fully 250O0 are gath
cred here In person to witness the drawing.
which Is now progressing successfully
There is considerable discussion among the
applicants as to the real merit Of the plan
devised by the Interior Department for the
distribution OF this land. There Is no
question that many more people applied
for homesteads under the present scheme
than would have made an effort to secure
them had the reservation been opened for
settlement as was the Cherokee strip.
Every clerk, farm hand or speculator of
any kind who has been able to rake up
enough money to make the trip to Reno or
Fort Sill has filed application for a
homestead as a gamble rather than in the
| earnest desire to secure the land. The first
few filings will prove immensely valuable.
and after several thousand have been
drawn the remainder will be almost worth
less. Every one stood an equal show to
draw capital prize, hence 1t became q
real lottery, the prizes ranging from a
piece of land supposedly worth between
$40 600 and $4,000 to a piece of land upon
which few men would care to live much
less expend their energies In making Ii
productive
Seeking Better Farms.
On the other hand, great many people
have engaged In the drawing who could
not have been tempted under any circum-
making run for a home. Conservative
and peaceable farmers have come to Ell
Reno In large parties from the neighboring
states, who were really anxious to secure
for themselves 16O acres OF good land. pre-
sumably better than that which they have
been farming at home.
Allowing for every element OF specula-
tion and adventure 1t Is conservative to say
that at least $4,000 out of the 167 900 appli-
cants would actually settle and improve a
desirable homestead If they could secure
one upon this reservation. All told, how
ever, there are but 1900 allotments to be
distributed, and 1t Is doubtful whether
over 5000 of these are in any way desirable
even for pasturage, except as they might
be fenced together In large bodies and
some arrangement be made to secure water
for live stock. A great many Of the people
who fail to secure desirable land will turn
their attention to the purchase of town
lots on the new town sites. Villages will
appear almost instantly wherever a town
site has been selected. These villages will
soon take on the appearance of the aver
age Oklahoma settlement, and business
lots along the main street will be worth
anywhere from 1900 to $4,000. Many
people who draw neither homesteads nor
purchase town lots will become part of the
life of these communities, finding profitable
employment in the pay of the more for
tunate for the building of new country.
Opened under such circumstances as these
is miracle of human endeavor, one pc
culiar to the American people
All Sorts and Conditions.
All sorts and conditions of people have
found their way to this reservation. A few
have plenty of money and are present with
an eye for profitable speculation or invest
ment, but the vast majority of men, and
women who have little to lose and every
thing to gain. The fakir, the CRATER. the
gambler and the tough are In evidence near
every group. This was to have been ex-
pected, for the loose change In such a
crowd as this Is kept the move and
there is opportunity for everyone with
some excitement or merchandise to offer
in return for the nickels, dimes and dol
lars for those who have and who care to
spend.
The land allotments will soon be exhausted.
Some of those who draw even in the first
few thousands will fail to claim their priv
ilege, and toward the latter end Of the
drawing there will be hundreds who, disap-
pointed In not securing better positions,
will let their allotment go by default.
These influences will extend the number
who will be called upon to make a choice
far beyond the actual limits Of the amount
Of land available and 1t win be many
weeks before the land office is through
with its now famous lottery. There will be
some disputes and contests and considera-
BILE personal enmity between rival claimants
for choice locations, but there will be no
such aftermath Of bloodshed, riot, iitiga-
tion and bad feeling as followed the open
ing Of the original Oklahoma territory.
At the land office In Washington there are
land arising from the opening Of the Cher
okee strip several years ago. On file In
the department are hundreds of affidavits
OF claimants q large number Of which are
fraudulent on their face, and the makers
thereof stand convicted Of perjury. The
legal department of the Interior almost de-
spairs in many cases Of reaching any final
conclusion in regard to these contests, ow-
ing to the conflicting character of the aff-
davits submitted and sworn to. There is
apparently no way OF determining which of
AZ I'LL 1919 A-I 1,~4, -
is evident in most cases that at least one
side must be guilty.
Demand for Homes.
The tremendous demand for homesteads
which has followed the opening of the
Kiowa reservation has opened the eyes OF
the government officials as well as the
people at large to the enormous demand
which exists In this country for homes for
people Of limited means. Notwithstanding
the depreciating character of the land
which Is now taken up each year under the
land laws. more original applications for
homesteads were filed in the land Office In
1900 than for many years past. Nearly all
OF the homesteads taken during the past
two or three years by land seekers would
not have been looked at a second time in
the days when the northwest was being
settled by the great Agricultural immigra-
ton and the tide of humanity which how-
ed from the eastern states in those years.
It is land which has either to be irrigated,
farmed by the most careful methods, sowed
with drOuth-proof plants or else used pure
ly for grazing purposes.
II 1t were to be announced today that
the government was about to offer to the
homeseekers Of the country a tract CT
land ten times the size Of the Kiowa res
ervation, but land upon which every man
was guaranteed living as a result of his
labor, the number of applicants for that
land would be as great in proportion to
the area offered as In the instance now be-
ing recorded.
Arid Land Still to BE Opened.
The United States government still holds
In trust for the homeseekers 1O0,Oo0.0OO
acres of land, upon which 100.OOO.O0O OF
people could find comfortable and profit
able living If the one drawback of aridity
was done away with. Never has the irrfA
CATION movement received bigger impetus
or a more striking illustration of its value
than in the present rush for homes In
Oklahoma The western people are all
fully alive to the fact that the government
has but to build reservoirs and canals to
open to settlement an enormous area OK
the most fertile land in the world. The
western advocates OF this work do not
propose that the government shall be reA
duired to put water upon the farmers
land. All they ask is that the government
shall create q water supply from which
the homesteader, with the aid of his own