The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-04-22
Get Alarm FREE.
just How the New Indian Lands
Will be Opened.
No One Will be Given an Adyan-
tage.
DETAILS OF DRAWING
Applicants Will be Photograph
ed and Numbered.
To be Allowed to Select Lands
in Order of Numbers.
Will be But 13,47s Claims,
Some of Them Worthless.

Nv washington, II. &, Apru Zz--Oncie
Sam win present $4,000 people with 16o-
acre farms in the Oklahoma country at
nominal price this summer. He has
also decided upon a method for distrib-
uting these lands that will do away with
the disgraceful scenes which have at
tended previous openings of the public
domain to settlement This method will
be first used in the distribution of the
Wichita and Kiowa Indian lands in Ok
lahoma in August next.
These reservations will be divided in
to two separate land districts, each hav-
ing its own land office and registration
reservation will be Ell Reno. Deducting
the acreage allotted to the Indians and
reserved for school purposes, there will
be 3,122 tracts of 160 acres each to be dis
posed of to homestead claimants. The
greater part of this is fine land, but
some of it is poor and not of sufficient
value to warrant the obtaining of title
under the homestead law While the
acreage open to settlement is only about
One-third as large as that in the KiOWa
reservation, the percentage Of tillable
land IS much greater, and it is by far
the most desirable section for actual
farmers
The Kiowa reservation Office win
be near oFrt Sill. In this reservation
10,S51 tracts of 160 acres each will be
opened for settlement. While these are
generally good lands many parts are
better adapted for grazing purposes
than for agriculture. This district, as
a rule, is not we'll Watered, and the soil
is hardly as rich as in the Wichita
country.
The highest number of homestead
claims which could be taken in the two
reservations, even if all of the lands
were desirable, is 13,473 The indications
are that there will be easily 10000 appI-
cantS. Some of these are doomed to
disappointment. There are not enough
lands for all The two reservations may
be opened at the. same time, but the
opening Of each Will be as separately
conducted as If they were a thousand
miles apart The law does not require
them to be opened at the same time,
but to do so will divide the crowd Of ap-
pllcantS and simplify the task OF the
land officers The opening of the KfoWa
reservation must be not later than
August of the present year, and it will
take until near that time to complete
the allOttmentS to the Indians.
None of these lands can be obtained as
free homes. They must be paid for by
all claimants at the rate of one dollar
and twenty-five cents per acre at the
time of submitting final proof, making
the cost of a 160-acre farm 5000. The
law also requires five years actual resi-
dence, cultivation, and improvements ,ex-
cept that honorab1y discharged soldiers
are given credit for the time of their
service in the army.
At the first opening of lands in Okla
home in 1889 there were on an average
two applicants for every desirable tract,
and at the opening in 1893 there were
more than three applicants for each
tract. The prospective claimants began
assembling at the borders of the lands to
be opened a least thirty days before the
opening, and the crowd of ambitious
honeseekers grew until in the instance
of the Cherokee Outlet, they numbered
over 115 0O0. While waiting for the
opening these people lived as best they
could, some sheltered by tents or wagon
covers. others not sheltered at all, and
al q degree
and discomfort which was endurable
only by those of rugged physique, Injured
to hardships- They We're not permitted
to become familiar with the land to be
opened. but were held in check at the
border by the military until cannon and
musketry, distributed at intervals along
the line announced the arrival of noon
Of the opening day At this signal the
great crowd surged into the new coun-
try in a maddening race for land Not
only were there more claimants than
lands, but the varying character of the
lands intensified the struggle for the
better tracts
Participants in these openings had
come from every section. The majority
tors, bullies and boomers were noticeabIy
present. Some of the participants We're
young and strong; others old and of
failing health. Some had been soldiers
and bore evidence of having Withstood
their share of the exposure and hard
ships in days gone by. Some had run
ming horses, trained for the occasion,
others had ordinary farm horses al
ready well exhausted by the trip across
the country from distant states. Some
had money with which to buy horses
for the race, and others, being destitute
or nearly SO, made the run on foot The
man who n ost needed home frequent
" had the least chance. Whether it be
called a horse race or a test of physical
strength or endurance, the participants
did not have equal chances. When night
came nearly every desira BILE tract had
two, and in some instances ten, rival
claimants upon it, each asserting that
ne was the first settler. These conflict
ing claims resulted in long, vexatious
and expensive contests. some of which
are still pending in the land depart
ment Some were so hotly Waged that
the courts in Oklahoma were deluged
with prosecutions for perjury and with
suits to prevent one claimant from fore
IDLY dispossesSing another before the
determine ton of the contest Instances
arose, owing to the topography of the
land or the presence of timber, where
the same tract at almost the same in
stant. each honestly believing that he
was the prior claimant Last Saturday
a contest of this sort was decided by
the secretary of the interior, where
three claim ants with their respective
families had been living on the same
tract and prosecuting a land contest for
eight years. If either had ceased 10
live on and cultivate the land his claim
would have been lost SO all three COM
piled with the law. The one who wins
by the secretary's decision has dearly
paid for the land, and the others have