The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-10-05
BIG RUSH
FOR SCHOOL
LANDS ON
People Anxious for Farms in
the New Country.
GEC0RD Is BROKEN
In Collection Department of
School Land Office.

Guthrie, 0. T, Oct. A-The rush at the
school land Office during the days Of this
week has been unprecedented. The
amount Of business done has broken the
record for the same length of time since
the Office was established and it is all on
account of the leasing of the school lands
In the new country. The mail Of Sec
retary James J. Houston exceeds one
thousand letters daily and there is little
prospect for a let-up soon.
The quarterly collections are now being
made for the leases on lands in old Ok
lahoma. The amount of money received
last Monday in this department alone
amounted to over $4,000. This in itself
Is the largest amount of money ever
handled in one day in the collection de-
partment.
The bidding for school land in the east
part OF the Kiowa country closed on Oc-
tober >. On the third of the present
month, tn ebidding began FOR the land in
the Wichita country and the west half
o. the Kiowa country. During the time
that the bids We're being received for the
east half of the Kiowa country, 200 ap-
plicati0ns were received and filed by the
clerks in the department There are yet
800 letters that have not been opened.
i has been impossible to take care Of all
the applications that have been received
no to this time II is estimated that
there viii be 3.500 applications for the
land on which tn ebidding has just clos
ed Only ], 500 persons can secure school
land ia this part of the new country. Two
hundred and forty thousand dollars is the
amount of money to the credit of the
school land department in the territorial
depository. This moneywas received from
tn evarious applicants for school land in
the way Of bids. A large amount of this
money VIII have 10 be returned to the
unsuccessful bidders after the awards
have been made It viii take nearly a
week to enter all of the applications for
the land in the eastern part of the Kiowa
country. 1T viii then take five or six
days TO check UP the books. After that
is done the awards viii probably be
made. Ia all it viii take at least thirty
days before the awards viii be announc-
ed. In the receiving of the collections
for the school land OF Old oklahoma,
the work is about one-half completed.
The collections are being made prompt
ly. The demand for school land is such
that the renters feel that the best plan
IS TO pay their obligations promptly in
order TO hold the land for another year.
The leasing department of the school
land office is in charge of Lew Sergeant
Of Pond Creek. He has seven people IN
Ger him. including two bank clerks who
receive the deposits for the department
All together including Secretary Hous-
ton, there are seventeen clerks in the
school land department and there is need
for more clerks as the work keeps in
creasing. Although the receiving of
bids on the remaining school lands to
Dee leased only began yesterday, a large
number of applications have been re-
ceived by Mr. Houston. In another
week the rush for this land VIII be on
and il is the opinion of those who have
been watching the matter closely thar
the demand viii exceed that for the east
ern portion of the Kiowa country
All day long there is a stream of peo-
pie bound for the school land Office in the
executive building. Many of the persons
live in the remote parts Of Oklahoma.
Some of them have not been in Guthrie
before and it is with much interest that
they Wow the capitol city. In the morn
ing before the Office is opened there is a
large crowd in the halls; enough people
I'm fact TO keep the force Of clerks busy
Tor several hours.