The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1905-08-07
THE ART OF BOOMING
AS 1T WAS PRACTICED IN THE
WEST SOME YEARS AGO.
When a Town Would Spring Up
Mushroomlike in a Night
and Be Sold Out the
Next Day.

Although Oklahoma, the western
territory that wants to be state, is
now on the boom and is adding mil
lions to its wealth every year. the reas
boom Gays" are over, says the New
York Herald.
I'VE never expect to see a repetition
Of the good old days when one man
would make town in a night and sell
1t the next day for a small fortune, =
remarked William o. Watson, an at
torney in Oklahoma City. 1T ha
been nearly eight years since the coun
try down there was what you Nigh
call ON the boom. but It has been te
years since the professional towi
boomers quit us.
The last instance of over night
booming / remember was the tow
Of Lanowack. On every side as far a.
you can see there is a prairie. just
plain prairie, With hardly house in
sight. That is Lanowack The pro-
moter, who had been hanging around
for some time, suddenly purchased a
quarter section of land and tackled the
name on it, He was boomer one of
the real sort who could sell anything
they got their hands on.
"A blind man could see that there
was no town there and nothing to
make a town, but it was the pro
moter's business to sell just such i'm
possibilities, and the way he did il
r,roxyof hin, ,,,ootor of bf- ,~4 rrtc
Mr.. Col. Sellers who was doing the
business there decided that a certain
German settlement in northwest Kan
sas was looking for Just such a city
as he had to offer and he went up 10
visit them. He tarried a week, talked
Lanowack and painted rainbows for
the moneyed farmers who used to
'Hoch der Kaiserl Best country in
the world and lots of it, he told them;
soil peculiarly fitted for raising cotton,
corn, wheat, oats. rye, kay, turnips,
radishes, parsnips, babies. Indians and
in fact anything that a Christian gen.
tleman has right to ask for on this
lowly footstool Yes. and right in the
middie of this land Of milk and honey
and Wiener schnitzels was Lanowack.
nigh, cry and healthful, the Arcadia
# the west.
'The promoter knew his men and
his business. After he had slung on
the beautiful red paint he backed up
his special train to the station. The
Germans filed their pockets with the
Green goods and tumbled in. They
= ere not going down as settlers, but
merely as investors who would reap
ne harvest as soon as the people
rushed in from the east and built up
the town. as they were sure to do.
They were getting in on the ground
door. OF course they never suspected
that the promoter was in the cellar.
The train passed through Lano-
wack IN the night and the investors
tumbled out at Oklahoma City. At
break OF day the boomer had his brass
band on the street and every saloon +
in town was thrown open to the pros +
pective owners Of Lanowack. the con- /
ing metropolis Of the southwest The
visitors would be marched into one
saloon while the band outside PLAYED
Die Wacht am Rhein. and then they
would move on 70 another
by the time they were half way
through the rounds it was decided that
Lan0wack was the best proposition be-
fore the American people and the pro |
moter was voted the savior Of the
German citizen. He stood it well and
Immediately got the crowd on board
the train and they visited Lanowack. /
he engineer stopped az the mail crane I
that vas all Of Lanowack that existed /
e. that time. as to-day But the crowe 4
vas delighted. There was the ground. !