The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-21
STATE OF OKLAHOMA.

Exceeds Sixteen of Present States in
 Population.
 It will be the size of Kansas and its agricultural future Is bright with promise.
 Oklahoma and Indian Territory will make a State substantially the same size of Kansas. This Is smaller than most of the States west of the Mis- souri, but the new Commonwealth will come into the Union with a much Iarg- CT population relatively and with much more definite resources than almos. any other State has had within the last two or three generations.
 According to the federal census of 1900, Oklahoma had a population of S9S131, and Indian Territory 39306O. making a total census population for the new State of approximately S00,- 900. There is no doubt that the pop ulation of the new State at he pres ent time is more than I,000, 0,OO0.
 The new State will have two repre- sentatives in the Senate, but 1t will be fully entitled to them. because 1t will begin with a population much larger than that of Maine, New Hamp- shire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Florida, North Dak- ta, South Dakota, Montana, wyoming. Colorado. Utah. Nevada, Idaho. Washington and Oregon.
 The two Territories have much in common. Upon their prairies were To- cated great reservations set apart by the government as the red mems home. Oklahoma is made up of such reser- vations as, by treaty or purchase from the Indians, have been given the lat ter to white settlement. Both lie at the meeting place of north and south. Upon their fertile acres may be grown wheat or cotton, corn or sugar cane, oats or tobacco. Neither the blizzards of Nebraska nor the neat of the South is felt Equal access is given to the gulf ports and to the Eastern markets
 They differ as Western Kansas diff fers from Missouri. The western part of Oklahoma, with an altitude of $500 feet, is a sime-arid buffalo grassed treeless plain-a sodded floor as far as the eye can reach. suited for cattle grazing and not for farming The eastern end of Indian Territory, 3,000 feet lower, is a thiclxly wooded, we'll watered rolling section. as certain of rainfall and crops as Illinois. It is rich In timber and fitted for intense agriculture.
 Between these. over an expanse of four hundred miles east and west and 225 miles north and south, are all the graduations of attitudes and moisture. Each section has its limitations and it's advantages, and each offers to the prospective settler or investor some benefit.
 Three openings" have made Okla homa-the original one, in 1888, talk ing in the central portion; the Cher okee strip. in 1893. including the north ern side, and the Kiowa, Commanche and Arapahoe lands in August, 1901, which gave to the whites the south west corner. The first and second were open with "rushes." wherin the first man on claim after the signal for starting became its possessor. The last was a drawing. the order in which applicants might file on claims being determined by lot
 Oklahoma includes what was for merly the western portion of Indian Territory with the p'olic land strip north of the Texas panhandle. The public land strip ceded to the United States by Texas at the time Of it's annexation, was by oversight not in- cluded in any adjacent States or ter ritories, and, until its incorporation in Oklahoma Territory was known as No Mans Land
 Oklahoma is for the most part an upland territory, rising gradually tow ard the north and west, the most im- portant elevations being the Wichita mountains in the southern section Oklahoma is fairly well watered bv the Red and Arkansas Rivers and their affluents, but rcany streams are so sat- urated with alkaline salts as to he at times unfit for drinking purposes or irrigation. The rainfall is much lighter and less uniform than in h. dian Territory.
 The history of Oklahoma dates from 1s66, when thu tr'has to whom fine lands of Indian Territory had been