Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1905-03-17
NEW STATE is LARGE
SIZE OF OKLAHOMA EQUALS
THAT OF KANsAs
In Population It Exceeds Sixteen of
Present Commonwealth Of Union
Agricultural Future Bright
with Promise.

Kansas City.-Oklahoma and Indian
Territory will make a state substan-
TALLY the same size as Kansas. This
- smaller than most of the states west
OF the Missouri. but the new common
wealth will come into the union with
a much larger population relatively
and with much more definite resources
than almost any other state has had
within the last two or three genera
tions.
According to the federal census of
1900, Oklahoma had a population of
SsSSS1 and Indian Territory 1872 .O60,
making total census population for
the new state OF approximately 500, 900.
There is no doubt that the population
OF the new state at the present time is
more than LOCO. coo.
The new state will have two repre-
sentatives in the seuate. but it will be
fully entitled to them. because it will
begin with a population larger than
that of Maine. New Hampshire. Yer
mont. Rhode Island. Delaware. Flori-
da, North Dakota. South Dakota. Mon
tana. Wyoming. Colorado, Utah. Neva-
da, Idaho. Washington or Oregon.
The two territories have. much in
common. Upon their prairies were 10
Gated great reservations set apart by
the government as the red mems hons.
Oklahoma is made up of such reserva-
lions as, by treaty or purchase from
the Indians, have been given later to
white settlement. Both lie at the meet
ing place OF north and south. Upon
their fertile acres may be grown wheat
or cotton, corn or sugar cane. oats or
tobacco. Neither the billiards of Ne
braska nor the heat 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 end
OF Oklahoma. with an altitude Of 1900
feet, is a semi-arid buffalo grassed.
treeless plain-a sodded floor as far as
the eye can reach. suited for cattle
grazing and not for farming. The east
ern end OF Indian Territory, 5000 feet
lower. is a thickly wooded, well water
ed. rolling section. as certain of rain
fall and crops as Illinois. II is rich in
timber and fitted for intense agricul-
ture
Between these, over an expanse of
400 miles east and west. and 225 miles
north and south. are all the gradua.
tions OF attitudes and moisture. Each
section has it's limitations and it's adj
vantages, and each offers to the pros
pective settler or investor some bene-
fit
Three openings" have made okla
homa-the original one in 1889. taking
In the central portion: the Cherokee
strip. In 1893. including the northern
side, and the Kiowa. Comanche and
Arapahoe lands i'm August 1901. VIII 'ch
gave TO the whites the southwest cor
ner. The first and second were opened
with "rushes." wherein 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 public land strip
north or the Texas panhandle The
public land strip coded TO the United
States by Texas at the time of its an
nexation. was by oversight not includ-
ed in any of the 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 to-
ward the north and west, the most I'm
portant elevations being the Wichita
mountains in the southern section. Ok
lahoma is fairly we'll watered by the
Red and Arkansas rivers and their af-
huents. but many streams are so sat
urated with alkaline salts as to be at
. times unfit for drinking purposes OF
! irrigation. The rainfall is much light
er and less uniform than in Indian
| Territory
! The history of Oklahoma dates from
1866, when the tribes to whom the
lands Of Indian Territory had been
granted coded the western portion to
the United States. Though forbidden
by the proclamation of President
Hayes. many efforts were made to gain
forcible possession of Oklahoma by ex-
petitions from Kansas, Missouri and
Texas.