The Columbus commercial. (Columbus, Miss.) 1893-1922, 1907-12-03
INTERESTING FACTS
REGARDING OKLAHOMA
From a Barren Waste II Years
Ago to a Wealthy State

From an exchange we get the
following facts regarding Okla
homa, which will be read with
interest by every one:
Many years ago, just when no
history has recorded, a Comanche
brave sat on his pinto pony and
gazed over a stretch of rolling
country that swept on and on TO
where the sun sank behind the
horizon. His gaze narrowed and
a look of satisfaction passed over
his face, as the story goes. then
lifting his eyes he muttered the
word oklahoma" In the Ian
guage of the Comanche okla
homa" means the land of the
fair God, " and that vast expanse
which stirred the Indian to his
stoical remark of praise has be-
come the forty-sixth state in the
Union, adding another star to
Old Glory.
On April %, 1889, 1000, 900
acres of land, lying a little west
and north of the centre Of Indian
Territory and which had never
been assigned by the Govern
ment to any Indian tribe, was
opened for white settlement
Then occurred the memorable
rush for lands in which the en-
tire country was settled in a day
and towns of 10000 sprang up
between daybreak and dark.
For a year the people lived prac-
tically without law, in tents, in
rough shacks and in dugouts,
but they were Industrious immi-
grants from Texas, Kansas. Ne
braska, Iowa, Missouri, and
some from the Eastern States;
and out of chaos order and sys-
tenn were soon created. Sub
stantial buildings replaced the
tents ald dugouts in the towns,
and on more isolated claims there
appeared well-tilled farms. On
June 6, 1890, Oklahoma was Gre
ated territory by act of Con-
gress.
But the new state of Oklaho-
homa comprises not only this
land, which was opened for set
tlement seventeen years ago,
but the Indian Territory proper
also; that is, the twin territories,
united, with the addition of sew
eral Indian reservations and a
part of Texas, awarded after a
boundary dispute, from the baby
State, an area of 20, ,430 square
miles, larger than Ohio and In
diana combined, or the aggre-
gate area of Massachusetts, New
Hampshire. New Jersey, Rhode
Island and Vermont. The new
State has an appropriate popula-
ton of LAOS, 732 persons, and
with the advertisement of h, Z
resources incident to Statehood
the number is increasing more
rapidly than the population of
any other State in the Union.
In 1900 the now western half of
the State, the territory of Okla
homa, had only 400, 900 inhabi-
tants, while at the present time
they number $50, 967. On the
Indian Territory side the present
number is 718. 765.
With soil and climate condi-
tions which produce successfully
all of the agricultural and horti-
cultural products of the temper
ate zone; with native grasses
and mild climate, making it an
ideal stock raising country; with
oil, gas, coal, cement, salt, as.
phalt, building stone and other
valuable mineral deposits, the
new State is attracting world
wide attention as a field for in
vestment and is now enjoying q
period of growth and an influx
of immigration almost unp7 ece-
dented in history. She enters
the Union with the distinction
of having a larger population a
the time of admission than any
Iother state.
Oklahoma produces annually
, according to last records, abou
81, 900, 900 bushels cf corn, 80.
0O0,000 bushels of wheat, over
: 10, 600, 900 bushels of oats ant