Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-03-18
mo MANS LAND

iduu ny HE CTQclly dhu fdpihC. 11io-
torical Pictures.
mo MANS LAND
Interesting Facts About Famous Strip
in Texas.
L. A. Allen, a cattleman who has an
office at the stock yards, says that the
encyclopedias are all wrong about how
No Mans Land came to be created.
Mr.. Allen was a cattleman on the
plains and mountains for fifty years.
He was a boy when he went from
Kansas City with the first herd Of
the following fifty years he was In the
He drove cattle through the mountains
and over the deserts to California, He
drove herds along the sandy shores Of
the Pacific, along the shores Of the
Great Lakes and along the Gulf Of
Mexico. He has driven cattle along all
the old trails from the Rio Grande to
and into Canada, and he was In the
cattle business in Mexico. He was the
intimate friend of Kit Carson, and he
was with the wife OF Carson when she
died and he buried her in his own gar
den. He was with Carson when he
died. His brother married the only
daughter Of Kit Carson, and they are
living now in Trinidad, Colo. Mr.. AL
len was the first sheriff Of the territory
in southeast Colorado, and he led an
exterminated the Coe band Of outlaws
that had a stone fort there. This ex-
pedition hanged eleven Of the band In
one night to some cottonwood trees
and captured Coe and took him to
Pueblo, where he was lynched. X
No Mans Land used to be the strip
Of land 1877 miles long and 35 miles
wide between Texas on the south and
Kansas on the north. Later 1t was
known as Beaver county. Now 1t IL
made up Of Cimarron, Texas and Bea-
yer counties, Oklahoma.
None Of the books tells the true
story Of how that came to be known
as No Mans Land" said Mr.. Allen last
week. THE Encyclopedias Americana
says of 1t: In 1S45 Texas, on being
United States that strip Of her land
which lay north Of latitude 36 degrees,
80 minutes north. This piece, 1877
miles long by 35, was without govern
ment until 1890, when It became apart
Of Oklahoma % 81 $50
1.-THE International Encyclopedia
says: "A region ITO miles long and IS
in width, north Of Texas, ceded to the
United States In 1850 and made q part
of Oklahoma in 1890. Between those
years the district was under no form
Of government and became q great re-
sort of outlaws
None Of these accounts Is wholly
true," continued Mr.. Allen. "The truth
about it is this: In the war between
Mexico and the United States this
country took all of the country south
Of the Arkansas river in what Is now
Colorado and all Of New Mexico, Ari-
zona, California and Texas. In the
treaty that ceded this vast territory to
the United States it was stipulated
that, for the benefit Of the Mexicans
living in New Mexico, who were accus-
toned to trading with the Indians Of
the Indian Territory, they should be
given a free roadway from New Mex
leo into this Indian country and q neu-
trail strip was laid out 1877 miles long
and about 35 miles wide, that was
since known as the Neutral Strip and
No Mans Land.
1T was stipulated in the treaty that
this zone should be neutral forever.
Mexico has never relinquished her
ter of fact Oklahoma has no right to
this strip of ground, because the Unit
ed States had no legal right to cede 1t
to Oklahoma. 1t Is today as much
Mexican territory as 1t is United
States territory and the United States
nor the state Of Oklahoma had no
right to give titles to the farms there.
You ask why the Mexicans requir-
ed q road 35 miles wide. ! will explain
that. In those days there were no
roads. The people travelled over the
plains at will, following the water
courses or going from one water hole
to another in a zigzag way. And as
they travelled they needed to Craze, to
hunt and to catch a wild horse or two.
That strip was full Of buffalo, ante
lope, deer and wild horses. So the
Mexicans insisted on a wide roadway
that they could travel at leisure, and
live by the way. For many years the
Of molestation. for the United States
government had guaranteed them Sc
curity from attack by the settlers on
the north and the Texans on the south.
The traders used carts made wholly Of
wood-wheels and all were OF wood.
They were hauled, or .ather pushed,
by oxen, mules or burros. No yokes
were used Rawhide straps around the
horns were connected with the front
end of the cart tongue and the anil
mails pushed the cart with their heads.
1.-The traders took with them from
New Mexico mainly silver, and took
back buffalo hides and buffalo meat,
dried. In those caravans Of traders
there were, often as many as 500 Of
those carts.
"The Mexicans were still using that
strip as a trading route when I went
out there fifty years ago. And then 1t
was gradually abandoned as a trading
route, and, as there was no govern
ment with Jurisdiction over 1t, and
courts could not be established there,
1t became a rendezvous for the worst
outlaws Of the southwest, who would
run out of there and commit depreda-
tions and then drop back to the shelter
Of the neutral strip.
"One Of the worst bands that found
refuge there was the Coe outfit. It's
headquarters were on the Cimarron
river, in the southwest corner Of the
strip, and It had a stone fort there, 100
miles from a settlement. I was at that
time captain of company of rangers
in southeast Colorado. l was the first
sheriff of southeast Colorado when 1t
was a territory, and May 8, 1858, we
pulled off the first election ever held in
Colorado.
I'VE were in the cattle business and
one time We got word that Coe and his
band were coming to run Off our cat
tie. 1 called my company together, and
we rode out, and by travelling at night
we came to an abandoned 'dobe where
the gang was resting for the night. We
tied our horses a distance away, and.