The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1914-04-22
BIRTH Of GREAT
COMMONWEALTH

days before. and you got away sout
as quickly as possible
When you came to the strip line a
Chilocco you hesitated somewhat
you may remember, on venturing int
an unsettled country without bet
ter commissary department than yo'
possessed. Caesar would hardl
have tackled it and lived to writ,
commentaries about it later but tn,
! lure of the free home over persuade,
you. So YOU rode to one of the ranch
| es on the Chicaskia and stayed there
! the first night. There you spen
many hours watching the boomers
rafting by the light Of monster bon
fires on either bank, their wagons
and other belongings across tha,
swift stream.
The next day you dropped back to
he with the big crowd at the Ponca
Agency, where you could get plenty
Of food for man and beast and pass
ing on the way bunch of 1000 head
of cattle in one compact herd.
The Salt Fork was up and booming
on its own account with the rains
and the small ferry south of the
t,rl. ,ir ,s st,p .lf,f,
i came to transporting the srowd
across its tnrbd flood, so yon watch
ed the boomers tear down the stoch
yards, and with the lumber floor the
railroad bridge. When finished they
pulled the wagons across by hand
and let the horses over on the loose
plank laid between the rails. one OF
your Uncle Samuels cavarymeh
stood by with cigar box into which
YOU were permitted to drop your
quarter before you led your horse on
to the brige Just what right the
ravalryman had to the hoxful of
money that he took in that day you
never learned Perhaps 1t was akin
to what the muckrakers afterwards
called " graft
by this time you We're in the midst
Of the big crowd which was to be at
The line by Monday noon They were
nua .f tba c+ra uacf ions nj
human beings ever gathered together
IN this footstool. A body of men
who were each anxious for piece
Of land on which to make home
Some had lost theirs, others had new
2r owned one, but all were keen I
,et one n Oklahoma, the last from
,er. They came, of course, largely
from nearby states. Often several
teams with two or more men to each
wagon came from the same town or
leighborhood in those states. A few
had their families along, but that
sas not the rule.
Some of the men got the idea that
he man on horseback had the best
hance to get claim, and so you
had to listen to various comments
bout undesirable horse backers."
Most OF the boomers took life as
matter of course, but some, you will
frar nit
'ear that they might not get claim.
With them it was parallel to the
ease Of the little darkey boy who
Just had to catch that rabbit"
When il was TOO dark to travel any
onger. the crowd would go into camp
md their camp fires broke out like
nyrads of stars and light reflect,
ID against the sky off south showed
where there were thousands of boom
er camps along the line
The troops realized that they could
never handle the big crowd if they
let ii get an atom of advantage Of
them. so they allowed it to go only
fifteen or twenty miles a day across
the Cherokee strip, with the soldiers
always in advance, holding back the
brash ones.
All who had decided to sooner
their claims and commit perjury lat
er. were already on ahead or sneak |
ng ont in the night time. Some OF |
these had land broken out and gar
lens planted on their chosen pieces
nf land before the crowd left the
state of Kansas.
Well, on Sunday night. you may
remember. that the soldiers made
heir last stand above the line. II
was at the ford on the Black Bear,
and they held you there till dark.
v hen the guard was withdrawn and
yon alls" as the Texans say, ratified
off down the road to camp ON the