At the time of the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1893, America was in the clutches of the worst economic disaster it had experienced. President Benjamin Harrison and Congress were under pressure to open Indian Territory to white settlement. This territory had been occupied by Native Americans forced from their land in the southeast to their new ‘home’. The Trail of Tears, as it became known, was one of the worst tragedies in U.S. history as some 4,000 Cherokees lost their lives during the brutal overland trek.
Early explorers had deemed Oklahoma Territory worthless
desert, too arid and treeless for white settlement. But by the latter half of the nineteenth
century, farming had devised better methods for raising crops and the public
pressured the government to open the Indian Lands.
The Cherokee Outlet, as it was initially named, was a large
section in the northwest of what is present day Oklahoma, larger than
Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island put together. It had originally been given to the Cherokee
Nation but two different surveys left the ownership in doubt. The U.S. Government finally purchased the land
from the Cherokee and named it the Cherokee Strip.
To make the Run, people had to register at a registration
point and pay a $14 fee and sign a certificate.
According to the Robinson Library, some people stood in line for over a
week. One hundred and fifteen thousand
people registered for only 42,000 parcels of land, far less than the number of people
in the Run. Some registrants brought families
and friends with them so the actual number of participants was closer to
150,000 people, far greater than the Oklahoma Land Run of 1889.
The Cherokee Strip Land Run, the fourth and largest of
Oklahoma’s five land runs, started at 12 noon on September 16, 1893. Legend has it that a nervous soldier
accidentally fired his gun at 11:55am but an eyewitness account makes no
mention of that.
A racer then had to stake out his claim of 160 acres. Literally.
After that, he had to go to one of four claim offices and pay a fee, $1
up to $2.50 per acre. The fee was determined
by the quality of land he was claiming.
If he made improvements to the land, found not to be a sooner, stayed
there for 6 months and no one contested his right to the land, he got the deed. Unfortunately, only 20-30% of those who filed
claims received their official deed.
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