LAND RUN TO
STATEHOOD
1880-1910
“ONE OF THE MOST DESIRABLE REGIONS ON
THE CONTINENT”……WAIT…WHAT?
 1880’s – westward expansion became truly exciting for settlers
 Railroads, discovery of coal reserves, fertile land (in some places)
 Dawes Act
 Senator Henry Dawes (chairman of enforcement committee)
 Government allot land to individual Indians
 Pretty much “swindled” land from Indians by use of treaties,
 Indian Territory splitting up and forming Oklahoma Territory
 Land runs
DAWES ACT OF 1887
Indians are now wards of the state
(someone placed under protection of a legal
guardian)
Contradictory because while treated as
independent nations they were also
considered “incapacitated individuals”
DAWES ACT
 First Provision:
 Void all land claims and redistribute the title of lands among the Indians themselves
 Five Civilized Tribes and the Sac, Fox, Sioux and Seneca Nations were originally excluded from
provisions
 Part due to pre-existing treaties
 Part due to all resistance in the tribes had been more or less dulled by their existence on
reservations
 Second Provision:
 Territorial borders of these tribes would not be included in creation of any further American
states
 Amended several times in later years – eventually all tribal lands absorbed by U.S.
 No more bribing or forced treaties
 Third Provision:
 Creation of state run schools for Native American children
 Ulterior motive – speed up process of cultural assimilation
SETTLEMENT OF INDIAN LANDS
In favor:
Against:
 Homestead Act of 1862
 Majority of Indians
 White settlers
 Licensed traders in Indian
 Merchants in surrounding states
Territory
 Railroads
 Stockmen
 Some Indian leaders – Elias
 Bootleggers
Boudinot
VOCABULARY
 Allotment
 Giving land to the Indians individually
 Auction
 the public sale of something to the highest bidder
 Boomer
 a person who took part in the land runs of the late 1800s
 Lottery
 a contest whose winner is chosen by a drawing
 Sooner
 person who crossed the starting line of a land run before the appointed time
 Squatter
 a person who settles on unoccupied land, sometimes illegally, in order to gain title to
it
LAND OPENINGS….HOLLYWOOD , TOM
CRUISE AND THE CHEROKEE STRIP
Hollywood
Historical
 100,000 people were seeking 40, 000 available

Stopped at land office to pick up a flag

People told to take out numbered flag and replace
with new flag

Town is portrayed as place “with no order”
(shootings, etc)
plots – most went home empty handed
 There were multiple starting points
 Sooners checked out land, got numbers and
“rushed” to the land office to make claims
 Towns were mostly tents

Sooners come back from looking for a section
BEFORE the race
 William Prettyman was the photographer –

The town – starting point – is made up of tent
buildings and some wood buildings under
construction

Night before the race is seen as a celebration,
fireworks

Photographers take photos from a wooden tower

Sooners are seen on their land before the race starts

Race is seen as very chaotic

People use horses, wagon, even a bike to get into the
land

Plots were marked with numbered flags
built the wooden tower and took the famous
picture
 Some Sooners did hide out on their plots –
then went to the land office
 Trains were also used to get people to the
area
 Plots were marked with numbered stones at
the corner of each quarter section – had to
find stones, get numbers, return to land office,
wait in line, then “claim” the land
YOU’VE GOT THE LAND – NOW WHAT??
 Homesteading –
 Where you lived determined what type of house you built
 Not a lot of trees, lumber is costly, so use resources available
 Dugouts (or soddies) were built into the side of hills, covered with what was around
(sticks)
 Dirt floors, blankets on walls
 Good for insulation and fire protection, not so good in a rain storm
 Original basement/cellar
 Extra hidey holes for protection in storms, cool pantry
 Bugs!
 Kept a cloth over the stove so no “extra ingredients” fell into cooking
 Kept bull snakes as pets
LAND OPENINGS
Run
Unassigned Lands – 1889
Tribes affected:
Pottawatomie, Sac and Fox, Iowa – 1891
Cherokee Outlet – 1893
Kickapoo – 1895
Cheyenne and Arapaho - 1892
Lottery-
Sign up and follow the rules
Usually thousands of people, stood in line for hours,
had to sign up in person, use real names, some signed
up more than once and lost the right to claim land
Single men, over 21, head of household, single
women, U.S. citizen or form stating intention
Could not own 160 acres elsewhere
29,000 at Ft. Sill, 135,000 at El Reno
Tribes affected –
Wichita and Caddo – 1901
Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache - 1901
 Bids –
 Open to the highest bidder
 Big Pasture – 1906
 480,000 acres
 Tribes affected –
 Kiowa
 No Man’s Land
 “The after-thought”
 Organic Act 1890
 Greer County
 Court Action – 1896
 (Not a fight with tribes but with the state of Texas!)
 Result – opened 4, 000 homesteads
LEGISLATION TOWARDS THE CREATION
OF OUR STATE
 Dawes Severalty Act of 1887
 Tribal “roll” established
 Forced acceptance of land allotment
 Organic Act – May 1890
 First step in creating the state of Oklahoma
 Land runs created legal problems and chaos in new towns
 Congress passed Organic Act to help bring order to the new
territory
 Major provisions:
 1. Created Oklahoma Territory (Combine western I. T and
Territory of Cimmarron or No Man’s Land)
 2. Created 3 branches of government
 A. Executive – Territorial governor
 B. Judicial – Supreme Court with 3 judges
 C. Legislative – an assembly with 2 houses
 3. Delegates to Congress
 4. Created 7 counties
 5. Established law under the laws of Nebraska until a code of laws
could be adopted.
 6. Made provisions for Indian reservations in the western part of
I.T. to become part of Oklahoma Territory
 7. Created 3 universities – Norman, Stillwater, and Edmond
TWIN TERRITORIES TO STATEHOOD
 Enabling Act, or Hamilton Statehood Bill (1906):
provided for joining the twin territories
 Required people to organized a government similar to
other states
 Constitution had to: forbid liquor in Indian Territory and
Osage Nation; establish religious freedom; prohibit
polygamy; guarantee all races the right to vote;
establish free public schools
 Guthrie to remain capital until 1913
 112 delegates met on November 6, 1906 – no women
or blacks
 77 counties were organized
 Progressive Movement was popular – believed that government
could best solve the problems in society
 They wanted to break up and/or regulate large businesses such
as railroads
 They supported an income tax and a greater amount of say in
government by the people
CARRIE NATION
 Alcohol was legal in Oklahoma Territory





but not in Indian Territory
Many disagreed with the laws on both
sides
Women’s Christian Temperance
Movement (WCTM) was powerful force at
the time; wanted to outlaw alcohol use
Carrie Nation led prohibition campaign in
Kansas and Oklahoma; tore down
saloons, broke mirrors, and smashed
liquor bottles
Many European immigrants wanted to
keep alcohol legal since its use was a
part of their culture
Constitutional Convention decided to
leave the issue to a vote by the people
 In November, 1906, fifty-five men from Indian Territory and
fifty-five men from Oklahoma Territory met together to write
a constitution for one state.

 President Roosevelt declared “Oklahoma is now a state!” at 10:16 a.m.
on November 16, 1907.
 The White House telegraph was connected to Guthrie and the minute
the President signed the proclamation, the information was flashed to
the new state.
FRONT PAGE NEWS!!
 An election had already been held to elect a new
governor.
 The capital was in Guthrie.
 A ceremony was held to symbolize the joining of
the two territories. A man stood in as Oklahoma
Territory and a woman stood as Indian Territory.
 It was a pretend wedding, but a nearby minister
“married” the two territories.
Charles N. Haskell
“MARRIAGE” OF OKLAHOMA TERRITORY AND
INDIAN TERRITORY (GUTHRIE)
TWIN TERRITORIES POPULATION
Date
Oklahoma
Territory
Indian Territory
1890
61,000
197,000
1900
400,000
300,000
1907
722,441
691,736
Oklahoma celebrated 100 years in 2007
_______
Her 105th birthday will be Friday, Nov. 16, 2012
Population of the State of Oklahoma 2012
Approximately 3,800,000
TULSA
JUST BEFORE
STATEHOOD
(1906)
TULSA NOW
IN 2012