Oklahoma Territory

“ The Indian Territory became the State of Oklahoma in 1907; the story of the white man's peaceful invasion is one of absorbing interest; the human spectacle of to-day is complex, even kaleidoscopic. In the thirties and forties the government had established in the territory the five civilized Indian nations, the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles, each with its allotted boundaries, its native government, its legislatures, and its courts. ”

“ Up to within a few years Oklahoma was a part of what was then the "Indian Territory." Now it has been separated from what may be described as its original parent, and is entirely distinct. It contains nearly 40,000 square miles, and has a population of about a quarter of a million, exclusive of about 18,000 Indians. It contains more than twice as many people to the square mile as many of the Western States and Territories, and is in a condition of thriving prosperity, which is extraordinary, when its extreme youth as a Territory is considered. ”

“ Our churches and schools must be multiplied and our brethren of the ministry must be fully reinforced by competent educated men trained for christian work. What the future has in store for the whole Territory was illustrated by the marvelous rush into and settlement of Oklahoma Territory during the last year. ”

“ The territory, so young but so dauntless, was already agitating the question of statehood—not only so, but of single statehood, meaning thereby the prospective engulfment and assimilation of Indian Territory, that all the land from Texas to Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas might be called by the one name—Oklahoma; a name to stand forever as a symbol of the marvelously swift and permanent growth of a white people, in spite of its Choctaw significance—"Red People."
Although Wilfred had stayed close to his farm, near Oklahoma City, he had kept alive to the rush and swing of the western life ”

“ The wonderful region in which these spires are, in point of attraction, ranks with the sunny slopes of Italy, and the rugged grandeur of the Bernese Oberland. The scenery in this locality is so varied, so grand, and so impressive, that contemplative pauses must be made in order that the eye may grasp all the charming details of the view. LIFE IN OKLAHOMA, Oklahoma Territory.—Oklahoma Territory is a beautiful stretch of country, abounding in vast and fertile plains. In the eastern part, the soil is particularly rich and well irrigated, making it almost as productive as a garden. ”

“ The part of the Cherokee Outlet so attached to Logan county for judicial purposes being 'all that part of Cherokee Outlet which lies between the line dividing ranges three and four west of the Indian meridian, and the line dividing ranges six and seven east of the Indian meridian, except townships twenty of ranges one, two three and four, east of the Indian meridian,' which part is outside of the boundaries of Oklahoma Territory. ”

“ Population. From 1890 to 1900 Oklahoma was a prominent centre for native-born American colonists. The great fertility of the land was an irresistible attraction to home-seekers. The population increased from 61,834 in 1890 to 398,331 (excluding Indians—13,873) in 1900, or 544 per cent. Kansas, Missouri, and Texas have been the largest contributors to the population. The opening of additional territory since the 1900 census was taken has resulted in a large increase to the total population. Naturally the urban population is small, only 5 per cent. ”

“ There is a University Preparatory School (1901) at Tonkawa in Kay county, and there are state schools of agriculture at Tishomingo and at Warner. The common schools are in large part maintained out of the proceeds of the school lands (about 1,200,000 acres) , which are sections 16 and 36 in each township of that portion of the state which formerly constituted Oklahoma Territory, and a Congressional appropriation of $5,000,000 in lieu of these sections in what was formerly Indian Territory. ”

“ Within fifteen years Oklahoma had a population of over half a million; and Congress provided (1906) for the admission, in 1907, of a new forty-sixth state, including both Oklahoma and what was left of the old Indian Territory.
SUMMARY 1. One important result of the Civil War was a great industrial revolution.
2. Mining for precious metals, the Northern Pacific Railroad, and other causes led to the admission into the Union of Colorado (1876) , North and South Dakota, Montana, Washington (1889) , Idaho, Wyoming (1890) , Utah (1896) , and Oklahoma (1907) . ”

“ Indian Territory (186) , a stretch of country in the basin of the Arkansas, Canadian, and Red Rivers, with Kansas on the N., Arkansas on the E., Oklahoma Territory on the W., and separated by the Red River from Texas on the S., set apart for the occupation of the Indian tribes of the western prairies; formerly double its present size, it has been reduced by the purchase in 1890 of Oklahoma.; in the centre and east are fertile plains and great forests of walnut and maple, in which deer and bears abound; the west is a treeless prairie supporting vast herds of cattle ”

“ The Dawes bill released a fertile acreage to be distributed to the land hungry who had banked up around the borders of Kansas, Arkansas, and Texas. Oklahoma, as a territory, appeared in 1890, while in eighteen more years, swallowing up the whole Indian Country, it had taken its place as a member of the Union. Between the northern tier of states and Oklahoma, the middle West had grown as well. Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado, the last creating eleven new counties in its eastern third in 1889, had seen their population densify under the stimulus of easy transportation. ”

“ Agriculture and Stock-raising.—For some time before the first opening to settlement by white men in 1899, the territory now embraced in Oklahoma was largely occupied by great herds of cattle driven in from Texas, and since then, although the opening was piecemeal, the agricultural development has been remarkably rapid. By 1900, 22,988,339 acres, or 52.1%, of the total land surface was included in farms, and 8,574,187 acres, or 37.7%, of the farm land was improved. ”

“ Finally, it must be remembered that the United States accompanied its grants to petitioners with the promise that 'no part of the land granted to them shall ever be embraced in any Territory or State.' In light of this promise, it is only by the purest of legal fictions that there can be found even a semblance of an understanding (on which Oklahoma necessarily places its principal reliance) , that the United States retained title in order to grant it to some future State. ”

“ On the other hand, it might have been selfish for a few Indians to think they could stand forever in the path of so many white men. Still depending on how you look at it, and whether you're white or red, it was either 'the march of civilization,' or 'conquest.' Anyhow, the five 'civilized' tribes, the Cherokees, Creeks, Chickasaws, Choctaws, and Seminoles, were told that if they'd give their eastern lands to white men, the territory later to be known as Oklahoma would be theirs forever. ”

“ Oklahoma City, according to the report of the Census Office, has a population of about 4,100, and this donation would be equivalent to nearly $10 per capita. Very little real estate, whether town-site or country property, in this Territory is yet subject to assessment for taxation. The people have not yet had time to accumulate, and Congress has received appeals for aid to relieve a prevailing distress which the Territorial authorities have found themselves unable to deal with. ”

“ In all these tribes Protestantism has gained a hearing and has a few church members; but there are strong pagan parties, and even among the Christian part there is undoubtedly a strong old heathen element beneath an outward conformity to Christianity. It was strongly urged on Congress a few years since to erect this tract into a recognized territory of Oklahoma, with a government like that of other Territories, preparatory to its admission as a State. The outbursts of savage fury between factions in the tribes, however, made men hesitate to give autonomy to them. ”

“ The discovery of oil and gas wells within the territory produced great prosperity among the Indians owning these lands which have been leased for operation. The movement for statehood in the territory began in 1892 and was followed by a Constitutional Convention held in 1905. The preference of the inhabitants of the territory was for separate statehood, but Congress, however, preferred to establish a joint state composed of Oklahoma and Indian Territory. The statehood bill was passed by Congress in June, 1906, and on Nov. ”

“ A large portion are one-half or more white blood and the Creeks and some others have more or less negro blood. In 1906 there were 257,100 communicants of various churches in Oklahoma and Indian Territory, the Methodist Episcopalians being the most numerous, and next to them the Baptists. The population in places having 4000 inhabitants or more increased from 29,978 in 1900 to 140,579 in 1907, or 368.9%, while the population outside of such places increased from 760,413 to 1,273,598, or only 67.5%. ”

“ In 1899, 240,678 acres were devoted to this crop. The cultivation of potatoes, sorghum, melons, peanuts, castor beans, and broom corn receives considerable attention. Not a little fruit is grown. The peach trees in 1900 numbered 5,519,072, or over five-eighths of the total number of fruit trees. In 1900 there were 5,733,385 acres of vacant Government land in the Territory subject to homestead entry. A great part of this was in the arid Beaver County, formerly known as ‘No Man's Land.’ For the recent opening of land to settlement, see section History. ”

“ When, at noon, April 22, the cavalrymen who patroled the borders fired their carbines as a signal that the settlers could move across the line, a great shout went up, and the race for claims began. Hundreds crowded the trains, thousands rode on fleet horses, many rode in buggies and buckboards, others in heavy farm wagons, and some even made the race on foot. In the morning Oklahoma was an uninhabited prairie, at midday it was a surging mass of earnest, excited humanity, in the evening it was a land of many people. ”

“ The rise of Oklahoma to statehood within so brief a period as 18 years, when it was a vast cattle-range and Indian hunting-ground, is phenomenal, and bodes well for a still greater and more prosperous future. ”

“ Has Oklahoma been admitted upon an equal footing with the original states? If she has, she, by virtue of her jurisdictional sovereignty as such a state, may determine for her own people the proper location of the local seat of government. She is not equal in power to them if she cannot. ”

“ Serious questions, which may at any time lead to violent outbreaks, are awaiting the institution of courts for their peaceful adjustment. The American genius for self-government has been well illustrated in Oklahoma; but it is neither safe nor wise to leave these people longer to the expedients which have temporarily served them.
Provision should be made for the acquisition of title to town lots in the towns now established in Alaska, for locating town sites, and for the establishment of municipal governments. ”

“ Facts above what fictions say,
Where the world with haste advances,—
Born are nations in a day!
Where the wigwam stood so lonely,
Lordly cities rise in might;
Where spread desert wildness only,
Fertile farms and homes delight.
Thou hast summoned to thy bosom
From the ends of all the earth,
All the youngest, strongest, bravest,
Full of will and wondrous worth.
O'er thy valleys grow the blossoms
Culled from earth's remotest sod;
Oklahoma! Oklahoma!
Land, O, Land of the Fair God!
Oklahoma! Oklahoma!
There is music in thy name.
There is gladness in thy glory,
There is fondness in thy fame! ”

“ Speaker, as Chairman of the Committee on Public Lands, I demand for the future citizens of Oklahoma, those honest, hard-working Americans that they be given self government, and so forth, and so forth. ”

“ Others continue in office, escaping the wiles of the enemy, not through a miracle, but through the arousing of the public conscience. Today there are some 2,000,000 people in the State of Oklahoma, and as in every other State, the great majority of them are upright citizens. ”

“ The State of Oklahoma will start with a population of fully a million and a half—about equal to that of California, and considerably above that of such commonwealths as Louisiana, South Carolina, or Maryland. If New Mexico and Arizona should be united, they will have about half a million inhabitants. In area they will form the second State in the Union, inferior only to Texas. ”

“ Many of the men who started the agitation to have Oklahoma opened for settlement by white citizens are still alive, and some of them have had their heart's desire fulfilled, and now occupy little homes they have built in some favorite nook and corner of their much loved, and at one time grievously coveted, country. ”

“ In 1900 the illiterate population amounted to 5.5 per cent. of the total population ten years of age and over. Almost from the first Oklahoma has provided facilities for primary education equal to those of the most advanced States. The first public structure in almost every community was a schoolhouse. Two sections in each township were reserved for the use and benefit of the common schools. The income from the rental of these lands has increased annually, and in 1890 amounted to $189,486. ”