Western Re-Enactment In The United Kingdom
If you don't see a menu to the left, click here!

>> click here to go back to the list of contributed works <<

THE OKLAHOMA LAND RUSH

By 'RoundUp'.

 

It's 11:55am, Monday April 22nd, 1889. At designated areas on both the borders of Arkansas and Texas more than a combined number of 190,000 people had gathered, all eagerly awaiting a single gunshot and the dropping of an army flag which would signal the start of the biggest, most chaotic event of area settlement in world history!. Never had such a mass of hopeful dream-makers been so quiet...the only sounds to be heard being the occasional snort of a horse, or the impatient stamp of a hoof, as the many thousands of covered-wagon drivers, lone riders, or the many people on foot, each carrying that small, triangular flag which might, or might not, dictate the future course of their lives, strained to listen for the sound of that single shot!.
 
A community had built up over the weeks since the congressional announcement had been made and people had started to gather, folks had become friendly, even neighbourly, but, always, there had been but a single thought in their minds...to claim their new homes.
 
There was only one rule...Start before the official signal and you ran a gauntlet of mounted cavalry troopers equipped with Winchester '84 carbines!.
 
Several tried, and were buried where they fell!.
 
The settlement of the Oklahoma Territory wasn't a 'spur of the moment' decision; it had been planned by Congress for many months prior to the announcement of a date at which the settlers would be allowed to claim it.
 
Towns had been planned, in 6-mile square blocks, and divided into 'lots', allowing bigger 'lots' for banks, livery-stables, hotels, and stockyards...ranches and homesteads had been surveyed, and divided up into 1-mile square areas of 640 acres each, which many of the 'land-rushers' had seen previously, and hoped to claim for their own.
 
It was now 11:59am. A cavalry bugle played 'prepare for action'...the tension was now so high it could be tasted in the air as folks prepared themselves to make the mad dash to their new lives...
 
...the watch in the Commanding Officer's left hand inexorably ticked it's way upwards and, slowly, he raised his Colt New Army Model .45 in his right hand...more than 190,000 breath's were held, all eyes glued to the trooper who held the flag...
 
...suddenly, it all happened at once...the shot was fired, the flag was dropped, and all hell was let loose!...the wagons, the riders, the people on foot, all surged forward with a tremendous roar, all thoughts of community gone, each intent only on securing their new lives.
 
Many were killed in that sudden rush...wagon's collapsed over the rough ground, horses fell, runners were mowed down...nothing else mattered other than making it first to the land that they'd all set their hearts on!.
 
Within minutes, the first two miles looked like a battleground, with the destruction, the dead, and the wailing injured! Field hospitals were rapidly set-up, and huge bonfires were started to deal with the debris as the surviving settlers disappeared into the distance.
 
Almost 70% of those who started out attained their dream...but what of the remaining thousands?.
 
The First town to be established was called 'Guthrie', (in honour of the first family to arrive).
 
It's said that Rome wasn't built in a day, but Guthrie was...in fact, it's more correct to say that it was built in an afternoon.
 
At Midday on the 22nd of April, the population of Guthrie was zero, but by sundown that day, it had built up to more than 10,000. In that short afternoon, streets had been laid out, town-lot's had been claimed, and steps taken towards the formation of a municipal town council...and by twilight the camp-fires of thousands of people twinkled peacefully on the slopes of the Cimarron Valley!.
 
This was the first of many hurriedly-erected towns...and more followed in rapid succession over the next weeks, but...........hold on a sec, here!, ain't we'all forgettin' sump'n?.
 
When the 'Indian Wars' were drawing to a close around 1884/5, the Cherokee people were forcibly removed from their lands in South Dakota/North Kansas and moved South, to an area which was then known as 'The Indian Nation's', (which they re-named 'Oklahoma'...meaning 'Beautiful Land')...and promised that this land would be 'theirs forever'...so what happened there?.
 
Perhaps an Idea for another article?.
 

 
End
.