Oklahoma Journeys
Week of April 22, 2007
Oklahoma Land Run - April 22, 1889
This week, making a run from the border. One of the unique components of Oklahoma is the method of using land runs, there were three altogether, to open up various sections of land. The first of these runs, perhaps the first such event in the known history of the world, occurred one hundred seventeen years ago today and it's the topic of this week's Oklahoma Journeys: Celebrating our Centennial from the Oklahoma Historical Society.
From the Oklahoma Historical Society, this is Oklahoma Journeys: Celebrating our Centennial. I'm Michael Dean.
Most Oklahoman's know about the land runs that helped to open up various parts of their state. These wild events can be and are viewed as both wonderfully adventurous and tragic beyond belief. While white settlers involved themselves in a race for what some might call their last chance at making it, various Native American nations watched the land that was promised to them for as long as the waters shall run swallowed up by the advancing hoard. For better or worse this week marks the 117th anniversary of the first of five Oklahoma land runs. Following the U.S. Civil War a somewhat rectangular chunk of land in approximately the center of present day Oklahoma was taken away from Native American nations as a form of punishment for some of them having served in the confederacy. This land was allowed to lay vacant until a constant campaign to open those lands finally proved effective.
David L. Payne was a one man boomer campaign fighting for years to open up these now unoccupied lands to white settlement. Although Payne never lived to see the fruit of his labor the land was indeed eventually opened and done so via the land run system. No other known part of the world has ever been settled in this manner and probably for good reason. Beginning weeks before the opening date hopeful settlers gathered in border towns in Kansas all massing to prepare themselves for the great run. Horses were trained and hardened up in order to make the run at as fast as speed as possible while people stockpiled as many supplies as possible. On the celebrated day the crowd of thousands now surrounded the border of the unassigned lands waiting for the alarm. At exactly 12:00 noon on April 22nd cannons stationed along the line exploded and the crowd surged forward as one. A mass of humanity riding horses, carriages, bicycles and even running and walking swarmed in to the area. Trains carrying hopefuls to town lots were allowed to move forward only as fast as a horse could travel stopping at Edmond, Guthrie and other town sites. The hated sooners quickly made their appearance having illegally entered the land earlier than allowed some soaping up their horses to make them appear foamy with sweat and some getting shot for their illegal actions. As a method of settlement the land run was, I'm sure, spectacular to watch but it proved to be not at all practical as great numbers of complications occurred during every step of the process. From participating in the actual run, finding land and more importantly keeping it, to filing for your claim afterward, the process was full of fraud, hazards and entanglements. The chaotic nature of the event, however, apparently didn’t phase officials as four other land runs took place over the next six years. You can see a wagon that actually made that land run into what is today Central Oklahoma on display in the Oklahoma History Center, in Oklahoma City on NE 23rd Street just east of the state capitol. Oklahoma Journeys: Celebrating our Centennial is a production of the Oklahoma Historical Society dedicated to the collection, preservation and sharing of our state’s past. I'm Michael Dean.