Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 August 1901 — Oklahoma Letter. [ARTICLE]

Oklahoma Letter.

Lawton, Okla., Aug. 1.4,1901, —Editor Democrat, Rensselaer, Ind. —Dear Sir: When I left Indiana I was requested by many of my friends tn write concerning the outlook in Oklahoma, and 1 ean think of no better way to do this than through the columns of your paper. When I reached Oklahoma the registration for the drawing of the new coun-‘ try was going on at El Reno and at Ft. Sill. My brother was employed at El Reno in making out papers for those desiring to register and l! went there and spent a couple of weeks. It was a mighty rush. During the fifteen days there were 167,006 registrations. It was a sight to see them line up before day and await their turn for the booths. I registered, but did not come out lucky in the drawing. I think it is justice to say that for a city of about 7,000 El Reno managed the crowd admirably. The beautiful Oklahoma weather and pleasant nights greatly assisted to make them comfortable, or quite so, while sleeping < n the bare ground, on canvas cots, sidewalks, yards, housetops and freight yard platforms. The exposure that many of the people went through would have meant death to them in the north. Most of the northern people were not u;> to the situation, and by not knowing who to put confidence in, and whereto go for places to sh ep-and get their legal work done, found themselves on the streets, tired and sleepy. I saw many ciowtls of from three to one hundred sleeping on the edge of the sidewalk. But these conditions were soon overcome by the hustling people of the west. Cots, tents, lunch standsand every variety of accommodation was soon lining the streets in every part of town. Many gamblers made great harvests at El Reno. For several days the southbound Rock Island regular trains came in several sections of from tert to twenty cars in each section.

On Thursday, the 19th of July, I saw three sections of the north bound Rock Island loaded ready to pull out and it was a sight; sixty-eight large coaches packed so tightly that it would move almost every one in the car for one more man to crowd onto the steps. Two rows of men sat on the tops of the cars and another stood between them and braced themselves by putting their hands on those that were sitting. Every north bound train for two weeks was very much the same, and the south bound very little better. The crowd seemed to be in a good humor from start to finish; men would joke about having been held up and relieved of $5 or Stoo. After the drawingjyas over I went t 1 Yukon and rested a couple of days ami then started tor Lawton on horseback. My experience on this trip was none the smoothest, Old. Oklahoma is certainly a very tine country. For mil’s and miles the wheat fields extended as far as one could tee and the strawstacks were almost as thick as the shocks are in Indiana. Atone time I counted two hundred and ninety fresh strawstacks in sight, many of them so affected by the mirage that they appeared several hundreed feet high. The first jackrabbit 1 saw I killed with a clod. This is not complim-nting my marknianship, but explaining the rabbit s gre mness for moving about while I was throwing at him. These rabbits are thick in the wheat country and are good food in the winter.

I rode 120 miles through the new country and got a good look at it. There certainly could be no better cattle country. The grass was from eight inches to four feet high and much of it was cured right where it stood. 1 thonght that the first rain that came would bleach it out, but not so. It dried <ff apparently as green as ever, and sprang up as fresh as a new growth. The ranchmen here do not try to provide winter feed, but market their cattle at any time right off the grass. Three-fourths of the new country will raise wheat, one-half of it fine wheat. 1 Many Texas men are here examining the territory for cotton locations. Lots lof them will locate as soon as they can buy out the homesteaders. Lawton is certainly a remarkable city. It sprang in ten days from an open ] raine to a city of 20,000 or 30,000. The people are still living in tents and wagons, and prairie fires occasionally make them pull up stakes and Swann. There is wagon burning now off to the south about a quarter of a mile. The town lots : here are selling all the way from Sio to ’ 81,o<x>, averaging about £650. Most men think that the agricultural and mining ‘ industries here will support a city of 15.- ' 000 to 20,000 people, and the climate 19 I almost perfect. The mountains nearby stop the rain and give us plent'v of moist- ' ure, making this a corn country as well las a wheat and cotton country. There will doubtless be some good coal mines I near.the foot hills; west of this city. There are several "placer" mines staked within six miles of here, and oil of the quality found in Jasper county has been . dis overed oozing from the mountain sides. One drill is working the second hole about fourteen miles northeast of this city and claim to have found good ' oil in the first. Many miners are here ; prospecting. Cattle interests here are undergoing a change and will soon be in better tjontli- ; tion for small owners, large ca»tle owners being driven out by the settlement of the country. It will take some time for this Country to develop into a general farming country. ’ Pernaps three years before the towns will support large wheat elevators and cotton compressers and gins. They ! are sure to come, however, and just as ! scon as the settlers can produce the ‘ nececsary wheat and cotton. This new country will hasten the statehood of Ok- : lahoma. The climate Ts about like that of Ten--1 nesee, perhaps a little warmer and a . tritle less humiditv in the atmosphere, and vastly better soil. Improved farmi ing machinery can 0e used to perfection, jI used to hear men sa> that the soil here was as red as a brick and too poor too I produce anything. Some of the soil is ; quite red, but as to its being so poor, ■ thirty -five bushels of fine wheat per acre will not prove that. It is my belief that the most of this new country will in time become a cotj ton district, which, on account of the im- , proved tnethods in cotton farming, will I make it immensely valuable. Altnough wheat is the most profitable, it furnishes i such fine pasture that it has paid well for the seeding before the winters are I over and then when twenty-five to forty bushels per acre are threshed it is no wonder that Oklahoma farmers go well dressed‘and apparently well fed. One fault 1 can find with this Country: men here become averse to physical labor, , but it is no wonder. All the cattle man 1 has to do is tp pick out bis fattest ones

occasionally and ship them to market. The wheat farmer has his September seeding, his June harvest and July threshing,taking in all not over two months and a half. Aside from this he has little else but marketing,* leaving at least eight months in a year for leisure or hustling at something else. There are lots of farmers owning 160 acres of wheat land that have retired to some city or town and enjoy a good living on the rental.

Most of the Indians were advisid in their choice ol allotments and have chosen pretty fine land. Very few of them try to farm, and their lands will all be for lease. The government used to build them good houses and they would put their ponies in them and live in their sheds, made of brush. I have seen whole towns of them living this way. There are three Indian villages near Lawton this week; they may be ten miles from here by this time next week. The showy and foolish ones are enjoying this boom on account of the chance it affords them to show off before the whites, hut the wise old fellows say, “Injun heap poor, white man heap steal.” But the Indian cannot justly complain. It Uncle Bam spent as much pel head on all his. subjects as he does on his Indians he would go broke in a week. Many of the squaws dress in silks and velvet and consider themselves “Heap big Injun." 1 talked with business men in Elreno who had increased their capital in ten years from two or three hundred to twenty or thirty thousand in the grocery, I dry goods, hardware and other mercantile business. Oklahoma City is a great town foi warehouses and the wholesale business. It is a fine little city and is destined to become a great railroad center. Annedarko, 1 do not think wi'l come up to the expectations of some, although it will be a good little town and a county seat. Hobart is a booming town with a tine agricultural country on one side of it and Oklahoma’s best prospect for gold and copper close on the other. Several small town sites have been selected, some of which will die out entirely while others wiii make good towns. If I had the poetical gift that is enjoyed by some of my Indiana friends 1 could write for hours on the beauty of the scene before me, but one month of travel and occasionally a day's fast or thirst, together with sleeping on the ground and covering with the sky has taken some ot tha poetry out yf me. Wi.h the field glass I can see a large herd oi long-horned cattle grazing on a hillside south of us and by my locating map can tell that it is fourteen miles to that slop- .on the other side of Cache creek. This may seem strange to one who never saw this clear atmosphere but the glass, which is not a very strong otie, shows p'ainly the spots and horns. To the northeast is an Indian village, with all its accompanying noises, odors, and bright colors. To the southeast is the mushroom city of Lawton. Its countless tents and covered wagons looking like a huge army camp, and the continuous roar of of its carpenters’ hammers sounding like a charge of musketry. The buildings that are now going up are mostly very temporary but will soon be replaced with substantial brick and stone, as there is an abundance of each already being gotten out close by the town. - Henry B. Farmer.