Rensselaer Journal, Volume 10, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 June 1901 — The Oklahoma Race. [ARTICLE]

The Oklahoma Race.

Another reason why Oklahoma piques the interest, says Helen Churchill Candce, in the Atlantic, Is that almost every one remembers the unique way In which It sprang into beiug as a land for civilized men, and yet only those who actually took part in the Run remember Its excitement and Its injustices. First the land was bought from the Indians and surveyed in a plaid of mile-square sections with stones or blazed trees to mark the corners. Then the militia swept the country of every unofficial being, and the Government having duly advertised the date of this gTend gift distribution, somebody fired a pistol into the air at the time selected, and nearly one hundred thousand desperate, greedy folk burst through the boundaries and ran for prizes. They had come from distances near and far, and had camped for days near the border with a saddle horse, a buggy, or a farm wagon and team, for hours before the signal, had stood in line restrained by the militia. In that mad race, brute strength, selfishness and blind disregard of others were what won. If a racer’s horse fell, others rode over him; If a neighbor lost a wheel, so much the better; if women or the aged were not strong enough to keep the pace, then there were fewer In the race.