| Considering the inflated prices that real estate is | | | | in Oklahoma. By the time of the land rush of 1893, |
| experiencing almost universally today, it seems | | | | the rush for the Cherokee Strip, America was |
| incredible that the US government ever sold land off | | | | languishing in the worst economic depression it had |
| at pennies per acre and even gave it away for free, | | | | ever seen. The US government hoped that holding |
| but that's exactly what happened to much of | | | | land races for free land, rather than offering |
| Oklahoma in the late 1800s. What was once reserved | | | | Oklahoma land for sale would stimulate the economy |
| as Indian Territory was opened up to white settlers | | | | by creating farms and crops at a low cost. |
| in the biggest, most chaotic land grab in American | | | | This was one of the factors that swelled the number |
| history. | | | | of hopeful land-racers that day. Many would be |
| Despite the solemn commitment Congress made in | | | | disappointed. There were only 42,000 homesteads - |
| 1828 to a number of Native American tribes that the | | | | far too few to accommodate the estimated 100,000 |
| area eventually becoming Oklahoma would forever | | | | who raced for land that day. Additionally, many of |
| be reserved as Indian Territory, and land they had | | | | the "Boomers" - those who waited for the cannon's |
| been forced to occupy after being driven out of their | | | | boom before rushing into the land claim - found that |
| ancestral lands, Congress reneged on that promise. | | | | most of the choice plots of Oklahoma land had |
| Forcing the Cherokees to put up their Oklahoma land | | | | already been claimed by "Sooners" who had snuck |
| for sale, and to accept a paltry $7,000,000, the US | | | | into the land claim area before the race began. |
| government claimed back 7,000,000 acres. The tribes | | | | The impact of the land rush was immediate, |
| who occupied the lands were known as the Five | | | | transforming the land almost overnight. Unlike Rome, |
| Civilized Tribes; the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, | | | | many cities of Oklahoma were built in a day. William |
| Creek and Seminole - who allied themselves with the | | | | Willard Howard recorded his observations of the |
| South during the Civil War. | | | | Oklahoma land races in Harper's Weekly in May of |
| Following the war, the US government regarded | | | | 1889. He said "At twelve o'clock on Monday, April |
| these tribes as defeated enemies. This animosity, | | | | 22d, the resident population of Guthrie was nothing; |
| combined with increasing pressure to open up the | | | | before sundown it was at least ten thousand. |
| Indian Territory to white settlers, resulted in literally | | | | In that time streets had been laid out, town lots |
| dirt cheap Oklahoma land for sale, and eventually, | | | | staked off, and steps taken toward the formation of |
| free land to whomever could claim it first. | | | | a municipal government. . . Never before in the |
| The newly available Oklahoma land for sale was sold | | | | history of the West has so large a number of people |
| first-come, sold by bid, or won by lottery, or by | | | | been concentrated in one place in so short a time. To |
| means other than a run. The settlers, no matter how | | | | the conservative Eastern man, who is wont to see |
| they acquired occupancy, purchased Oklahoma land | | | | cities grow by decades, the settlement of Guthrie |
| for sale from the United States Land Office. The | | | | was magical beyond belief; to the quick-acting |
| Oklahoma Land Run of 1889 was the most prominent | | | | resident of the West, it was merely a particularly |
| of the land runs, although there were several others. | | | | lively town-site speculation. |
| Between 1889 and 1895 there were seven land races | | | | |