UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (OKI. 



torial warrants at that date were worth 0.9H and 

 0.99 on the market. The Legislature of 1901 au- 

 thorized the use of the public building fund, 

 amounting to $125,212.52, in payment of certain 

 indebtedness. The Territorial Board of Equaliza- 

 tion in July reported the total valuation of the 

 Territory at $00,4(54,090, against $49,338,001 in 

 1900, an increase of more than 1<S per cent. In 

 January, 1901, the amount to the credit of the 

 common-school fund was $119,395.95, which was 

 distributed among the districts. The amount of 

 taxes collected for 1900 available in January and 

 June, 1901, was $228,245.85. 



Education. In his message to the Legislature 

 Gov. Barnes called attention to the report of the 

 Superintendent of Public Instruction, from which 

 it appeared that about one-fifth of the children of 

 school age in Oklahoma did not attend any public 

 school, and that the average daily attendance at 

 all the public schools was but little more than 

 two-thirds of the total enumeration. 



Valuable geological researches have recently 

 been made under the auspices of the University of 

 Oklahoma. The work of the university in 1901 

 was successful. The graduating class in phar- 

 macy, one of the largest ever graduated in the 

 department, numbered 15. The last Legislature 

 appropriated $90,000 to the university for new 

 buildings and improvements, and these, with a 

 liberal gift of land from the city of Norman, will 

 doubtless insure its permanent location there. 



The Territorial Normal School, at Edmond, has 

 completed its first decade. The enrolment for 

 1900-1901 was about 400. 



The enrolment at the Northwestern Normal 

 School, at Alva, reached about 500, and 354 stu- 

 dents were enrolled at the opening in September. 



Thirty-five students were graduated at the 

 Agricultural and Mechanical College, at Still- 

 water. 



A building for the new preparatory school of 

 the University of Oklahoma has been erected at 

 Tonkawa. 



Important sessions were held in January, at 

 Guthrie, by both white and colored Territorial 

 associations of teachers. Both teachers' associa- 

 tions gave earnest attention to a presentation by 

 the superintendent of the Children's Home Society 

 of the work and needs of this " child-saving agen- 

 cy of Oklahoma." 



The Insane. Under the contract of the Terri- 

 tory with the Oklahoma Sanitary Company, an 

 asylum for the insane is provided at Oklahoma 

 City, to which quarterly visits of inspection are 

 made by a committee of medical men appointed 

 by the Governor. The reports during the year 

 were very favorable to the management and suc- 

 cess of this institution. 



Banks. At the beginning of 1901 there were 

 on deposit in the banks more than $6,000,000, or 

 about $16 for each inhabitant of the Territory. 

 The bank reserve was much greater than the law 

 required. The railroad extensions have led to 

 rapid increase in the number of banks, and the 

 securing of bank locations has become almost a 

 special business. The number of Territorial banks, 

 as shown by the Bank Commissioner's report, 

 March 21, 1901, was 91, a gain of 12 over 1900. 

 July 15, 1901, there were 113 reporting; Sept. 30, 

 127. At the last date the resources and liabilities 

 amounted to $8,508,826.17; increase of deposits 

 from July 15, $811,740.96; increase of loans and 

 discounts, $646,409.81, equal to 19J per cent.; in- 

 . crease of cash and sight exchange, $197,743.24. 



Legislative Session. Among the acts of the 

 Legislature were these: 



Providing for additional buildings for the Uni- 



versity of Ok I - 

 Mechanical Colic;..-. 

 latter was $12,0' HI. 

 Gov. Barnes, IHII ( 

 a writ requiring it I 

 Territory, on the ^i 

 in the Governor'.-^ h,i 

 within which a vetc 

 Crcatin-' a Tcrrit( 



i i< tilt iital and 

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rial I '.i.,i i .I 



consist of (i members and the (,.,,.,,., },',. ; 

 members to be elected by !U inii;,l ,,,..!,', of 

 delegates from county fanners' intitule-. 



To establish a normal school in the MMiti.'.v.-t 

 ern portion of the Territory. In pni~n;ui.c ,,\ 

 this act, Gov. Barnes, in May, appointed ;i hoard 

 of regents for this institution, the location of 

 which was assigned to Greor County. 



To prohibit the sale or offering for sale or bring- 

 ing into the Territory for the purpose of Hah-, or 

 giving away, any cigarettes, cigarette- pa [XT, 01 

 substitute therefor, and making it a misdemeanor 

 for any person except parents or guardians either 

 for himself or for another, to give away cigars, 

 chewing-tobacco, or tobacco in any form, to a 

 minor under the age of fifteen years. 



To establish at Tonkawa a preparatory school 

 for the University of Oklahoma. 



Land Opening. By a proclamation of Presi- 

 dent McKinley, July 4, 1901, about 3.000,000 

 acres of land in the southwestern part of the 

 Territory were opened to settlement under the 

 provisions of the United States homestead and 

 town-site laws. The excitement attending the 

 occupation of the new country aroused an interest 

 throughout the Union only second to that awak- 

 ened by the original rush to Oklahoma twelve 

 years before. The district was speedily popu- 

 lated, and an official estimate places the present 

 number of settlers at 50,000. The new country 

 has been divided into three counties, named Co- 

 manche, Caddo, and Kiowa, after the former In- 

 dian reservations in this section. The county- 

 seats are Lawton (Comanche County, estimated 

 population, 8,000) ; Anadarko (Caddo County, es- 

 timated population, 3,000); and Hobart (Kiowa 

 County, estimated population, 3,000). 



Productions. Nowhere is diversification of 

 crops more practicable than in Oklahoma. When 

 any cereal crop is destroyed, in its place may be 

 planted Kaffir-corn, cotton, broom-corn, melons, 

 Irish or sweet potatoes, or peanuts. The Territory 

 produces the finest quality of cotton. 



The salt industry at Geary has stimulated in- 

 terest in the development of the salt resources of 

 the Territory, which are said to be ample for the 

 needs of the South \vest. 



Oil was found last summer on a farm near Mos- 

 cow, in Woodward County, with indications that 

 created considerable excitement and increased 

 land values in the vicinity. 



Railroads. The railroad mileage was much 

 increased in 1901. Important extensions into the 

 heart of Oklahoma have been made by the Rock 

 Island Railway Company, chief of which is a line 

 to Lawton and continuing southwest into the 

 center of the newly occupied homestead country. 

 This is a direct branch from the Mangum lino, 

 which extends almost due west from Chickasha. 

 Another new branch runs south. 



Lawlessness. In May a resident of loland. 

 Day County, was taken from his home by a pos 

 of cattlemen, and hanged. The victim had booi 

 suspected of poisoning the water that the cattle 

 drank, and "he was lynched as a warning to 

 others." This is said to 'have been the first lynch- 

 ing in Oklahoma since the oirnnization of 

 Territory. In the preceding March a D 



