OKLAHOMA. 



609 



not included in the list of taxable property, the 



je value mill improvements of which are 



.-qua! to tin- land- assessed, and abnegate at the 



-amr rale about $23,300,000. Deducting 190,- 



ivs for school lands and 100,000 acres for 



Indian allotments, wo have 3, 150,000 acres, worth 



in round numbers $21, (500.000, and four fifths of 



it will be subject to taxation in 1893-'94. 



(.duration. The school population of the 

 Territory, so far as returns have been made, is 

 as follows: County A, 3,557; County B, 1,626; 

 r County, 810; Canadian County, 3,119; 

 Cleveland County, 2,709: Kingfisher County, 

 : Logan County, (5,536 ; Oklahoma County, 

 : Payne County, 3,023 ; total, exclusive of 

 c. h. !:. !'.<;. and 1 ["Counties, 31,920. This em- 

 braces all children between the ages of six and 

 twenty-one years, that are reported. 



In addition to what has been raised by direct 

 taxation, and as proceeds from fines in criminal 

 ea-e>. there has been apportioned to the several 

 school districts in proportion to their school 

 population moneys arising from the rental of 

 school lands in the Territory to the amount of 

 *.M.::4(5.13. The schools of the Territory, con- 

 sidering the unsettled condition of affairs inci- 

 dent to the development of a new country, are in 

 a very prosperous condition. 



There has been established, in pursuance of 

 the act of the first Legislative Assembly, a Ter- 

 ritorial university, for the purpose of giving in- 

 struction in the higher branches of learning. 

 This institution has been built at the city of 

 Norman, in Cleveland County, and a faculty and 

 a complete corps of instructors have been en- 

 gaged, and the institution is ready for the recep- 

 tion of students. 



A normal school has been established at Ed- 

 mund, in Oklahoma County, and the board of 

 -regents have nearly completed the necessary 

 buildings therefor. 



The first Legislative Assembly of the Terri- 

 tory availed itself of the encouragement offered 

 by Congress for the establishment of institutions 

 for the diffusion of knowledge in agriculture 

 and the mechanic arts, and passed a law provid- 

 ing for the erection of an agricultural and me- 

 chanical college at Stillwater, in Payne County. 

 The board of regents of that institution have 

 during the past year prepared the land for a 

 farm and erected buildings thereon, and are 

 making rapid progress with the work. 



Agriculture. During the year the climatic 

 conditions have been very favorable to success- 

 ful agriculture, and the soil of Oklahoma has 

 demonstrated its capability of producing large 

 crops of all the staple cereals, vegetables, and 

 fruits. There have been grown as much as 44 

 bushels of wheat and 1 18 bushels of oats to the 

 acre on a few choice farms. Owing to the low 



C rices for cotton, but little was planted ; but a 

 irge acreage of corn was planted, and in some 

 localities a large crop was raised. In other local- 

 ities drought cut it short. The 100-acre farms 

 will average 50 acres each in cultivation. 



Stock Raising:. For 1892 there were assessed 

 in the Territory for taxation 52,896 horses, 

 mules, and asses, 145,077 cattle, 15,559 sheep, and 

 30,168 swine. These figures do not include 

 Counties C, D, E, P, G, and H, in which no as- 

 sessment was made. 



VOL. xxxii. 39 A 



Railroads. The Atchison.Topekaand Santa 

 Fe Railroad, running south from Arkansas < ity, 

 Kan., and crossing the Cherokee Strip, enters 

 the Territory on the north line of Logan County 

 and extends through the Territory in a southerly 

 direction through Logan, Cleveland, and Okla- 

 homa Counties, 80'32 miles, its terminus being 

 at Galveston, Tex. 



The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Rail- 

 road extends south from Caldwell, Kan., and, 

 crossing the Cherokee Strip, enters Oklahoma 

 at the north line of Kingfisher County and runs 

 thence in a southerly direction through the 

 counties of Kingfisher and Canadian into the 

 Chickasaw country, through which it is now 

 being constructed to its ultimate destination, at 

 some point on the Gulf of Mexico. 



The Choctaw Coal and Railway Company has 

 built, equipped, and put in running operation 

 a line of road from El Reno, in Canadian Coun- 

 ty, to Oklahoma City, in Oklahoma County, 

 about 30 miles, during the past year. Work is 

 now progressing on the extension of the line to 

 the coal fields of South McAllister, in the Choc- 

 taw Nation. 



Banks. There are 5 national banks in the 

 Territory, of $50,000 capital stock each, with an 

 average of $150,000 deposit account each, and 

 4 incorporated banks, 2 of $50,000 capital stock 

 each and 2 of $30.000 capital stock each. 



Settlement of Lands. In the reservations 

 that have been opened to settlement, exclusive 

 of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe country, all of 

 the land that is susceptible of cultivation has 

 been entered under the homestead laws and is 

 occupied by settlers and their families. Homes 

 have been established, and the land' is being put 

 into cultivation as fast as the time and means of 

 the settlers will permit. In the Cheyenne and 

 Arapahoe country nearly all of the land in the 

 eastern portion has been entered and settled 

 upon, and is fast being converted into an agri- 

 cultural country. In the western half of the 

 last-named country, while many homesteads 

 have been taken and are being improved, yet 

 there is still a large amount of land unsettled. 



There are belonging to the Territory and still 

 unopened to settlement the following areas oc- 

 cupied by Indian tribes: Osages, 2,290 square 

 miles; Kansas, 150 square miles; Tonkawas. 150 

 square miles; Poncas, 150 square miles; Otoes 

 and Missourias, 200 square miles; Pawnees, 442 

 square miles ; Kickapoos, 270 square miles: Wi- 

 chitas, 1,161 square miles; Kiowas. Comanches, 

 and Apaches, 4,750 square miles; and the 

 Cherokee Outlet, 9,110 square miles; total, 

 18,609 square miles. 



Political. As five sixths of the session of 

 the first Territorial Legislature was spent in 

 quarreling over the capital location, but little 

 time was afforded for the work of preparing a 

 code of laws, and many grave defects and 

 omissions in the statutes necessarily resulted. 

 Among other things, the Legislature failed to 

 provide for the division of the Territory into 

 legislative districts, or for holding an election 

 this year for members of the Legislature or for 

 any other officers. These defects were remedied 

 by act of Congress passed in July as a rider to 

 the Deficiency- Appropriation bill, which ap- 

 pointed Gov. Seay and two others as commis- 



