OKLAHOMA. 



ONTARIO. 



598 



Still water, 10,000 from Kiowa, 3,000 fr<,m llnn- 

 newell. and from . r ).(MMi |<> ti.iiOO from oilier 

 points. The total number was nearly (loiil)le 

 the crowd that raced into Oklahoma when it 

 was lirM opened. The greatest rush was into the 

 ra.-t.Tii portion of the country, which contains 

 by far the most fertile and best watered farming 

 lands. 



.Seven counties were formed out of this tract 

 by the Secretary of the Interior, and their county 

 .-cat- located before the settlement took place. 

 The letters from K to Q, inclusive, were used to 

 designate these county divisions until the set- 

 tlers shall select names. After the first wild 

 scenes attending the entry, the work of erecting 

 towns and farmhouses began. A number of 

 thriving villages soon sprang up at the several 

 county scats, among them the villages of Perry, 

 Knid, Alva, and Woodward. Before the end of 

 the year Gov. Renfrew had appointed the 

 various county officials, town officers had been 

 chosen, and the machinery of local govern- 

 ment was in full operation. 



Statehood. There appears to be some dif- 

 ference of opinion in the Territory as to the 

 manner in which Statehood should be attained, 

 or, in other words, whether the Indian Territory 

 should form with Oklahoma one State, or 

 whether Oklahoma alone should be admitted. 

 On Aug. 8 a convention of representative citi- 

 zens of Oklahoma met at El Reno for the pur- 

 pose of considering this problem, at which, after 

 prolonged discussion, a majority of the members 

 declared themselves in favor of a single State 

 for both Territories. A committee was ap- 

 pointed to confer with the governors of the 5 

 Indian tribes and to arrange, if possible, for a 

 constitutional convention representing both 

 Territories, which should frame a proposed 

 government for the new State. This plan ap- 

 pears not to have been accomplished ; but on 

 Sept. 30 an interterritorial Statehood conven- 

 tion met at Purcell, in the Indian Territory, at 

 which delegates from both Territories were 

 present, and at which the following resolution 

 was adopted : 



That we favor the passage by Congress of an 

 enabling act empowering a constitutional convention 

 to be called creating a State from the present Terri- 

 tory of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory as pro- 

 vided in the Carey bill. 



A memorial to Congress in favor of single 

 Statehood was also adopted as representing the 

 sentiment of the Indian Territory. On Oct. 28 

 a second interterritorial convention met at 

 Kingfisher, in Oklahoma, at which the Choctaw 

 and Chickasaw nations were represented by 

 delegates. This convention also resolved in 

 favor of a single State. In spite of these public 

 expressions, a considerable number of Oklahoma 

 people are opposed to any union with the Indian 

 Territory whatever, while others prefer to wait 

 until the lands within that Territory have been 

 apportioned and held in severally. 



The Sooner. By the term "sooner " is des- 

 ignated a class of persons who have entered 

 and located claims upon any part of the public 

 domain prior to the time fixed by law for its 

 opening to settlers. At the first settlement of 

 Oklahoma, and at each subsequent opening of 

 reservation lands, those people who sought to 

 VOL. xxxin. 38 A 



nl icy the strict letter of the law often found, on 

 nuning over the bonier and reaching the near- 

 e-t town site, that the best lots had a I read 

 located by " sooners." Much strife and 'litiga- 

 tion necessarily resulted from this condition. 

 There could be no question, under the statutes 

 authorizing these settlements, that persons 

 wrongfully within the territory to be opened 

 prior to its opening would forfeit all right to 

 acquire title; but the question arose whether 

 persons rightfully within the territory could, 

 after the time for opening had arrived, proceed 

 to locate upon it. This question was brought 

 before the United States Supreme Court in the 

 case of Smith rs. Townsend, and decided, on 

 April 3 of this year, against the "sooner's" 

 rights. The plaintiff was a section hand on the 

 Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, whose 

 right of way ran through the country opened 

 on April 22, 1889. Being on that day rightfully 

 upon this right of way, he stepped off after t he- 

 hour of noon and located a claim on an adjoin- 

 ing tract of land. The Court said : 



The evident intent of Congress was by this legisla- 

 tion to put a wall around this entire territory and 

 disqualify from the right to acquire under the home- 

 stead laws any tract within its limits every one who 

 was not outside of that wall on April 22. When the 

 hour came the wall was thrown down, and it was a 

 race between all outside for the various tracts they 

 might desire to take to themselves as homesteads. 



Colored Convention. In April a Territorial 

 convention representing the colored citizens of 

 the Territory met at Guthrie. and, after a full 

 discussion, organized a Territorial league for mu- 

 tual protection and advancement. It declared 

 that 



The objects of the league are to protest against 

 taxation without representation ; to secure a more 

 equitable distribution of school funds in those sec- 

 tions where separate schools exist ; to insist upon a 

 fair and impartial trial by a judge and jury of peers 

 in all causes of law wherein we may be a party ; to 

 resist by all legal and reasonable means mob and 

 lynch law whereof we are made the victims, and to 

 insist upon the arrest and punishment of all such of- 

 fenders against our legal rights ; to resist the tyran- 

 nical usages of all railroad, steamboat, and other cor- 

 porations, and the violent or unlawful conduct of 

 their employees in all cases where we are concerned. 



The Indian Territory. This Territory, 

 which maybe admitted to the Union at an early 

 date, either separately or as a part of Oklahoma, 

 contains a population of about 250,000. of whom 

 about 50,000 are members of the Indian tribes. 

 The remaining 200,000 are citizens of the United 

 States who have been invited there by the laws 

 enacted by the tribes. They are tradesmen, 

 mechanics^ and farmers, to whom is largely due 

 the progress that the tribes have made in 

 recent years in the development of their re- 

 sources. The area of the Territory is 80,913 

 square miles, divided among the five nations, as 

 follows: Choctaws, 10.450; Cherokees, 7,851; 

 Chickasaws, 7,287 ; Creeks. 4.750 ; Seminoles. >.">. 



ONTARIO. Legislative. The Provincial 

 Legislature was opened by Lieut.-Gov. Sir 

 George Airey Kirkpatrick, April 4, in the new 

 Parliament buildings, Toronto, and was closed 

 May 27. Sir George was appointed Lieutenant- 

 Govenior in 1892. after the death of Sir Alexan- 

 der Campbell. The new Lieutenant-Governor 



