Buck—The Settlement of Oklahoma. 351 
that memorable opening day, the principal ones being King¬ 
fisher, where the other land office was located, and Korman, 
which later became the site of the territorial university. At 
each of these places the scenes and events of the first few days 
at Guthrie and Oklahoma City were reproduced on a smaller 
scale. Outside of the cities, practically all of the available 
land was taken up by would-be farmers during the course of a 
few days. 1 The opening was too late in the spring for the fann¬ 
ers to do much in the way of crops the first year, and so most 
of them proceeded to build rude houses and make themselves 
comfortable in their new home when not putting in their time 
quarreling over the title to their quarter-sections. Although 
a great many of those who* took up homesteads were farmers 
who wished to better their conditions, there was also- a large 
proportion of people from the other walks of life, who, having 
won a quarter-section in the rush, were forced to live on it and 
turn farmers in order to prove up* their claims. The demand 
for land was so great that the sections reserved for the- benefit 
of the schools were readily rented during the year. 
Perhaps the most noticeable thing about the first opening in 
Oklahoma was the imbecile policy or lack of policy of the 
government in regard to it, which led to so much confusion, 
illegality, corruption and future litigation. Although the In¬ 
terior department can not be blamed for the failure of Congress 
to provide suitable legislation, it still would seem that more care 
should have been exercised in providing men of integrity for 
marshals and for receivers and registers at the land offices. 
The district was- supposed to have been cleared of every in¬ 
truder the day before the opening, and the law provided that 
“sooners” should not be allowed to homestead claims; neverthe¬ 
less when the first honest settlers who crossed the line at noon 
reached the interior, they found many of the best claims all 
staked out and in possession of men who had spent the night 
hidden in the cracks of the earth or among the bushes along 
the rivers. 2 
The greatest amount of corruption seems to have been at 
1 Sec. Int. Rept., 1891, vol. 3, p. 450. 
2 Atlantic Monthly, vol. 86, p. 329. 
