362 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
sage of the act, who were also to be allowed to purchase land al¬ 
ready in use in addition to the one hundred and sixty acre 
homestead at one dollar per acre. Sections 16 and 36 of each 
township were as usual reserved for the public schools, and also 
sections 13 and 23 for such purposes as the legislature of the 
“future state of Oklahoma may prescribe.” The intention 
probably was that these should be used for the benefit of higher 
institutions of learning. Under this act the county was open¬ 
ed to settlement on the twenty-fourth of June, 1897. A land 
office was established at Mangum, and the land was gradually 
taken up. 1 
Because of physical conditions, such as soil and situation, 
Oklahoma is, for the present at least, primarily an agricultu* 
ral region, and so the settlement of the territory can best be 
traced in the occupation of the land. For this purpose, the 
following table, which shows the percentage of the available 
or unreserved land occupied in each county from 1894 to 1902, 
has been compiled from the reports of the General Land Office: 
Table showing percentage of unreserved land occupied in each 
county from 1894 to 1902. 
1894 
1895 
1896 
1897 
1898 
1899 
1900 
1901 
1902 
Beaver . 
4 
5 
5 
11 
12 
12 
13 
14 
17 
Blaine . 
89 
92 
96 
96 
94 
95 
99 
100 
99 
Ga rlrir» . 
99 
Canadian . 
99 
99 
99 
99 
99 
99 
99 
100 
99 
Cleveland... 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
Cemanehe . 
99 
Custer.. — 
58 
63 
72 
74 
80 
91 
92 
99 
99 
Day. 
1 
3 
3 
5 
6 
15 
22 
47 
68 
Dewey... 
22 
32 
38 
40 
49 
69 
84 
97 
96 
Garfield... 
99 
100 
100 
99 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
Grant . 
98 
99 
99 
99 
99 
99 
99 
99 
99 
Greer. 
12 
66 
69 
73 
85 
95 
Kay . 
99 
99 
99 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
Kingfisher . 
99 
99 
99 
99 
99 
99 
99 
100 
99 
Kiowa . 
99 
Lincoln .. . 
100 
99 
99 
99 
99 
99 
99 
99 
99 
Logan. 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
Noble. 
99 
99 
99 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
Oklahoma.. — 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
Pawnee. 
95 
98 
97 
99 
99 
99 
99 
99 
99 
Payne. 
99 
100 
99 
99 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
Pottawatomie.. . 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
Roger Mills. 
42 
44 
45 
46 
72 
74 
79 
81 
96 
Washita. 
75 
85 
87 
88 
96 
99 
99 
99 
09 
Woods. 
60 
67 
71 
74 
78 
87 
92 
97 
99 
Woodward . 
6 
8 
10 
25 
28 
31 
40 
66 
83 
Oklahoma as a whole. 
51 
54 
55 
54 
60 
64 
67 
74 
82 
i Sec. Int. Rept., 1897, vol. 1, pp, 99-102, 125. 
