Buck—The Settlement of Oklahoma. 
365 
The passage of this act was beneficial to Oklahoma in diverse 
ways. The full payment had not been required until the final 
proving up of a claim, and the many thousands of farmers who 
had not yet made final proof found themselves suddenly from 
one to three hundred dollars richer. The Governor estimated 
that this act saved to the homesteaders in Oklahoma about 
fifteen million dollars, nearly all of which made its appearance 
in new houses and bams, additional stock and other improve¬ 
ments, and thus contributed niaterially to the general prosper¬ 
ity of the territory. Another result was the; attraction of im¬ 
migration to the western part of the territory, where many farm¬ 
ers who had hesitated to take up land at a dollar and a quarter 
per acre were now eager to settle when all price was removed. 1 
In the summer of 1901, the three counties' of Caddo, Kiowa 
and Comanche were opened to settlement and, as may be seen 
by the table for 1902, entirely settled within a year. In fact, 
owing to the system employed by the government, one hundred 
and sixty-four thousand people were attracted to this! opening, 
and as there were homesteads: for only thirteen thousand in the 
reservations to be opened, there were one hundred and fifty- 
one thousand disappointed people left in the territory. 2 Most 
of these had come prepared to stay, so large numbers merely 
went west to the counties of Kioger Mills and Greer, and filed 
on nearly all of the remaining land there. Woodward and Day 
also made a big advance in this year, and even in Beaver the 
rate of settlement increased considerably. 
At present, then, we have practically all available land 
in Oklahoma occupied except in the three northwestern coun¬ 
ties of Beaver, Woodward and Day, where the remaining land 
is suited only to grazing and is now used by unauthorized stock- 
raisers. An agitation has been going on for some time to 
bring about some different disposition of this land, the Gover¬ 
nor having at times recommended that it be leased to the cattle¬ 
men or donated to the territory, 3 and again that it be opened to 
1 Int. Dept., Mis'c. Repts., 1901, pt. 2, p. 402. 
2 Sec. Int. Rept., 1901, p. lxxxvi. 
s Int. Dept., Misc. Repts., 1897, p. 682. 
