Buck—The Settlement of Oklahoma. 371 
to examine the land after registration, now made entry of 
the quarter-sections selected. Any who failed to appear were 
passed until the close of the day, when they were called 
again, and if they did not appear then their right to enter was 
forfeited. Very few failed to appear during the first few 
days, but as the good claims grew scarcer the proportion who 
failed to appear increased. Many who held high numbers 
and lived at a distance made no effort to secure a claim, and 
others were probably deterred by sickness or accident. The 
entries under the proclamation ended on October 4, 1901, with 
5895 entries at Lawton, and 5748 at El Reno, or 11,638 in all/ 
The sale of the lots in the town-sites was also under the 
direction of Assistant Commissioner Richards, who appointed 
as commissioners to have charge of such sale, J. R. Hampton 
for Lawton, G. O. Hosier for Anadarko, and EL P. Holcombe 
for Hobart. Proper auctioneers and clerks were chosen to 
assist the commissioners, and at 9 A. M. August 6th, the sale 
opened at each town-site. The commissioners were somewhat 
inconvenienced by the lack of accommodations at the sites, but 
managed to get along with tents and temporary structures* 
The sale proceeded regularly and rapidly at each site with no 
disturbance whatever, all the lots being sold before the auction 
closed, and at prices considerably higher than was expected. 
At Lawton there were 1422 lots which sold for $414,845; at 
Anadarko, 1129 lots at $188,455; and at Hobart, 1308 lots 
at $132,733. Deducting the total expense of surveying and 
laying out each site together with the expenses of the sale, the 
three county seats had left to their credit the sums of $410,- 
594; $185,149; and $129,175 respectively, which was sufficient 
to start each county on a sound financial basis. 1 2 
The President’s proclamation had provided that other town 
sites might be located under the homestead laws, though not 
near to the county seats, and eleven applications for such were 
accepted during the sixty days. Since then, several more 
have been located. 3 Although the number of homestead entries 
1 Sec. Int. Rept., 1901, pp. cclxvii-cclxviil. 
2 Ibid., pp. cclxiv-cclxvi. 
3 Ibid., pp. ccxlii, cclxvii. 
