Oklahoma Land Rush

My claim to historical fame is that my grandfather participated in the Oklahoma Land Rush in 1889. My grandfather, who had my father and uncle in later life, was a young man at the time. Unfortunately, I really don't know a lot about it, since it didn't turn out very well and he never talked a lot about it.

The best I can glean is that he, like lots of others, was lured to the big free land give-away in search of a better future. All he had to do to secure 160 acres of land was reach it, claim it, and live on it for a year. In the year he had to make improvements to the property such as a home, barn, fencing, etc. At the end of the year he could get title to the land. The land in question was 2 million acres in central Oklahoma. To a young man with not much money to buy land with, it sounded like a wonderful opportunity.

The Land Rush was scheduled for April 22, 1889. In a short time 50,000 people had registered to join in the rush for the sections. Now a little math points out a glaring problem. If 50,000 people get 160 acres each the total is 8 million acres. When that many people are involved you can bet that some conniving, stealing, and general poor sportsmanship took place. In fact, some jumped the start date and hid out on their selected parcels until the time of the race, then claimed their section. These became known as "Sooners", since they left a little "sooner" than the legitimate rushers. I don't know if my grandfather was one of the "nice guys" waiting at the start, just lucky, or a "sooner" but he did claim a section of land. At some point I remember my father having a copy of the deed issued for the land signed with an Indian name.

Then came the year of "improvements". I can imagine my grandfather starting out with high hopes for a great future. However, he came from Kentucky with few skills for dealing with the dry prairies in Oklahoma. Having spent some time in Oklahoma I can tell you that it is very different from Kentucky. For one thing there is all that sky. In Kentucky our sky is nicely hemmed in with rolling hills, trees, a few small mountains and such. We tend to look up to see the sky. In the west it tends to jump at you from every direction but down. Then there is the matter of water. While the land is fertile and grows bountiful grain crops, it requires irrigation since the climate is dry. The irrigation requires rivers and streams, of which there are few, or underground water which is plentiful but deep. All of this had to have been daunting for a young man raised in the lush landscape of his home, Kentucky.

I don't know what happened during that year, but I have to give him credit for not quiting. He got the deed, so he had to have stayed at least a year. However, it wasn't a happy experience for him. The only report he ever gave was "that land wouldn't raise a ruckus". At some point he gave up, sold his parcel and came home to Kentucky to start his own farm. He always maintained that it was the poorest excuse for farm land in the country.

On one of my trips to Oklahoma I was telling this tale to a local man. He looked at me and grinned. "So your grandad sold his sorry section that wouldn't grow anything for him? Well, it turns out that some of the sorriest land in that land rush had the biggest oil fields under it. If your grandad had kept it you might be an oil tycoon."

Now that's a thought to keep you awake at night!