Flagstaffsooner
1/27/2007, 02:45 PM
Forgive me Homey for stepping on your territory. I have often said on this and other boards that a "Boomer" was a promoter of the land run. Others have disagreed with me saying that the Boomers were the people who waited until the boom of the cannon on the onset of the land run.
Case settled.:P
Before there were 'Sooners,' there were 'Boomers'
By David Dary
For the Associated Press
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) - The term "Boomers" originated before Indian Territory was opened to white settlement.
After much of modern Oklahoma was set aside early in the 19th century as Indian Territory, the eastern portion became the home of the five civilized tribes -- the Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw and Seminole.
Whites could not settle in the territory.
These five tribes had their own governments, farmed, and raised livestock. Their children went to mission schools established by white church groups from the East. The federal government established a few forts ostensibly to keep white settlers out and to protect the Indians.
When the Civil War began, many but not all of the Indians in Indian Territory sided with the Confederacy. Many Indians were killed in fighting. Others died of starvation. Their tribal governments were torn by dissension.
After the Civil War, the federal government imposed harsh punishment on the tribes in Indian Territory regardless of whether they fought with or against the Union.
They were pressured to sign new treaties and some ceded their land in what is now western Oklahoma to the government for tribes being removed from other areas of the west.
Within a few years representatives of 50 tribes lived in Indian Territory. To make money railroads, banks, and large businesses in neighboring states wanted to open Indian Territory to white settlement.
Bills were introduced in Congress, but each one failed. Railroads then began a campaign to establish routes through Indian Territory.
Indians, trying to recover from the effects of the Civil War and reconstruction knew what would happen if the white man's railroad entered Indian Territory.
The trains would bring more whites and what the Indians believed were the evils of the white man's world, evils they had already suffered.
The Indians fought to keep the railroads out, but under government pressure they reluctantly agreed to grant permission for railroads to cross Indian Territory.
The Indians, however, only agreed to a right of way of two hundred feet wide. The railroads wanted large land grants but did not receive them when Congress in July 1866 passed legislation opening Indian Territory to railroads.
Three small lines reorganized and became the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad in 1870 and built south across Indian Territory reaching Texas late in 1872.
The Atlantic and Pacific railroad (later called the Frisco line) built its tracks from Missouri into Indian Territory reaching Texas in 1880.
Then, in 1887, the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad pushed south from Wichita, Kansas, across Indian Territory into Texas and Fort Worth.
Although the railroads came in the 1880s, Indian Territory remained off limits to settlement except by Indians. The Indians made little use of the trains.
Many Texas cattlemen even refused to ship their longhorns north by railroad. It was cheaper to drive their longhorns over long established cattle trails crossing Indian Territory.
The railroads crossing Indian Territory hoped their presence would open the region to settlement. Bankers, farm equipment manufacturers and others who crossed Indian Territory by train saw the beautiful country just waiting to be settled and farmed.
The Indians, however, continued to fight white settlement.
T.C. Sears, an attorney for the Missouri, Kansas and Texas railroad, and Elias C. Boudinot, a Cherokee attorney, became known as "Boomers" for promoting settlement on public lands in Indian Territory.
The two men reviewed laws relating to Indian treaties and in 1879 announced they had found 14 million acres of land in Indian Territory that had not been given to the Indians.
The lawyers claimed the land belonged to the American people and therefore could be settled.
Sears and Boudnoit organized groups of purported settlers in North Texas, in Topeka, Kan., and in Kansas City, Mo. They opened Boomer offices in towns along the southern border of Kansas that attracted people ready to settle in Indian Territory.
The federal government and the courts rejected Seats and Boudinot's contentions. Fearing squatters would not stay out, Cherokee leaders protested to federal authorities and troops were stationed at strategic points along the northern border of Indian Territory to keep settlers out.
Meantime, another boomer campaign was launched by David Payne, an Indiana native, who had known Boudinot in Washington, D.C. Payne called for settlement and quoted the Bible, namely God's command to Moses: "Go forth and possess the Promised Land."
Payne led several expeditions into Indian Territory only to be turned back by federal troops. Payne was arrested and charged with conspiracy against the United States in U.S. District Court in Topeka, Kan.
To his surprise the charge was dismissed on grounds that title to the Indian lands was indeed vested in the United States. The court added that the lands were public domain and ruled that settlement by qualified U. S. citizens was not a crime.
Government attorneys, meanwhile, reviewed Indian lands in the territory and found that Creek and Seminole Indians had a "residual interest" in some unassigned lands in what is now west-central Oklahoma.
As more and more people called for Indian Territory to be settled, the government gave the tribes cash payments to relinquish their rights to the unassigned lands.
Business interests in Kansas continued to exert influence in Washington. Just before Congress adjourned in early March 1889, lawmakers approved opening the unassigned lands to settlement.
President Benjamin Harrison soon signed the measure and issued a proclamation declaring that the land would be open to settlement at noon on Monday, April 22, 1889.
The government staged a land run to give all settlers an equal chance.
At noon on April 22, thousands of people made the run in wagons, on horseback, by train, and even walking.
By nightfall tent cities sprang up creating Oklahoma City, Kingfisher, El Reno, Norman, Guthrie and Stillwater.
Some people ignored federal law and sneaked in the day before. They became known as "Sooners."
Case settled.:P
Before there were 'Sooners,' there were 'Boomers'
By David Dary
For the Associated Press
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) - The term "Boomers" originated before Indian Territory was opened to white settlement.
After much of modern Oklahoma was set aside early in the 19th century as Indian Territory, the eastern portion became the home of the five civilized tribes -- the Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw and Seminole.
Whites could not settle in the territory.
These five tribes had their own governments, farmed, and raised livestock. Their children went to mission schools established by white church groups from the East. The federal government established a few forts ostensibly to keep white settlers out and to protect the Indians.
When the Civil War began, many but not all of the Indians in Indian Territory sided with the Confederacy. Many Indians were killed in fighting. Others died of starvation. Their tribal governments were torn by dissension.
After the Civil War, the federal government imposed harsh punishment on the tribes in Indian Territory regardless of whether they fought with or against the Union.
They were pressured to sign new treaties and some ceded their land in what is now western Oklahoma to the government for tribes being removed from other areas of the west.
Within a few years representatives of 50 tribes lived in Indian Territory. To make money railroads, banks, and large businesses in neighboring states wanted to open Indian Territory to white settlement.
Bills were introduced in Congress, but each one failed. Railroads then began a campaign to establish routes through Indian Territory.
Indians, trying to recover from the effects of the Civil War and reconstruction knew what would happen if the white man's railroad entered Indian Territory.
The trains would bring more whites and what the Indians believed were the evils of the white man's world, evils they had already suffered.
The Indians fought to keep the railroads out, but under government pressure they reluctantly agreed to grant permission for railroads to cross Indian Territory.
The Indians, however, only agreed to a right of way of two hundred feet wide. The railroads wanted large land grants but did not receive them when Congress in July 1866 passed legislation opening Indian Territory to railroads.
Three small lines reorganized and became the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad in 1870 and built south across Indian Territory reaching Texas late in 1872.
The Atlantic and Pacific railroad (later called the Frisco line) built its tracks from Missouri into Indian Territory reaching Texas in 1880.
Then, in 1887, the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad pushed south from Wichita, Kansas, across Indian Territory into Texas and Fort Worth.
Although the railroads came in the 1880s, Indian Territory remained off limits to settlement except by Indians. The Indians made little use of the trains.
Many Texas cattlemen even refused to ship their longhorns north by railroad. It was cheaper to drive their longhorns over long established cattle trails crossing Indian Territory.
The railroads crossing Indian Territory hoped their presence would open the region to settlement. Bankers, farm equipment manufacturers and others who crossed Indian Territory by train saw the beautiful country just waiting to be settled and farmed.
The Indians, however, continued to fight white settlement.
T.C. Sears, an attorney for the Missouri, Kansas and Texas railroad, and Elias C. Boudinot, a Cherokee attorney, became known as "Boomers" for promoting settlement on public lands in Indian Territory.
The two men reviewed laws relating to Indian treaties and in 1879 announced they had found 14 million acres of land in Indian Territory that had not been given to the Indians.
The lawyers claimed the land belonged to the American people and therefore could be settled.
Sears and Boudnoit organized groups of purported settlers in North Texas, in Topeka, Kan., and in Kansas City, Mo. They opened Boomer offices in towns along the southern border of Kansas that attracted people ready to settle in Indian Territory.
The federal government and the courts rejected Seats and Boudinot's contentions. Fearing squatters would not stay out, Cherokee leaders protested to federal authorities and troops were stationed at strategic points along the northern border of Indian Territory to keep settlers out.
Meantime, another boomer campaign was launched by David Payne, an Indiana native, who had known Boudinot in Washington, D.C. Payne called for settlement and quoted the Bible, namely God's command to Moses: "Go forth and possess the Promised Land."
Payne led several expeditions into Indian Territory only to be turned back by federal troops. Payne was arrested and charged with conspiracy against the United States in U.S. District Court in Topeka, Kan.
To his surprise the charge was dismissed on grounds that title to the Indian lands was indeed vested in the United States. The court added that the lands were public domain and ruled that settlement by qualified U. S. citizens was not a crime.
Government attorneys, meanwhile, reviewed Indian lands in the territory and found that Creek and Seminole Indians had a "residual interest" in some unassigned lands in what is now west-central Oklahoma.
As more and more people called for Indian Territory to be settled, the government gave the tribes cash payments to relinquish their rights to the unassigned lands.
Business interests in Kansas continued to exert influence in Washington. Just before Congress adjourned in early March 1889, lawmakers approved opening the unassigned lands to settlement.
President Benjamin Harrison soon signed the measure and issued a proclamation declaring that the land would be open to settlement at noon on Monday, April 22, 1889.
The government staged a land run to give all settlers an equal chance.
At noon on April 22, thousands of people made the run in wagons, on horseback, by train, and even walking.
By nightfall tent cities sprang up creating Oklahoma City, Kingfisher, El Reno, Norman, Guthrie and Stillwater.
Some people ignored federal law and sneaked in the day before. They became known as "Sooners."