Cherokee Land Rush in Oklahoma, 1893
The Cherokee Land Rush in Oklahoma, which took place on September 16, 1893, marked a significant event in the westward expansion of the United States, as it involved the opening of the Cherokee Outlet, also known as the Cherokee Strip, for white settlement. This area, originally designated for the Cherokee Nation and other tribes, had been subject to various pressures and changes in land ownership since the forced removal of the Cherokee through the Trail of Tears in 1838. The Cherokee Outlet encompassed over six million acres and was seen as prime land for agriculture and settlement due to its rich grazing potential, particularly for cattle.
On the day of the land rush, an estimated 100,000 settlers lined up along the borders, eager to stake their claims. The rush opened at noon, triggering a chaotic race for land that resulted in approximately 40,000 homesteads being claimed by sunset. This event was the largest of the land runs, symbolizing the culmination of federal policies that facilitated the encroachment of settlers on tribal lands. Following the rush, the Cherokee Outlet became part of the Oklahoma Territory, ultimately contributing to the formation of the state of Oklahoma in 1907. The legacy of this event remains significant in discussions about land rights, tribal sovereignty, and the historical treatment of Indigenous peoples in the United States.
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Cherokee Land Rush in Oklahoma, 1893
Cherokee Land Rush in Oklahoma, 1893
On September 16, 1893, a famous land “run” opened the section of Oklahoma for settlement that was officially called the Cherokee Outlet, but known more popularly as the Cherokee Strip. September 16, Cherokee Strip Day, is still observed in Oklahoma as an optional holiday.
The Cherokee, one of what were known as the Five Civilized Tribes, have a deep rooted connection extending back into the first half of the 19th century with several parts of Oklahoma and not just the outlet. As early as 1809 some of the Cherokee who lived in North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee informed President Thomas Jefferson that they wanted to migrate to new hunting grounds beyond the Mississippi River. At first they were given permission to move into the area of Arkansas. Only limited numbers had made the transfer before mounting white pressure, spurred by the discovery of gold on Cherokee land, forced the removal of the entire tribe from the eastern United States. In 1838, with the approval of President Andrew Jackson, some 16,000 Cherokee-4,000 of whom died en route-were forced along what became known as the Trail of Tears . A new home awaited them, as it did for the other Civilized Tribes-Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole-in the vast western region that had been set aside by Congress in 1834 and designated Indian Territory.
In addition to some seven million acres of land in what is now northeastern Oklahoma, the Cherokee received extensive territory to the west, intended not as a homesite but as a “perpetual outlet” to hunting grounds in what are now New Mexico and Colorado. The Outlet encompassed more than six million acres of land, extending from Keystone, Oklahoma, to the 100th meridian, then the western border of the United States. North to south, it stretched from the border of what was to become the state of Kansas to a point three miles north of Hennessey, Oklahoma.
After the Civil War the federal government forced the Five Civilized Tribes to relinquish the western half of the Indian Territory. From 1866 to 1883 the government used this land to resettle several more tribes, especially the nomadic Plains tribes. The Cherokee were required to give up the eastern end of the Outlet, which was then assigned to the Osage. The Ponca, Oto, and Tonkawa tribes, among others, were settled on reservations in smaller sections of the Outlet. However, a great expanse still remained under Cherokee control.
The open-range cattle industry greatly expanded in the 1870s and 1880s. Cowhands, driving longhorns northward from Texas to Kansas across the Indian Territory, soon discovered that the animals thrived on the grassy plain of the Cherokee Outlet. In 1883 the Cherokee Strip Livestock Association, a group of white ranchers, persuaded the Cherokee Nation to lease its unoccupied Strip for $100,000 a year for five years. The agreement was renewed after its expiration in 1888.
By the late 1870s, both cattlemen and homesteaders, realizing the value of the millions of acres of tribal land, began to demand the opening of the Indian Territory to white settlement. Especially desirable were the two “unoccupied” sections. One was the Unassigned Lands, a two million acre tract in the center of the Indian Territory later known as Old Oklahoma or the Oklahoma District. The other was the Cherokee Outlet which, although assigned to the Cherokee, had never been settled. The Unassigned Lands were opened to white migration under the 1862 Homestead Act in a run on April 22, 1889. Other sections of western Indian Territory were gradually occupied by white homesteaders in the subsequent runs of 1891 and 1892.
In the meantime, the federal government was conducting negotiations to obtain a clear title to the Outlet. It terminated the Cherokee Strip Livestock Association's second lease before its expiration, abolished the tribal land allotments which had been granted to several tribes in favor of individual allotments, and purchased the six million acres of the Outlet for $8,595,736.
In the summer of 1893 President Grover Cleveland signed the proclamation opening the region to settlement by means of a land run set for September 16, 1893. Prior to the run, the Outlet was carefully surveyed by government engineers and divided into counties of equal size. County seats, townsites, and 160-acre claims were minutely determined. All that was needed to obtain a claim was to be the first to plant a flag stake at a given spot. Thus speed was essential in securing the best plots.
The lure of free land and the thrill of the race attracted an estimated 100,000 prospective settlers. They swarmed along the borders of the rectangular Cherokee Strip in anticipation of the noon opening on September 16. The majority concentrated in the border towns of Arkansas City and Caldwell in Kansas, on the northern side of the Outlet, and Orlando and Hennessey in Oklahoma on the southern side. Housing, food, water, sanitary facilities, and supplies were inadequate or nonexistent. Eight cavalry troops and four infantry companies guarded the 400-mile border in an effort to protect the area from illegal invasion. Nonetheless, some (called Sooners) managed to slip into the territory just as they had infiltrated the Oklahoma District before the land rush of 1889.
The multitude of impatient land seekers lined up in the neutral zones starting at dawn on September 16. As the morning sun climbed higher and higher, the tension became almost unbearable. Tempers flared as men, with their animals and vehicles, jockeyed for position. Precisely at noon rifles cracked, and before the reverberations faded away the frantic race had begun. The crowd charged forward, and the eager homesteaders swept over the prairie. By sunset, 40,000 homesteads of 160 acres each had been claimed throughout the tract, except on the sites allocated for towns.
The land rush of 1893 was the largest and last of the runs that opened the western tribal lands to white settlement. Land lotteries and auctions replaced the often violent runs, completing the homesteading process in the early 20th century. The Cherokee Outlet became part of the Oklahoma Territory, which roughly encompassed the westernmost part of the Indian Territory set aside by Congress in 1834. The eastern half of the congressionally designated Indian Territory still retained that name. Subsequently, the two territories combined to form the state of Oklahoma in 1907.