When the Bugle Sounded: Stampede for Oklahoma’s Unassigned Lands

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All the while they were stalked by legions of confidence-men and criminals. One railway detective said he knew of 42 thieves in Arkansas City, and thought there were at least twice that many in town. A more sophisticated class of criminal were the ‘town companies,’ whose aim was to stake out complete townsites before the official start of the Run, and sell later at a huge profit.

For those who had no transportation of their own, there were the railroad, some locally-formed wagon companies, and a whole fleet of old stagecoaches, specially brought back into service and painted in vivid colors for the event. A ‘land office’ business was done in groceries and supplies, and in every sort of conveyance, including some wagons so feeble that even the ‘horses hung their heads in shame’ when hitched to them.

For those who would use their own transport, there was every means of conveyance except balloons. In Caldwell, to the north, there was even a wagon carrying a ready-built house made out of sheet iron, fully equipped with chickens, cattle and other livestock.

Already the new territory was crawling with those who had tried to steal a march. These were the ‘Sooners,’ who hoped to claim prime land and pretend they had staked it out legally. The Cavalry and U.S. marshals hunted them, driving back across the start line whomever they found. It was not always easy work.

At Purcell, on April 13th, as a marshal’s posse rounded up a group of Sooners, the lawmen were struck by a volley of gunfire that slightly wounded one deputy. In the firefight that followed, the possemen flanked their attackers, ending the fight by pouring rifle fire into them from the rear. The lawmen took some 25 prisoners, mostly Texans, some of them wounded, and returned the entire party to a makeshift stockade near Purcell.

But there were never enough soldiers and marshals, and no end to the land-desperate people who would pay any price for those 160 acres. And there was nothing like enough of the precious land to go around. The new country contained about 12,000 quarter-sections, but anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 eager people were poised for the rush. They waited all around the 300-mile perimeter of the Promised Land, although most of them were massed along the territory’s northern border.

They waited with strings of thoroughbred horses, in buggies with fringed tops, on prairie schooners festooned with crates of chickens and bundles of farm tools, beside stubborn, durable Missouri mules, next to creaking wagons drawn by teams of oxen. Some, grim and determined, would go on foot, hoping something would be left for them. Incredibly, a few hardy souls showed great faith in their sense of balance by daring the prairie on tall, teetering, high-wheeled bicycles.

For many it was one last chance after repeated failures to find a home. One wagon sign put it plainly: ‘Chinz buged in Illinoy, sicloned in Newbrasky, white caped in Missoury, prohibited in Kansas, Oaklahomy or Bust.’

And so they waited out the last day, Easter Sunday, some in worship, and many in worry, and all in last-minute preparation. Tomorrow would bring their dreams to life, or smash them, perhaps forever.

The day was cloudless and sunny, with a stiff southerly breeze. The prairie was carpeted in green, the lush grass spotted with wild flowers as far as a man could see. Out along the boundary waited a thin picket-line of the faithful Cavalry, doing what it could to hold the increasing stream of Sooners–men dishonest or only hungry–trying to steal a march on their competition.

By nine o’clock the rushers were massing along the line, and a great buzz went up from them of excited talk, song, or argument. The sound, said one observer, ‘wasn’t human at all, but like thousands of wild animals penned up.’

The railroad stations were jammed. In Arkansas City, 10,000 or more people pushed and shoved for places on the 15 trains due to leave that day. For the Santa Fe had collected everything that would roll on tracks for the occasion. There were all kinds of coaches, flat cars, cattle cars, even an old baggage car crammed with reporters and railroad officials who had turned out for the event.

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Tags: Adventurers & Trail Blazers, Westward Expansion, Wild West

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