land rush

The Oklahoma Land Rush - April 22, 1889 - the anniversary to be soon celebrated here in Guthrie, Oklahoma during 89ers Days. 

The land run started at high noon on April 22, 1889, with an estimated 50,000 people lined up for their piece of the available two million acres. Due to the Homestead Act of 1862, signed by President Abraham Lincoln, legal settlers could claim lots up to 160 acres in size. Provided a settler lived on the land and improved it, the settler could then receive the title to the land.

Just what is a Sooner anyway?

A number of the people who participated in the above mentioned Land Rush entered the unoccupied land early and hid there until the legal time of entry to lay quick claim to some of the most choice homesteads. These people came to be identified as "Sooners."

Last week we arrived to stake our own claim on a piece of land here in Oklahoma, and here it is:

For a mere $400 a month we get a water spigot, concrete pad, some mud, a sewer hole, slow WiFi. Electricity is extra, metered out. Oh and a tornado siren. 

No picnic table, no cable TV, a few small trees. It is quiet, it is packed full of worker types like us, just making a living on the road. This is home sweet home for a few months. 

~top photo - "The Oklahoma Land Rush, April 22, 1889." John Steuart Curry, artist. Painting depicting race involving people in wagons, on horseback, and a bike to stake claims on land plots. One of the wagon canvas's says "Oklahoma or Bust." ~Wikipedia