hi I'm Stephanie Vecchio of the Middle Country Public Library and welcome to another episode in our history bite series today we will discuss the Oklahoma Land Rush which began when the U.S government opened 1.9 million Acres of Native American land to settlers in 1889. on February 27 1889 Illinois representative William M Springer added section 13 to the annual Indian appropriation bill which authorized the president to open the lands to settlement through issuance of a proclamation known as the Springer Amendment this Rider authorized settlement other under the provisions of the Homestead Act of 1862 and it denied the original native settlers their squatters rights they were to be expelled and the lands were to be settled by a land run the Act was signed into law by President Grover Cleveland on March 2nd 1889. during his third week in office president Benjamin Harrison issued a proclamation on March 23 1889 to settle the 1.9 million Acres in what would be known as The Run of 89 eligible persons were authorized to enter the land at noon on April 22 1889 for the purpose of occupying a quarter section each or 160 Acres initially considered unsuitable for white colonization Native American territory was thought to be an ideal place to relocate Native Americans who were removed from their traditional lands to make way for white settlements the forest relocations began in 1817 and by the 1880s Native American territory was a new home to a variety of tribes including the Chickasaw Choctaw Cherokee Creek Cheyenne Comanche and Apache improved Agricultural and ranching techniques LED some Americans to realize that the territory could land could be valuable and they pressured the U.S government to allow white settlement in the region in 1889 president Benjamin Harrison agreed making the first of a long series of authorizations that eventually removed most of this territory from native control [Music] to begin the process of this settlement Harrison chose to open a 1.9 million acre section of native territory that the government had never assigned to any specific tribe however subsequent openings of sections that were designated to specific tribes were achieved primarily through the Dawes severality Act of 1887 which allowed whites to settle large swaths of land that had previously been designated to specific native tribes the race for the land would begin on April 22nd at the stroke of noon anyone could join but no one was supposed to jump the gun with only seven weeks to prepare land hungry Americans began quickly gathering around the borders of The Irregular rectangle of territory referred to as Boomers more than 50 000 hopefuls were living in tent cities on all four sides of the territory those who entered the territory before the set date of April 22nd were called Sooners the events on April 22nd at the Western border were pretty typical at 11 50 am soldiers called for everyone to form a line because of unfair social conditions very few African Americans were at the front though many did come in immediately behind the initial rush and were called 89ers when the hands of the clock reached noon the cannon of the fort boomed and the soldiers signaled the settlers to start thousands of Boomers streamed into the territory in wagons on Horseback and on foot all told from fifty thousand to sixty thousand settlers entered the territory that day by Nightfall they had staked thousands of claims either on Town Lots or quarter section Farm plots towns like Norman Oklahoma City Kingfisher and Guthrie sprang into being almost overnight families that remained behind at the line cheered as a husband or a father made his wild Dash to choose his 160 Acres he would then determine its range and Township from the surveyor's Cornerstone markers and plant a stake a bearing notice of his name and location some would immediately begin making token improvements such as digging a well or arranging logs for a potential home others would hurry to the land office to register their claim it was a day of chaos excitement and utter confusion men and women rushed to claim homesteads or to purchase Lots in one of the many new towns that sprang into existence an estimated 11 000 agricultural homesteads were claimed there would be many hardships ahead and many would be forced to contest others who claimed the same Farm or lot a few of these legal contests made it to the U.S Supreme Court one precedent setting case was Smith first Townsend in 1892 in which it was determined that Alexander Smith a Santa Fe worker had acted illegally in making his run from the railroad starting point at Edmond station the high Court's ruling in this matter eventually caused many old Boomers such as William couch and his family to lose valuable claims in Oklahoma City and elsewhere but April 2nd 1889 was nonetheless a significant day in National History one that gave birth to New Hope for thousands of Americans and became an iconic image in the history of the West by setting the stage for non-native settlement of other sections of native territory the Oklahoma Land Run of 1889 quickly led to the creation of Oklahoma territory under the organic Act of 1890 and ultimately to the formation of the 46th state of the union Oklahoma in 1907. thank you all for joining us for today's episode if you enjoyed it click like and if you watched on YouTube hit subscribe thank you so much and we'll see you next time