Unassigned Lands

In the first land run of 1889, most of the land offered had not been assigned to any tribe. Ten years earlier in 1879, Elias C. Boudinot, a prominent mixed-blood Cherokee lawyer, discovered this fact. He created a fire storm when he published a letter urging the opening of the Unassigned Lands to non-Indians. Thought to be working with the railroads and the boomers, he was called a traitor by his people.

First Oklahoma Land Run

April 22, 1889, an estimated 50,000 pioneers crowded along the borders of the Unassigned Lands to make the first land run in Oklahoma history. The race began at high noon. They came by train, horse, buggy, and bicycle to win 160 acres of their very own.

Oklahoma Populated Before 1889

The land called the Indian Territory was not a wilderness in 1889. To the east of the Unassigned Lands were the Five Civilized Tribes, the Osages, and other tribes moved from previous frontiers. To the west were reservations for the Plains Tribes. In both directions were towns, railroads, newspapers, stagecoach routes, schools, and even telephone lines. It was a land with a rich legacy, a blend of many cultures and the dreams of may people. The land run 9f 1889 was only one chapter in the dramatic history of Oklahoma.

The Unassigned Lands

Did you know that when the government parcled out lands to the various Indian tribes, there was a section they forgot? It was right in the middle of what is now the state of Oklahoma. Elias C. Boudinot, a mixed-blood Cherokee lawyer discovered it and published a letter in 1879 urging the opening of the Unassigned Lands to non-Indians. He was thought to be working with the railroads and the boomers. He was called a traitor by his people. This was the land opened in 1889 for the first Oklahoma Land Run.