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Aland run orland rush was an event in which previously restricted land of theUnited States was opened tohomestead on a first-arrival basis. Lands were opened and sold first-come or by bid, or won by lottery, or by means other than a run. The settlers, no matter how they acquired occupancy, purchased the land from theUnited States General Land Office. For Reservation Indian lands, the Land Office distributed the sales funds to the various tribal entities, according to previously negotiated terms. The OklahomaLand Rush of 1889 was the most prominent of the land runs while theLand Run of 1893 was the largest. The opening of the former Kickapoo area in 1895 was the last use of a land run in the present area ofOklahoma.
After years of raids—led by the leaders of theBoomers activist movement such asDavid L. Payne—into the central area of what would become the U.S. state ofOklahoma, Congress finally agreed to open what was dubbed theUnassigned Lands. Seven land runs in all took place in Oklahoma, beginning with the initial and most famousLand Rush of April 22, 1889, which gave rise to the terms "Eighty-Niner" (a veteran of that run) and "Sooner." That area led to today'sCanadian,Cleveland,Kingfisher,Logan,Oklahoma, andPayne counties of Oklahoma.[1]
The nearly two million acres of land opened up to white settlement was located in Indian Territory, a large area that once encompassed much of modern-day Oklahoma. TheIndian Removal Act of 1830 eventually led to theTrail of Tears. Creek and Seminole tribes were granted area known before the Land Run as the Unassigned Lands. Some American Indian tribes signed a treaty of alliance with the Confederacy in 1861. Initially considered unsuitable for white colonization, Indian Territory was thought to be an ideal place to relocate Native Americans who were removed from their traditional lands to make way for white settlement. The relocations began in 1817, and by the 1880s, Indian Territory was a new home to a variety of tribes, including the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Cherokee, Creek, Cheyenne, Comanche, and Apache.
TheLand Run of September 22, 1891, opened theIowa,Sac and Fox,Potawatomi, andShawnee lands to settlement. The land run opened 6,097 plots of 160 acres (65 ha) each of former reservation land.[1] On the following day, a land run was held to settleTecumseh, the pre-designated location of thecounty seat of County B, later renamed asPottawatomie County. On September 28, 1891, another land run was held to settleChandler, the pre-designated location of the county seat of County A, later renamed asLincoln County.
TheLand Run of April 19, 1892, opened theCheyenne andArapaho lands.
TheLand Run of September 16, 1893, was known as theCherokee Strip Land Run. It opened 8,144,682.91 acres (12,726 square miles or about 3.3 million hectares) to settlement. The land was purchased from theCherokees. It was the largest land run in U.S. history, four times larger than theLand Rush of 1889.[2] TheCherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center museum at the eastern edge ofEnid, Oklahoma commemorates this event.
The final land run in Oklahoma was theLand Run of 1895 to settle theKickapoo lands. Each run had exhibited many problems and the Federal Government deemed the run to be an inefficient way to distribute land to would-be settlers. After 1895, the government distributed land by sealed-bid auctions. Major openings by this method included Kiowa-Comanche-Apache Reservation (1901), the Wichita-Caddo Reservation (1901), and the Big Pasture (1906).[3]
There was one land run in the 20th century, but on a much smaller scale, held to select lots in the community ofArcadia, on August 6, 1901. This was similar to the run to settle Chandler in 1891.[4]
In honor of Oklahoma's Centennial of statehood, sculptor Paul Moore won the commission for the OklahomaCentennial Land Run Monument.[5] As Moore completed elements of the 45-piece monument, such as horses and riders, wagons and horse teams, dogs, and others, they were installed in lowerBricktown, Oklahoma City. To be completed at a future date the monument covers approximately 365 feet (111 m), making it overall one of the largest bronze sculptures in the world.[6]
