http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/local/local_story_265233846.html

Published September 22, 2007 11:38 pm

Lawbreaking Boomers forced the opening of Unassigned Lands

Jonita Mullins
Submitted Story

By 1880 most of the western lands of Indian Territory had been assigned to
the Plains Indian tribes and, after some conflict, these Native Americans
had settled on their reservations.

But a large tract of land in the center of the territory remained
unassigned to any tribe. This area became known as the Unassigned Lands or
the Oklahoma Lands.

Originally this tract of land had been part of the Creek and Seminole
Nations, but both tribes had ceded the land to the United States in the
1866 treaties following the Civil War. The United States had not paid these
two tribes for this land, so it technically still belonged to them. For
some time, few people realized this unoccupied section of land existed.

Then Cherokee railroad attorney Elias Boudinot wrote a letter to the press
telling about the Oklahoma Lands. It was widely published in newspapers
throughout the country. The railroads wanted the lands settled and did
everything possible to stir up interest, proclaiming these Unassigned Lands
as the “richest in the world.”

Suddenly everyone was interested in this unassigned section of Indian
Territory. Without even knowing exactly where the Oklahoma Lands were
located, land-hungry settlers began moving into the territory, claiming
land they had no right to.

The Five Civilized Tribes loudly protested these actions, and the
government sided with them. President Rutherford B. Hayes issued two
proclamations warning all U.S. citizens to stay out of Indian Territory.
African-American cavalry units from Fort Sill and Fort Reno, known as the
Buffalo Soldiers, routinely patrolled the central section of the territory,
politely but firmly escorting the squatters out.

Then a man named David Payne became the self-proclaimed leader of a
movement to get the Oklahoma Country opened for settlement. He formed the
Southwestern Colonization Co. and charged a fee for anyone who wanted to
join. This group became known as the “Boomers.” For the next decade the
Boomers periodically made efforts to settle in the Unassigned Lands. Each
effort drew more attention from the press and more pressure on the
government to open the lands.

The Five Civilized Tribes pressed for Payne’s arrest, and he was taken to
the federal court in Fort Smith. He was tried for “conspiring against the
United States” and Judge Isaac Parker fined him $1,000 for trespassing on
Indian lands. But Payne was unrepentant and continued to lead groups of
Boomers into Indian Territory.

Payne died in 1884, but the Boomers persisted in their efforts. In 1889,
they succeeded in convincing Congress to open the Oklahoma Lands for
settlement.

Reach Jonita Mullins at jonita@....