Homesteaders

Nearly 100,000 land seekers raced for claims on September 16, 1893, in the greatest land run in history, when six million acres of the Cherokee Outlet, formerly part of the Cherokee Nation, were opened by the United States Government for public settlement. The men and women who secured a quarter-section claim or acquired one by purchase or barter began new lives on a raw frontier in Kay County. They plowed the virgin soil of the fertile prairies, lived in dugouts, sod house, and tents, and endured droughts, blizzards, and privations while laying the foundation of the thriving and prosperous society that followed.

Blackwell, Oklahoma · United States