Before the 1893 Land Run, B.S. Barnes came to Oklahoma Territory with a vision of starting a city. He chose the site of Ponca City because it had ample water, a river crossing, and access to the railroad. He organized the Ponca Townsite Company and sold two-dollar chances on lots to settlers gathered for the run. At noon on September 16, 1893, the signal gun was fired and the race for free land began. Barnes had surveyors lay out the town and stake the corners of each city lot in the area he had chosen. Northwest of that area was Cross, a town assigned by the government for settlement, and the railroad stopped there, but Barnes wanted it to stop in Ponca. With a few friends, under cover of darkness, he moved the Cross depot to Ponca City, and the train then stopped there. Ponca City's early successes were credited to Barnes's foresight, judgment, will, and effort, and five days after the run, the citizens elected him their first mayor.