The Oklahoma Land Rush - 1889-1906
The Indian Appropriation Acts, essentially, took Indian Territory out of Indian control, and set the territory on the path to statehood by opening it to white settlers through "Land Rushes."
It's been said that in many of these land rushes, populations of the opened territory would increase from 0 to 10,000 people. Within a day, what used to be Indian land was populated with white settlers building farms, ranches, and towns (and schoolhouses).
There were approximately 10 land rushes between 1889 and 1906. All that was left of Indian Territory after 1906 is represented in grey on the map to the right.
So, continuing the conversation about why the Farmer and the Cowman need to be friends....
The Indian Nations had been forcefully removed from their ancestral lands to a new Indian Territory in the Plains, they had endured several battles with the U.S. for control of their new Territory, and then had their Territory cut in half. After the land rushes, the Indian Nations applied for statehood. The U.S. government rejected their application and ruled that statehood would only be granted if it combined with the new Oklahoma Territory. The U.S. at the time would be much more likely to grant statehood if it could be certain that a Native American would never have a place in government. Even when the Indians tried to "play by the rules," they were excluded from the game. How would you feel? How would you behave toward the settlers in the Oklahoma Territory?
Yes, the Farmer and the Cowman needed each other to move the Territory toward Statehood. But these settlers are not primarily overcoming nature (i.e. improving the land) to build a new state, but "overcoming" (i.e. taming/displacing) the Indians. For as much as these "Territory Folk" would like to believe that they are banding together to make a new, thriving state, they are primarily joining forces to outnumber the Indian nations and, ultimately, make them irrelevant. The ever-present fear of the racialized Indian is the glue that holds the white farmer and the white cowman together; It operates under the surface and allows everyone to treat Jud with derision and see him as a threat to their way of life.
Yes, the Farmer and the Cowman needed each other to move the Territory toward Statehood. But these settlers are not primarily overcoming nature (i.e. improving the land) to build a new state, but "overcoming" (i.e. taming/displacing) the Indians. For as much as these "Territory Folk" would like to believe that they are banding together to make a new, thriving state, they are primarily joining forces to outnumber the Indian nations and, ultimately, make them irrelevant. The ever-present fear of the racialized Indian is the glue that holds the white farmer and the white cowman together; It operates under the surface and allows everyone to treat Jud with derision and see him as a threat to their way of life.