before there were soon
fifty or a hundred. In the winter of 1888, various estimates were made
as to the number of people awaiting the President's proclamation, and
the total could not have been less than 50,000 or 60,000. Finally the
long-looked-for document appeared, and Easter Monday, 1889, was named as
the date on which the section of Oklahoma included in the bill was to be
declared open. There was a special proviso that any one entering the
promised and mysterious land prior to noon on the day named, would be
forever disqualified from holding land in it, and accordingly the
opening resolved itself into a race, to commence promptly at high noon
on the day named.

Seldom has such a remarkable race been witnessed in any part of the
world. The principal town sites were on the line of the Sante Fe
Railroad, and those who were seeking town lots crowded the trains, which
were not allowed to enter Oklahoma until noon. All available rolling
stock was brought into requisition for the occasion, and provision was
made for hauling thousands of home-seekers to the towns of Guthrie and
Oklahoma City, as well as to intervening points. Before daylight on the
morning of the opening, the approaches of the railway station at
Arkansas City were blocked with masses of humanity, and every train was
thronged with town boomers, or with people in search of free land or
town lots.

The author was fortunate in securing a seat on the first train which
crossed the Oklahoma border, and which arrived at Guthrie before
1 o'clock on the day of the opening. It was presumed that the law had
been enforced, and that we should find nothing but a land-office and a
few officials on the town site.

But such was far from being the case. Hundreds of people were already on
the ground. The town had been platted out, streets located, and the best
corners seized in advance of the law and of the regulations of the
proclamation.

There was no time to argue with points of law or order. Those who got in
in advance of the law were of a determined character, and their number
was so great that they relied on the confusion to evade detection. One
of their number told an interesting story to the writer, concerning the
experience he had gone through. He had slipped into Oklahoma prior to
the opening, carrying with him enough food to last him for a few days.
He found a hiding place in the creek bank, and there laid until a few
minutes before noon on the opening day. W