The Choctaw Freedmen | Page 4

Chattahoochee, Coosa and Alabama rivers and in the peninsula of
Florida. About the year 1875, a part of them moved to Louisiana and
later to Texas. In 1836 the remainder of the tribe was transferred to a
reservation north of the Canadian river in Indian Territory.
The Seminoles were a nation of Florida Indians, that was composed
chiefly of Creeks and the remnants of some other tribes. After the

acquisition of Florida from Spain in 1819 many slaves in that section
fled from their masters to the Seminoles. The government endeavored
to recover them and to force the Seminoles to remove westward. These
efforts were not immediately successful, Osceola, their wily and
intrepid chief, defeating and capturing four of the generals sent against
them, namely, Clinch, Gaines, Call and Winfield Scott. He was finally
captured by his captors violating a flag of truce. In 1845 they were
induced to move west of the Mississippi and in 1856, they were
assigned lands west of the Creeks in the central part of Indian Territory.
These five tribes, the Choctaws, Chickasaws, Cherokees, Creeks and
Seminoles, were the most powerful in numbers. After their settlement
in Indian Territory, they made considerable progress in elementary
education and agriculture, their farm work being principally done by
their slaves previous to the time they were accorded their freedom in
1865. As a result of their progress in the arts of life, during the last half
of the last century, these were often called "The Five Civilized Tribes,
or Nations."
In 1900 when the last census was taken of them in their tribal form
their numbers were as follows: Choctaw nation, 99,681; Chickasaw,
139,260; Cherokee, 101,754; Creek, 40,674; Seminole, 3,786.
The Osage Indians were early driven to the valley of the Arkansas river.
They were conveyed to their reservation west of that river, in the north
part of Indian Territory, in 1870. The supplies of oil and other minerals
found upon their reservation have caused some of the members of this
nation to be reputed as quite wealthy.
Other tribes that were located on small reservations in the northeast part
of the Territory were the Modocs, Ottawas, Peorias, Quapaws, Senecas,
Shawnees and Wyandottes.
During this early period the Union Indian agency established its
headquarters at Muskogee, and it became and continued to be their
principal city, during the period of their tribal government.
OPENING OF INDIAN TERRITORY

On April 22, 1889, 2,000,000 acres of the Creek and Seminole lands
were opened to white settlers, and there occurred an ever memorable
rush for lands and a race for homes. An area as large as the state of
Maryland was settled in a day. On that first day the city of Guthrie was
founded with a population of 8,000, a newspaper was issued and in a
tent a bank was organized with a capital of $50,000. Oklahoma and
other cities sprang up as if in a night.
On June 6, 1890, the west half of Indian Territory was created a new
territory, called Oklahoma, with its capital at Guthrie, and with later
additions it soon included 24,000,000 acres.
On June 16, 1906, President Roosevelt signed the enabling act, that
admitted Oklahoma, including Oklahoma and Indian Territories, as a
state, one year from that date. On November 6, 1906, occurred the
election of members to the constitutional convention, that met at
Guthrie January 1, 1907. The first legislature met there January 1, 1908.
Two years later the capital was moved to Oklahoma City.
The growth, progress and advancement of the territory of Oklahoma
during the sixteen years preceding statehood in 1907 has never been
equaled in the history of the world, and in all probability will never be
eclipsed. This was due to the mild and healthful climate of this region,
and a previous knowledge of its great, but undeveloped agricultural and
mineral resources. So great has been the flow of oil near Tulsa, in the
north central part of the state, it has been necessary to store it there in
an artificial lake or reservoir.
OKLAHOMA
The surface of Oklahoma consists of a gently undulating plain, that
gradually ascends from an altitude of 511 feet at Valliant in the
southeast to 1197 feet at Oklahoma City, and 1893 at Woodward, the
county seat of Woodward county, in the northwest. The principal
mountains are the Kiamichi in the southern part of Laflore county, and
the Wichita, a forest reserve in Comanche and Swanson counties.
Previous to statehood Indian Territory was divided into 31 recording

districts for court purposes. In 1902 when Garvin was founded it
became the residence of the judge of the southeastern judicial or
recording district, and a small court house was built there for the
transaction of the public business. In 1907, when McCurtain county
was established, Idabel was chosen as