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Caddo Co. OK Newspaper - Caddo County Warrior
Submitted By Sandy Miller
=========================================================
Caddo County Warrior
May 9, 1975

GENEALOGY SURVEY
TO BE CONDUCTED

by Mrs. B.L. Menasco

If the United States is the melting pot of the world, Oklahoma must be
the melting pot of the United States. Where do the people come from 
that settled Caddo County? This is the question the Extension Homemakers
would like for you to share when you are approached for a Genealogy
Survey of Caddo County.

The Indians in this area were reluctant to sell their land to white
settlers, and the controversy continued for eight years, before an
agreement was reached. July 1901, during the short term of Governor
Jenkins, the important opening was made. Congress had passed the act of
ratification that each Indian man, woman and child was to select a 160
acre allotment of land for his or her own. Tracts for minors were
selected by the parents or by the agent. Provisions were that they
should not select land on sections sixteen or thirty six in any 
township unless they had previously made improvements there, for this was
reserved for the purpose of common schools. The Indians were paid for
the remaining land and it was surveyed into homesteads of 160 acres 
each and thrown open to the public.

This opening was more orderly than proceding ones in that it was by
lottery rather than by a run. Anyone wanting to make a claim must go to
El Reno or Fort Sill and register between July 10 and 26. Three-fourths
of the people registered at El Reno for it was located on the Rock
Island railroad. The nearest railroad to Fort Sill was at Marlow and
Rush Springs. The Rock Island Lines from the north was somewhere 
between Anadarko and Apache and still under construction.

The registration consisted of an affidavit showing the registrant's
qualification as a homestead entrant, a description of himself and his
post office addess. After the applicants had registered, names were
written on cards and placed inside a closed envelope. At El Reno, the
drawing took place in a school yard, with an estimated crowd of 30 to 
40 thousand people. Postcards were mailed each day to those whose numbers had been drawn out. After the applicant had received his number, he was permitted to file a claim at the land office for the property he 
wanted.

Three new counties, Kiowa, Caddo and Comanche, were added to Oklahoma
Territory from lands in this lottery. County seats at Hobart, Anadarko
and Lawton were established. Town lots were sold at auction and funds
raised were used for public purposes. With the exception of Apache,
whose lots were obtained by a run, simliar to the previous town lot
races.

To reach this new country, it was necessary to travel over the several
trails or wagon roads in use at that time. Unless you drove over the 
few roads where there was a bridge, creeks and rivers had to be forded. 
Many times the heavy wagons got stuck while crossing. One well traveled road was the one from Fort Sill to Anadarko where the U.S. Indian Agent had
its headquarters on the banks of the Washita River. Along these roads
and trails could be seen all manner of travel. Many were delayed by
having trouble with their old wagons while others had new ones. Some
were on horseback, with bed roll and supplies, while some were on foot.
Then there were the covered wagons drawn by several teams. These wagons were often trailed by milk cows and children riding ponies. In a few
weeks the county was full of whites who were plowing fields and 
building homes. Some lived in dugouts scooped out along creek banks or in sod houses built with blocks of grassy bound earth. Change took place so
rapidly that a corn field was converted overnight into the town of
Anadarko.

Oklahoma came into being at a time of world wide financial crisis with
banks closing and the 1890 crash of the stock market. On November 16,
1907, Oklahoma joined the Union as the forty-sixth state.