Oklahoma State University - Redskin Yearbook (Stillwater, OK)

Page 13 text:

When President Benjamin Harrison signed his proclamation opening Oklahoma Country to White settlement he paved the Way for the following Words Written by President Theodore Roosevelt: NoW, therefore, I, Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, do, in accordance with the pro- visions of the said act of Congress of Iune 16, 1906, declare and announce . . . and the State of Oklahoma is to be deemed admitted by Congress into the Union under and by virtue of the said act on an equal footing With the original states. So, from the seed of civilization planted by the predecessors of Captain Payne, from the nurturing given that seed by Payne and his followersg and the acceptance given the motive by President Harrison, Oklahoma-Indian Land-joined the Union on the 16th day of November, 1907. 1889 1907

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9 1: -r' 'f 3'-'SF' A -tif, cf. Mfg: .a . ..2f,.'J Sit- F -5' '5 . f .l-1. -,. 1, Lf'. .E 'iii ' ' 'i 1 X 5 1836 1884 4 Decendant of a family of empire builders such as Davy Crockett of Alamo fame, David L. Payne's life was so varied as to appear kaleidoscopic. At the end of the Civil War in which he had served with the 4th Kansas Infantry, Payne remained actively associated with the military. Through this activity which carried him in 1868 into Colorado, New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle, he became acquainted with the land he later was to champion- Oklahoma. Reputed to have become inspired to open Oklahoma Country to white settlement through conversations with Colonel E. C. Boudinot in 1879, Captain Payne incessantly strove to settle this new land until his death on November 27, 1884. His name is respected for his dauntless spirit. Heedless alike of obstacles and sneers, he had kept his one great purpose in mind. Unfor- tunately, though his death prevented him from realizing its accomplishment.

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Z Q A5 , . 1541 4,4 'sr .11 Nf -.. 1 f 1' fr- x E a V, , f N OKLAHOMAN may gaze back through 5O years, to the day when the Indian territory was opened for white settlement. . .Frontiers always have blustered and fought back, but always they have yielded their lavish treasures to the mightier forces. Aggressive and conquering groups recognize not the desires and wants of others but their own. Treaties are written, but time and human elements often reduce them to scrap and dust. The settling of Oklahoma affords a colorful and typical chapter in the history of the frontier. For Oklahoma, once a haven for the Indian, became a frontier. Hopes of the American Indians for a commonwealth on a plane of political, economic, and industrial equality with the whites were crushed finally and forever on one dramatic day. That day was April 22, 1889. The salvo of shots, from carbines clutched in the brawny hands of United States troopers, hurtled tens of thousands of pioneers loose in a wild race for homes on that memorable day of April 22. Pandemonium reigned! An ominous shout resounded into the heavens. A wave of mounted humanity, tapering into the horizon, surged forward. Women shrieked. Chunking of wagon hubs in a mad careen over the prairie played a rumbling symphony in keeping with the wild scene. Two million acres of unassigned land awaited settlement-homes for everybody! Bolling, tumbling clouds of dust hovered in the wake of those determined men and women who were in the act of siring the State of Oklahoma-the 46th state of the imion. The gray dust settled like a henediction on the newly opened territory. As the light faded on that April day, so faded the era of Indian domination of lands that were given them, a domination that had endured much longer than half- century of settlement that whites are celebrating this year. Let us delve in retrospect. . .Noble is the Indian, but fate decreed the perishing of the vast empire once his. At least ten tribes of aborigines claimed domain over what is now Oklahoma in the 16th century. They peered from bluffs as Francisco Vasques de Coronado, the first white man to set foot on the soil of Oklahoma, wended his way in 1541 in search of gold, silver, and precious stone. Through the years came more white men filtering through the frontiers in quest of treasure and booty. The redman held the upper hand. Bleached skeletons bore mute memento of Indian retaliation on the rolling prairies between the Arkansas and Red rivers.