Cherokee Strip
September 11, 1893
Thousands of Americans gathered in this township preparing to make the run for homesteads in the Cherokee Strip, a tract of land 58 miles wide, opening 6,500,000 acres for White settlement bought from the Cherokee Nation by the U.S. Government for $8,300,000. President Grover Cleveland and Secretary of the Interior Hoke Smith arranged to have 9 canvas booths placed within 100 ft. of the Kansas State Line where each eager American must make 7 affidavits and declarations to register.
At noon September 16, 1893 more than 100,000 people took part in this, the greatest race in the history of the world. Later, at 4 Land Offices located at Perry, Enid, Alva, and Woodward, each settler paid about $2 an acre for his claim.
This marker erected by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in Oklahoma on Sept. 16, 1954.
Marker is at the intersection of U.S. 77 and Judo Road, on the left when traveling north on U.S. 77.
Courtesy hmdb.org
