The Last Land Rush ~ Caldwell, KS
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 37° 01.956 W 097° 36.396
14S E 623929 N 4099396
September 16, 1893, 15,000 land hungry whites made the last run.
Waymark Code: WM9NNW
Location: Kansas, United States
Date Posted: 09/10/2010
Views: 7
Marker Erected by: The Cladwell Cherokee Strip Centennial Committee
Date Marker Erected: 1993
County of Marker: Sumner County
Location of Marker: 12 E. Central Ave., Caldwell
Marker Text:
On September 16, 1893, 15,000 land hungry whites gathered here to make "the Run" into the Cherokee Outlet to the south. Caldwell was 1 of 9 places where over 100,000 potential settlers awaited cavalry soldiers' gunshots to start the last land rush in the United States. The Outlet, commonly, but incorrectly, referred to as the "Strip", contained 6,000,000 acres and roughly laid between Caldwell, Stillwater, and the Oklahoma Panhandle.
Originally set aside for the Indians in 1835, the Outlet went unused and white cattleman grazed Texas longhorn cattle across it on the way to eastern markets. Under heavy pressure from while landsquatters, known as "boomers", and lacking help from federal authorities to protect their property, the Indians reluctantly began negotiations with Washington in 1889.
The Cherokees sold the Outlet to the government in 1891 for $8.5 million but when Congress finally appropriated the monies in 1893, the Indians were shorted $200,000.
Erected 1993 by Donations from the Caldwell Cherokee Strip
Centennial Committee.