Darlington? I attended Darlington Elementary School. Ft. Reno? When I was a kid I could glance from my second-story bedroom windows and just be able to make out, during the winter when the trees where barren of leaves, the USDA buildings that now occupy the grounds of that former Army outpost in the far distance. El Reno? We grew up there (my wife & I). Kingfisher? My mother-in-law's hometown. Edmond Station? A scant three blocks from where I am typing this is a marker that commemorates the original spot of that train depot.
Thank you for posting this--truly an excellent presentation and overview of the Land Run. Much I read I wasn't aware of, but I recognized almost all of the places mentioned. It really brings the history of my surroundings into focus. Thanks, again.
I got that peculiar corkscrew feeling one often gets when they recognize places being described that they can relate to on a personal level: not just the normal "I've been there!" exclamation, but the "I've lived there!" out-loud shout.
The closest I've gotten to that feeling is the "I've been there" one and even that one is capable of giving me a thrill.
I live in Norman which was in the unassigned land area with the Chickasaws on one area south of us and the Potawattamie Tribe to the East of us. You cross the Canadian River on the southern edge of Norman and you are in Chickasaw Territory.
Norman was named for a railroad surveyor. In 1870, the United States Land Office contracted with a professional engineer to survey much of Oklahoma territory. Abner E. Norman, a young surveyor, became chairman and leader of the central survey area in Indian Territory. The surveyor’s crew burned the words “NORMAN’S CAMP” into an elm tree near a watering hole to taunt their younger supervisor. When the “SOONERS” (those who headed west before the official Land Run date, April 22, 1889) and the other settlers arrived in the heart of Oklahoma, they kept the name “NORMAN.” Today, with an estimated 102,195 residents, Norman is the third largest city in the State of Oklahoma.
The University of Oklahoma was founded in 1890 as the people chose the University instead of the Capitol -- OU is the Sooners and before every football game and during the game you will hear "Boomer" yelled answered by "Sooner" from the whole stadium. I have been in airports where someone will yell out "Boomer" to be answered from across the way "Sooner."
It is a neat State with a lot of interesting history, conservative, and some of the friendliest people I have ever known -- proud to call Oklahoma home and my adopted State.