Page 151 - 2020 Russell Catalogue

178
JIM CARSON Oklahoma Land Rush oil
38 x 72 inches
$28,000–35,000
The Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889 was the first land rush in the Unassigned Lands of America. The area that was opened to settlement included all or part of several counties of the Oklahoma Territory. These lands were considered some of the best unoccupied public land in the United States. The rush started at high noon with a cannon blast on April 22, 1889, with an estimated 50,000 people lined up for their piece of the available two million acres.
The Indian Appropriations Act of 1889 was passed and signed into law by President Benjamin Harrison to open the two million acres for settlement. President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Homestead Act of 1862 which allowed settlers to claim lots of up to 160 acres, provided they lived on the land and improved it.
— Jim Carson, November, 2019