The Boomer Perspective
By 1879 people were arriving in large numbers in south Kansas border towns looking for land. The groups turned into colonies of hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of hopeful settlers. David L. Payne was the most prominent and influential of those who campaigned for for the opening of Indian Territory to settlers. He worked to organize the assemblage of homesteaders into what Arrell Gibson, in his book Oklahoma: A History of Five Centuries, describes as "a well-disciplined group, and [Payne] eventually gained for each the right to a homestead in Indian Territory"(175).
Payne led many expeditions into Indian Territory before its opening. He used the trips, in which he and his men would attempt to farm and occasionally even erect small towns, as publicity stunts to win the public over to his cause, going as far as enlisting reporters to accompany him. In a time before industrial farming, land was essential to a working man's survival. There was a need for more land and agricultural opportunities. Payne wisely poised the Boomers as the little guy, the everyday man just looking for an honest chance to work the land and provide for his family. And his plan worked, eventually he gained the support of "the Knights of Labor and other powerful groups"(176). With the help of such influences and public opinion the government was swayed to take action. They purchased the Unassagned Lands from the Native American tribes holding claims, and prepared to open the land to settlement and agriculture.
Though Payne died before the Land Rush his work with the many colonies was a rhetorical success, invoking the government to open fruitful land to needy settlers. Many Oklahoma land owners to this day owe a debt of gratitude to the hard and influential work of David L. Payne.
Payne led many expeditions into Indian Territory before its opening. He used the trips, in which he and his men would attempt to farm and occasionally even erect small towns, as publicity stunts to win the public over to his cause, going as far as enlisting reporters to accompany him. In a time before industrial farming, land was essential to a working man's survival. There was a need for more land and agricultural opportunities. Payne wisely poised the Boomers as the little guy, the everyday man just looking for an honest chance to work the land and provide for his family. And his plan worked, eventually he gained the support of "the Knights of Labor and other powerful groups"(176). With the help of such influences and public opinion the government was swayed to take action. They purchased the Unassagned Lands from the Native American tribes holding claims, and prepared to open the land to settlement and agriculture.
Though Payne died before the Land Rush his work with the many colonies was a rhetorical success, invoking the government to open fruitful land to needy settlers. Many Oklahoma land owners to this day owe a debt of gratitude to the hard and influential work of David L. Payne.