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Question 3

What item were the "Sooners" eager to obtain?

a) Land
b) Gold
c) Oil

Answer

INCORRECT

The correct answer is: Land

Boomers and Sooners
In the 1870s, railroad executives, real-estate speculators, and would-be settlers—collectively known as "Boomers"—lobbied the government to allow non-Indians into unassigned land. In the 1880s, federal laws undermined the Indians' right to the land they'd been promised. In 1889, President Benjamin Harrison signed legislation opening up two million acres of Indian Territory to settlement, on a first come, first served basis. At noon on April 22 of that year, some 50,000 Boomers raced into the territory. Many of the 1889 Boomers, however, found that others had snuck in before April 22 and staked out land claims. These "Sooners" as they were called gave Oklahoma its nickname, the "Sooner State."

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Troops escort Sooners out of Indian Territory

Sooners
Troops escort "Sooners" out of Indian Territory. In fact, there were too few soldiers to patrol the territory in the months before the 1889 rush, so many of those who "jumped the gun" were able to gain title to their premature claims.

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Sources: Harper's Weekly-Library of Congress, Mormon trumpeters-Bettmann/CORBIS, Book: Destination America

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