CIIAI:ITA DIE AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. The deaf unites and insane of the Territory are eared for in private institutions by contract. The in sane are kept in a sanatorium at Norman, the contract allowing $2110 per patient. Convicts are cared for by contract in the Kansas State Penitentiary. The cost per convict for 1899 was $123.
IhsTonv. Oklahoma was a part of the Louisi ana Purchase. and was inelinled in the "unorgan ized or Indian country•' set apart by Congress in 1531. The Creek Indians (June 14. 1566) ceded to the United States the western part of their domain in Indian Territory. 30 cents an acre. while the Seminoles give up their entire holdings for 15 cents an acre. The Saes and Foxes. Cheyennes, and other 'tribes were settled upon part of those lands. but great tracts re mained unoccupied. Though white men were forbidden by law to settle upon these lands, schemes for colonization were developed in 1879. President llayes issued proclamations both in 1879 and 1880 forbidding settlement, but it was necessary to use troops to dislodge the 'boomers.' Congress in 1885 authorized the President to open negotiations with the Creek and Seminole Indians, for the purpose of opening these vacant lands to settlement. This was accomplished in
I889, and by proclamation of the President the lands were thrown open to entry April 22, 1859. The only governmental authority within the re gion was a United States court. Troops kept the expectant settlers in order until noon of the ap pointed day. A mad race for the best lands and town sites ensued. Canvas towns were laid out and each begzin to lay plans to secure the capital. There was at once a vast influx of settlers, and the population increased at an extraordinary rate. Additional lands were laid open to settlement in 1591, 1893, and 1901; and the scenes of the origi nal opening were repeated. There was no govern ment in the Territory until Oklahoma Territory was created (March 2, 1890). The first Legis lature met at Guthrie, August 27, but spent al most the entire session quarreling over the loca tion of the capital. which remained at Guthrie. The agitation for Statehood began in 1891, and a bill admitting Oklahoma as a State passed the House of the Fifty-seventh Congress, but failed to reach a vote in the Senate.