By the terms of both the acts referred to all the lands so purchased were declared to be a part of the public domain and open to settlement under the homestead law.  But of the lands embraced in these purchases, being in the aggregate about 5,500,000 acres, 3,500,000 acres had already, under the terms of the treaty of 1866, been acquired by the United States for the purpose of settling other Indian tribes thereon and had been appropriated to that purpose.  The land remaining and available for settlement consisted of 1,887,796 acres, surrounded on all sides by lands in the occupancy of Indian tribes.  Congress had provided no civil government for the people who were to be invited by my proclamation to settle upon these lands, except as the new court which had been established at Muscogee or the United States courts in some of the adjoining States had power to enforce the general laws of the United States.

In this condition of things I was quite reluctant to open the lands to settlement; but in view of the fact that several thousand persons, many of them with their families, had gathered upon the borders of the Indian Territory with a view to securing homesteads on the ceded lands, and that delay would involve them in much loss and suffering, I did on the 23d day of March last issue a proclamation declaring that the lands therein described would be open to settlement under the provisions of the law on the 22d day of April following at 12 o’clock noon.  Two land districts had been established and the offices were opened for the transaction of business when the appointed time arrived.

It is much to the credit of the settlers that they very generally observed the limitation as to the time when they might enter the Territory.  Care will be taken that those who entered in violation of the law do not secure the advantage they unfairly sought.  There was a good deal of apprehension that the strife for locations would result in much violence and bloodshed, but happily these anticipations were not realized.  It is estimated that there are now in the Territory about 60,000 people, and several considerable towns have sprung up, for which temporary municipal governments have been organized.  Guthrie is said to have now a population of almost 8,000.  Eleven schools and nine churches have been established, and three daily and five weekly newspapers are published in this city, whose charter and ordinances have only the sanction of the voluntary acquiescence of the people from day to day.

Oklahoma City has a population of about 5,000, and is proportionately as well provided as Guthrie with churches, schools, and newspapers.  Other towns and villages having populations of from 100 to 1,000 are scattered over the Territory.