AfterimmigrantsfloodedintocentralOklahomaduringthelandrushof1889andthefuturecapitalofOklahomaCitysprangup“withinafortnight,“thecity’sresidentsadoptedtheslogan“borngrown“todescribetheirnewhome.Buttheterritory’screationwasneversosimpleorstraightforward.Therealstory,steepedinthepoliticsoftheGildedAge,unfoldsin1889,MichaelJ.Hightower’srevealinglookatamomentinhistorythat,inallitsturmoilandcomplexity,transcendsthemyth.HightowerframeshisstorywithinthelargerhistoryofOldOklahoma,beginninginIndianTerritory,wheredisplacedtribesandfreedmen,wealthycattlemen,andprospectivehomesteadersbecameembroiledindisputesoverpubliclandandfederalgovernmentpolicies.Againstthisfraughtbackground,1889travelsbackandforthbetweenWashington,D.C.,andtheOklahomafrontiertodescribethepoliticsofsettlement,publiclanduse,andthefirststirringsofurbandevelopment.Drawingoneyewitnessaccounts,HightowercapturesthedramaoftheBoomerincursionsandtheRunof’89,aswellasthenascenturbanizationofthetownsitethatwouldbecomeOklahomaCity.AlloftheseeventsplayedoutinapoliticalvacuumuntilCongressofficiallycreatedOklahomaTerritoryintheOrganicActofMay1890.ThestoryofcentralOklahomaisprofoundlyAmerican,showingtheregiontohavebeenacrucibleformeldingcompetingnationalinterestsandvisionsofthefuture.Boomers,businessmen,cattlemen,soldiers,politicians,pundits,andAfricanandNativeAmericanssquaredoff--sometimespeacefully,oftennot--indisagreementsoverpubliclandsthatwouldresonateinwesternhistorylongafter1889.
