Volume 10 , Issue 6

Cherokee Outlet & Cherokee Live Stock Assoc.

"James Bradley sent this information he found at the "Chronicles of Oklahoma" 
Volume 11, No. 4, December, 1933:

BOOK REVIEW -- The Cherokee Strip, by George Rainey, Enid, Oklahoma, 504 pp., with many illustrations-Cooperative Publishing Company, Guthrie, Oklahoma, $3.00.

George Rainey, Enid, Oklahoma, added another interesting chapter to Oklahoma history when he wrote, "The Cherokee Strip." We have had stories written of the Cherokee Live Stock Association, stories about old trails, concerning the cattle industry and the cow punchers and many sensational stories about bad men, who are usually called outlaws.

We have had, more recently, some interesting and authentic articles written of the opening of the Cherokee Outlet; but this book by the historian of the Cherokee Strip, George Rainey, is the most comprehensive, all embracing history of this great kingdom of seven million acres of land, known as the Cherokee Strip, that was opened to white settlement September 16, 1893, ever written.

Like most historians, he takes us back to the days when the Cherokee Strip was the hunting ground of the wild Indians, and also, tells all that is to be known about some of the earlier explorers, who crossed over this wide expanse of grass land and salt plains in the long ago. He tells the reader of Coronado, La Salle, Capt. Boone, Sibley and other early explorers. Of course, he has not forgotten the Louisiana Purchase, and of the treaties made with the Cherokees giving that tribe the use of this strip as a perpetual outlet to the hunting grounds of the unexplored west, and also, providing that the salt beds should be reserved for the use of all tribes.

While the title of the book is, "The Cherokee Strip," it explains the difference between the name, "Outlet" and the name, "Strip".

While it is usually called the Cherokee Strip, however, it would have been more in accord with historical facts to refer to this vast territory, that now comprises all of ten counties in the northern half of Oklahoma, as the "Cherokee Outlet".

Page 1119 ... The "Strip" proper, was only a narrow strip of land along the northern boundary of the Cherokee Nation, as well as, that of the "Outlet". This strip was about two and a half miles wide and ran west to the 100th meridian; this being the cause of a controversy that lasted several years. This book of Mr. Rainey''s tells all about it, and settles the matter for keeps.

The author devotes a chapter or two to the subject of Indian raids and Indian wars, that has made the Strip historic ground. He tells of the heroic deeds of the old scouts, and the soldiers, who once rode over these vast prairies with General Geo. Custer and Phil Sheridan. He tells of the massacre of that freighter, Pat Hennessey, by the Indians when they were on the war path.

He writes of the outlaws who once infested that part of the territory. He mentions Dick Yeager, Zip Wyatt, Ben Cravens and the Dalton boys. Of course, he speaks of that old line of deputy United States marshals, including Luke Short and Heck Thomas, et al. In this chapter he puts enough "blood and thunder", to satisfy most any "wild west" fan. -- OkieLegacy Comment
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