Publisher's Synopsis
In 1887, two cowboys fresh off a cattle drive on the Chisholm Trail realize the days of the cattle drives are almost over. They decide to start their own ranch by leasing land in the Cherokee Strip. When the Unassigned Lands are opened to settlement in 1889, they decide to participate in the Land Run. This book covers the period from 1887 to 1895 and describes the hardships, trials and tribulations of making a living on the Oklahoma prairie for five years in order to gain title to the land.Each year lists events around the country that emphasizes just how hard and desperate these settlers were as there was easy living elsewhere. Skyscrapers, roller coasters, and electricity in New York City. College football and major league baseball games. Wimbledon, the Kentucky Derby, the Belmont and the Preakness. Meanwhile these settlers were forced to sometimes eat armadillos and rattlesnakes in order to survive. Doctors were scarce, death was commonplace. Some settlers proved up their land and their descendants own it still. Others didn't last. The toll was too great.The main characters and the stories are all fictitious. The historical timeline, the lands claimed, the names of the surrounding settlers, and local businesses are all real.
