Jeff Provine a Product of the Land Run

Oklahoma is one of the few places in the world settled by a land run. At the sound of a noon cannon-shot in 1889, thousands of settlers charged out on horseback, piled into trains, even rode bicycles or ran on foot at the sound of a noon cannon-shot in hopes of staking a claim on 160 acres. In something of the epitome of late nineteenth century senses of Progressivism (including ignoring the negative effects of appropriating land and potential claim-jumping at gunpoint), the principle was simple: the rewards go to the ablest.

I’m a product of the land run. My parents still live on the claim my great-great-grandfather proved up south of the Salt Fork River. I learned the thrill of the run from emulating it in fourth grade as part of statehood celebrations, but lately I’ve taken in a great deal more fact about it as I’ve been delving into state history research for my collections of local ghost legends. My latest, Haunted Guthrie, Oklahoma, goes all the way back to the beginning for a stunning take on a town that surged, peaked, and fell into slumber in less than two decades.

The land runs in Oklahoma gave us boomtowns like no other. While many places in the West had spontaneously erupting civilization, Oklahoma blossomed through rigorous planning of men and women knowing that a new land would suddenly appear, a slate for anything to be drawn upon. Most had one destination in mind: Guthrie.

Guthrie went from a population of a handful of workers at a railroad watering station to over ten thousand in just twenty-four hours. Within weeks, the city began laying streets, installing gas and electric lighting, and putting up buildings. In just a few short years, it had a blocks-long downtown that stood out like a brick-colored Victorian gem on the prairie. Guthrie had nine competing newspapers within seven months; the first, the Oklahoma State Capital, was founded even before there was a territory, let alone a state!

Fulfilling prophecy, Guthrie was the territorial capital and the first state capital, though some sneaky politics stole that title down the road to Oklahoma City. Suddenly out of steam, Guthrie began a decline that closed its many factories and left much of the town empty. Yet this proved to be a blessing in disguise when interest in the past reawakened with the national bicentennial. Guthrie was a pristine town out of time, and its Victorian downtown became a National Historic Landmark.

Today Guthrie welcomes thousands of visitors to its museums, rodeos, bluegrass festival, and the famous Victorian Walk where everyone dresses as if the 1890s never ended. Some believe many of the original settlers still linger. The Guthrie Ghost Walk takes curious guests through downtown, and tours by the Oklahoma Paranormal Association go inside haunted buildings seeking to record evidence of Guthrians long passed. In addition to its Christmastime fame, Guthrie is quickly becoming a must-visit for Halloween.

Jeff Provine, a farm kid turned writer always asking "What If?" He also serves as a professor, lecturing on Composition, Comics, and Mythology. www.jeffprovine.com, author of Campus Ghosts of Norman and Haunted Norman, Oklahoma. His third collection, Haunted Guthrie, releases August 24, 2015.

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