Big Pasture
Big Pasture
Big Pasture
When Kiowa - Comanche - Apache lands in Oklahoma opened to white settlement 1901. There were 505,000 acres reserved as grazing lands. This area became known as Big Pasture most of region leased for cattle ranching.
Because of soil's fertility, white people sought opening of Big Pasture to settlement and farming. Congress passed Act, signed by President Theodore Roosevelt June 5, 1906, providing such opening. Beginning December 10, 1906, farm lands and town lots sold to highest bidders on sealed bid basis. Bids opened starting March 15, 1907. Was the last big land opening in Oklahoma.
Within one year's time 2,337 families living in Big Pasture area. Eschiti and Kell, competing towns, combined in 1908 to found Grandfield.
Only few miles from here, April of 1905, famous wolf hunt was held led by President Theodore Roosevelt.
Captain R. B. March and troops, with Lt. George B. McClellan second in command, passed short distance north of this point 1852 on way to find source of Red River.
- Oklahoma Historical Society 1962 -
When Kiowa - Comanche - Apache lands in Oklahoma opened to white settlement 1901. There were 505,000 acres reserved as grazing lands. This area became known as Big Pasture most of region leased for cattle ranching.
Because of soil's fertility, white people sought opening of Big Pasture to settlement and farming. Congress passed Act, signed by President Theodore Roosevelt June 5, 1906, providing such opening. Beginning December 10, 1906, farm lands and town lots sold to highest bidders on sealed bid basis. Bids opened starting March 15, 1907. Was the last big land opening in Oklahoma.
Within one year's time 2,337 families living in Big Pasture area. Eschiti and Kell, competing towns, combined in 1908 to found Grandfield.
Only few miles from here, April of 1905, famous wolf hunt was held led by President Theodore Roosevelt.
Captain R. B. March and troops, with Lt. George B. McClellan second in command, passed short distance north of this point 1852 on way to find source of Red River.
- Oklahoma Historical Society 1962 -
Location
Directions
On U.S. Highway 70 , in Grandfield, Tillman County. *
Location is on the corner of 1st and Main Street.
Location is on the corner of 1st and Main Street.
Regions
Tillman County
Great Plains Country
OklahomaMaps
- 34.23180, -98.68322
- OpenStreetMap
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- MapQuest
Pictures
Notes
* Directions from Mark of Heritage, by Muriel H. Wright
Wikipedia: Big Pasture
Wikipedia: Big Pasture
he Big Pasture was 488,000 acres (1,975 km²) of prairie land, in what is now southwestern Oklahoma. The land had been reserved for grazing use by the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache tribes after their reserve was opened for settlement by a lottery conducted during June through August of 1901. The tribes, however, leased most of the land out to large ranchers and it became known as Big Pasture. The Big Pasture was maintained for grazing until June 5, 1906, when Congress passed an act (Chapter 2580, 34 Stat. 213) requiring that it be disposed of by allotting 160 acres (0.6 km²), in severalty, to each child born into the tribes after the act of 1900. The remaining land was sold by sealed bid in December of 1906 and the proceeds placed in the U.S. Treasurey for the tribes. This was the last large tract of land opened for settlement in Oklahoma Territory.
