No Man'S Land

There is within the United States a large tract of land--167 miles in length by 34 1/2 miles in width--where there is no law, and where every man's hand is against every other man's hand, where "Ilka man keeps his ain gear wi' his ain grip."

This tract is popularly known as "No Man's Land," "The Neutral Strip," and "The Public Land Strip." It contains an area of 3,687,360 acres, sufficient for 23,000 farms of 160 acres each, if opened lawfully for settlement like other public lands. The country abounds in rich soil, and is well watered by the North fork of the Canadian river and its many tributaries. There has been, in spite of its anomalous condition, a large immigration to this section, and some flourishing towns have grown up within it. The majority of the settlers are industrious, thrifty and moral; but there are, of course, few attractions presented to the average pioneer to enter a country where there are no laws to protect him, and where his only means of enforcing his rights are his muscles and his firearms. The Cherokee Indians, by their construction of a clause in their treaty of 1828, insist that the use of the public land strip belongs to them, and the official maps as late as 1869, or later, show the strip as a part of the Indian Territory. A number of thieves and ruffians have taken up their abode there, also, and make raids upon the law-abiding citizens of Kansas, Colorado and Texas, retreating into the strip when pursued, counting immunity upon the fact that there is no court in the United States having jurisdiction of the place where they have taken shelter.

This anomalous state of things came about at the time of the annexation of Texas, March, 1845.

At that time its northern and western boundaries were unsettled, Texas claiming more than was conceded by Mexico. Texas was admitted into the Union, December 29th, 1845. By the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 1848, the United States acquired the rights of Mexico in the disputed territory, and in 1850 Congress purchased, for the sum of $10,000,000, the claim of Texas. Thus the disputed territory was ceded to the United States and the northernmost boundary of Texas became fixed along the line of 36 deg. 30' north latitude.

When the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska were organized in 1853, the line of 37 deg. north latitude was adopted as the southern boundary of the Territory of Kansas. The southern boundary of Colorado followed the same parallel. This left a strip of land just north of the extreme northern boundary of Texas without organization of any sort, and it has remained without organization to the present time.

Several attempts have been made by Congress to reform this anomalous state of things by organizing the strip and attaching it to Kansas for judicial purposes, but they have thus far come to naught. The persons who have interested themselves in these measures complain that their efforts are baulked at every turn by a powerful lobby in the employ of cattle ranches who are using large parts of the strip as grazing ground for their stock, and would find it unprofitable to be disturbed.