One hundred thousand people are preparing to make a run – but they’re not in Spandex and Nikes. This isn’t some jumbo version of the Boston Marathon. More than a century ago, it was a race for pioneers to claim land.
This is the historic Cherokee Strip Land Run. Today, one citizen has opened the River’s Eagle Bar and Grill near the site of the land run. He is seeking to celebrate the land run while supporting his community.
Russell Graves is the owner of Rivers Eagle Bar and Grill and the Cherokee Strip Campground near Arkansas City. Graves is a sixth generation Ark City resident. His ancestors worked cattle and trained horses and mules.
“At a very young age, I was told by my mother that I should go to Kansas State University and become an engineer, so that’s what I did,” Graves said. He became an industrial engineer and worked at the oil refinery in Ark City, but he remembered his rural roots.
As a kid, Graves saw his community participate in the 100th anniversary of the Cherokee Strip Land Run of 1893. At noon on Sept. 16, 1893, an estimated 100,000 people dashed into the previously unassigned native lands that had been opened for settlement on a first-come, first-served basis. There were actually several land runs, but the one in 1893 was the largest.
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