O.K. Corral by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview
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1907: End of Indian Territory
The year 1907 is a possible candidate year for the end of the Wild West because it marked the end of Indian Territory. Indian Territory 1342
originally encompassed all lands west of the Mississippi that were not incorporated into any state.
However, according to the “Encyclopedia of the Great Plains,” by the 1820s, Indian Territory amounted to the present day state of Oklahoma, where Native Americans of the “five civilized tribes” from the southeast, the Cherokee, Seminole, Creek, Chickasaw, and Choctaw were forced to relocate. Native American policies changed in the later part of the century which sought to assimilate Native Americans.
Part of this was ending the community based land holdings of Native American tribes. This came to be with the 1887 Dawes Act which broke up reservations and forced tribal members to take 160 acre allotments for personal use. Anything left over was opened to settlement.
Land runs followed.
This led to a split in the territory between the eastern half which was considered still Indian Territory and the west which formed the kernel of Oklahoma. In 1907, both Oklahoma and the remaining Indian 1343
Territory drew up a joint state constitution and were admitted to the Union as the single state of Oklahoma.
It was a watershed moment since it was the culmination of a policy of force acculturation of Native American peoples.