WHEELING INTELLIGENCER, West Virginia, April 25, 1889

• Oklahoma land rush
• Boomers and Sooners

The front page has one column headlines: "THE OKLAHOMA BOOM" "More Stores of Blood Coming from the New Country" "The Situation At Guthrie" "Becoming More Quiet--Oklahoma City Peaceably Located--General Merritt Says the Reports Have Been Exaggerated"  with related text. This is fine coverage on the famed Oklahoma land rush which happened just 3 days prior.
Four pages, large folio size, irregular at the spine, good condition.

Background: The April 25, 1889 issue of the WHEELING INTELLIGENCER captures a defining moment in American westward expansion, documenting the immediate aftermath of the iconic 1889 Oklahoma Land Rush just three days after roughly 50,000 settlers flooded into 1.9 million acres of Unassigned Lands. Front-page, one-column headlines including "THE OKLAHOMA BOOM," "More Stores of Blood Coming from the New Country," "The Situation At Guthrie," "Becoming More Quiet," "Oklahoma City Peaceably Located," and "General Merritt Says the Reports Have Been Exaggerated" underscore the national media's intense interest in the rapid transformation of the frontier and the sharp contrast between exaggerated rumors of violent land disputes and actual conditions. This coverage holds immense historical significance as it records the literal overnight creation of major urban centers like Guthrie and Oklahoma City from barren prairie, while documenting how federal military authorities under General Wesley Merritt moved to restore order, manage conflict between legal homesteaders and illegal "Sooners," and facilitate the closing of the American frontier.