The Cherokee Strip

By Kristy McCaffrey

The Cherokee Outlet was established in 1835 as a piece of land accessible to the Cherokee Nation as part of their move to a reservation in what is now northeastern Oklahoma. The Outlet was 225 miles long and 60 miles wide.

Due to a survey error, a 2.5-mile-wide tract of land that buffered the Kansas state line became known as the Cherokee Strip, and the entire Outlet was often called the Strip.

At the end of the Civil War, a new treaty with the Cherokee allowed several tribes (Ponca, Osage, Pawnee, and Nez Perce to name a few) to settle on the eastern part of the Strip. This was punishment for the Cherokee for siding with the Confederacy during the war. It also cut off their access to the western part of the Strip.

In 1880, the Cherokee Strip Livestock Association was formed and proceeded to lease the western portions for cattlemen from Texas to graze their herds, netting a steady income for the Cherokee. But due to pressure to open up the lands for white settlement, all leases were nullified by Congress in 1890, forcing the Cherokee to sell the land to the U.S. government at well below asking price. (As a side note, actual payment for this land didn’t occur until 1964 when Cherokee claims were finally settled in court.)

In September 1893, the Cherokee Outlet was opened for Oklahoma’s fourth and largest land run. It was inadequately run and chaotic, resulting in massive fraud, widespread suffering, and several deaths with over 100,000 pioneers pursuing 40,000 homesteads. Immigrants from almost every part of the U.S. and many foreign countries participated.

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Oklahoma Territory
November 1899 

Dr. Anna Ryan has been spurned by the Dallas medical community for the simple reason of being a woman. Wanting more than a rural practice alongside her mother, also a doctor, Anna accepts an invitation from a mentor to join a private hospital for disabled children in Oklahoma City. But when she falls in with a band of women attempting to liberate a town of innocents, she’ll need more than her medical training to survive.

Malcolm Hardy has skirted the line between lawlessness and justice since escaping the mean streak of his father and his no-good half-siblings a decade ago. In Oklahoma Territory he created enough distance from his family name to find a quiet purpose to his days. But then Anna Ryan walks back into his life, and his hard-won peace is in jeopardy.

The last time Malcolm saw Anna, she had been a determined girl he couldn’t help but admire. Now she was a compelling woman who needed his help to find The Swan, a mysterious figure with a questionable reputation. But one thing was clear—Anna’s life path was on a trajectory for the remarkable while Malcolm’s was not. Surrendering to temptation would only end in heartbreak.

Anna is the eldest daughter of Logan and Claire from THE DOVE. 

The Wings of the West Series Reading Order
Book One: The Wren
Book Two: The Dove
Book Three: The Sparrow
Book Four: The Blackbird
Book Five: The Bluebird
Book Six: The Songbird (Novella)
Book Seven: Echo of the Plains (Short Story)
Book Eight: The Starling
Book Nine: The Canary
Book Ten: The Nighthawk
Book Eleven: The Swan (Coming Soon) 

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