The Land Lottery Drawing

Before the Founding of Lawton

Land Lottery and Auction

Game

Teaching Materials

The Land Lottery Drawing

A total of 500 names were drawn on the first day. Then 2,000 names were drawn every day for the next three days.

Ben Heyler drew the first envelope from the El Reno box. The commissioner yelled out the name and address on the slip. The first name drawn from the El Reno box was Stephen A. Holcomb.

The drawing continued until 25 slips from the El Reno box were drawn. Each slip was numbered from one to twenty-five. Then the boys drew 25 slips from the Lawton box.

James R. Woods was the first name drawn from the Lawton box. Woods was a hardware clerk from Weatherford.

Woods won first claim on the lots in Lawton. The only choice for land in Lawton was two quarter sections on the south side of the town site. The land to the north was government land. (Fort Sill Army base was north of Lawton.) The land to the west was school land. The land to the east belonged to the native Americans.

Woods thought the lots located closest to the town site would be worth more money. So he used the rule of "contiguous forty acres."

Woods did not choose a square piece of land for his claim. He chose a long strip of land one-quarter of a mile wide and one mile long. His claim stretched along the entire southern edge of the Lawton town site. Many people thought Woods had not played fair. They criticized Woods. They gave him a nickname--"Hog" Woods.