Cimarron

Cimarron is the title of a novel published by popular historical fiction author Edna Ferber in 1929. The book was adapted into a critically acclaimed film in 1931 through RKO Pictures. In 1960, the story was again adapted for the screen to meager success by MGM. Over time, the novel and 1931 film have fallen out of favor due to perceived racism.

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The Author

Born on August 15, 1885, in Michigan, Ferber had lived through the latter development of the West. She also grew up on the stories of her parents and grandparents, who had moved west from New York many years before her birth. Her writing career began as a journalist, and Ferber published her first novel in 1911. Ferber's early works were mostly light romance. It was not until 1924's So Big that Ferber's career as a novelist came to fruition. That novel, about love and sacrifice in the "old" West, earned Ferber a Pulitzer Prize. She then immersed herself in historical epics, following So Big first with Show Boat, based on and around the Mississippi River, and then with Cimarron in 1929.

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The Land Rush

The Oklahoma Land Rush (also called the Oklahoma Land Race and Oklahoma Strip Land Run) plays a pivotal role in both the novel and film adaptations. "Manifest destiny" and the desperation of the settlers involved in the rush provides the opening drama and sets the stage for the twists and turns in the book. Every settler is desperate to stake his claim on the best piece of land (near water).

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The actual land rush occurred on September 16th, 1893. The piece of land in question had been allotted to the Cherokee people as part of their 1828 treaty, while the rest of the Oklahoma Territory had been open to settlers. As commerce grew across the area of Kansas and Oklahoma, cattlemen became increasingly annoyed by the presence of the Cherokee on prime land that they wanted to use to drive cattle from northern ranches to Texas. In the 1880s, the government attempted to lease the land to cattle farming, but the Native Americans refused. Eventually, the Cherokee people did sell the land to the government and were forced into cramped reservations scattered across Arizona, New Mexico, and southwestern Texas.

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Throughout the remaining 1880s various cattle associations and ranches fought over the land. Disputes even turned deadly, as large cattle companies and small ranchers both claimed the land as their own. This eventually led to a ban on cattle farming in the area, and in 1893 the land, 58 miles (93 km) wide by 225 miles (362 km) long, was opened to homesteaders. The land was divided into 42,000 claims, and each homesteader had to literally stake (put a stake with a white flag attached) their claim, and pick up a certificate back at the starting place. Nearly 100,000 people arrived for the rush, and over half of them would be sent back home after the day was through.

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Edna Ferber: Edna Ferber (August 15 1885 - April 16 1968), Jewish-American , author, and playwrite....

1929: 1929 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar)....

1931: 1931 is a common year starting on Thursday....

Cimarron related Images and Photos (experimental)

Cimarron (1931) (DVD)	Cimarron Richard Dix Irene Dunne 1931	Cimarron Richard Dix Irene Dunne on Window Card 1931	Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron German Movie Poster 2002
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron 2002	Spirit- Stallion of the Cimarron	Spirit- Stallion of the Cimarron