The Late Sooner

Sanford Deering wants to stake his claim in the Oklahoma Territory on April 22, 1889. His wife, Lucy, determined to stay in Missouri, refuses to let him go. They are expecting their third child. Soon after the birth, Sanford receives a letter from a friend who staked a claim. Land is still available. The Late Sooner dramatizes the struggles, heartaches, and trials of the Deering family as they face claim-jumpers, prairie fires, and famine during the first difficult years following the first land run in Oklahoma. This account depicts Sanford's life, recorded one line a day, in his ledger book.