U.S. officials forced the cession of some of land in the center of the Indian Nation Territory. Elias C. Boudinot, a railroad lobbyist, wrote an article that was published in the "Chicago Times" on February 17, 1879, that popularized the term Unassigned Lands to refer to this tract. Soon the popular press began referring to the people agitating for its settlement as Boomers. To prevent settlement of the land by European-Americans, President Rutherford B. Hayes issued a proclamation forbidding unlawful entry into Indian Territory in April 1879.