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About The Chemawa American (Chemawa, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 27, 1920)
PAGE 4 T H E C H EM A WA AMERICA?* Facts About Oklahoma Indians (C o n tin u e d from pag e 1) each Osage was paid d u rin g the past year m ore th an $7,000.00. T he prodigious increase in th is source of w ealth has been developed d u rin g th e last th ree or four years. Under the original lease on th e O sage reservation the royalty was o n e-ten th of the oil and $50.00 per annum for each gas well. T h e present royalty paid by the operators is o n e-sixth of th e value of th e oil and gas produced. T hese two are now leased separately, th e gas leases being in large trac ts and covering p ractically all of the reservation. T h e leasing of large tracts under gas leases perm its th e lessee to d e v e lo p s he gas deposits system atically as they are needed to s u p ply the consum er. F o rm erly , w hen th e oil and gas deposits were covered in the sam e lease, large q u a n ti ties of gas were wasted because th e operators, as a rule, desired oil and p erm itted th e gas to escape so th a t drillin g for oil could be continued. R ecently, th e w’aste of gas has been practically elim inated on the O sage reservation, to th e g reat ad v an tag e of the I n dians, the gas lessees, and th e public. Oil leases are m ade in 160-acre tracts, w hich are sold at public auction, bid d in g on th e bonus above the royalty , about 200 q u arter sections being advertised for oil leases every three or four m onths. Since the adoption of the reg u latio n s in A u g u st, 1915, oil leases have been sold covering over 300,000 acres at a bonus in excess of $29,000,000.00, and gas leases covering m ore th an 500,000 acres at a bonus of m ore th an $1,000,000.00. In addition to the am ounts paid as bonus, th e tribe has received as royalties on oil and gas since 1901 nearly $20,000,000.00, of w hich all but about $2,000,000.00 has been received since Ju ly 1, 1911. D uring the sam e period of tim e approxim ately 114,500,000 barrels of oil have been produced from the O sage reservation. T h e tw enty-five year period d u rin g w hich th e m in eral rig h ts are reserved to th is tribe will ex p ire in 1931. T h e O sage In d ian s m aintained th a t the m inerals be long to all the m em bers of the trib e, sh are and share alik e, and have repeatedly and ju s tly requested that action be taken to ex ten d th e tru s t period for a term sufficiently long to rem ove th e m inerals. A bill, w hich I believe is fair to all concerned, is now p en d in g before congress to ex ten d the tru s t period tw enty- five years. T h is bill fu rth e r provides th a t the O sage In d ia n s shall pay th ree per cent, on th e ro y alty r e ceived by them for the purpose of c o n stru c tin g and m a in ta in in g roads and bridges in O sage co u n ty ; and th a t th e lessees’ sh are of the p ro d u ctio n shall be s u b je ct to th e present gross p roduction ta x of th e state of O klahom a. Since the present annual value of oil S and gas being produced on the O sage reservation is in excess of $50,000,000.00 it would m ean, should th e legislation be enacted, th a t O sage county would re ceive several hundred thousand dollars and the state ap p ro x im ately $1,000.000.00 an nually not now col lectible. and the lessees w ould have th eir leases e x tended acco rd in g ly . O sage county would in th is way, and not otherw ise, soon become one of th e best road and bridge im proved co u n ties in the southw est; the w hole public, in c lu d ing the surface purchasers, who bought for surface prices and who bear none of th is expense, w’ould pro f it from the use of im proved road and bridge facilities and th e consequent largely enchanced land values; oil and gas leases would have unequaled highw ay tra n s p o rtatio n conditions for developm ent purposes; the In d ia n s an extension of the tru st period, and O klaho ma would recover into th e treasury of the state a m illion dollars an n u ally for m ore than a q u arter of a ce n tu ry . O th er Oil W ells of O klahom a A long the so u th ern border of th e K iow a Indian re servation and in th e bed of the Red river, w hich d i vides O klahom a from T ex as, th ere is being developed an oil field of vast im portance. An ex trao rd in ary legal controversy affecting m any m illions is pending w hich involves the so uthern border line of the re se r vation. T h e proxim ity of these oil properties to th e fam ous B u rk -B u rn ett fields has caused In d ian allotm ents in th at vicinity to be keenly sought by oil operators, and, w hile th is in d u stry is practically in its infancy, the In d ian s are receiving handsom e cash bonuses and in all probability their fu tu re revenues will approxim ate th eir m ore w ealthy neighbors. T he Zinc M ining In d u stry In th e no rth eastern part of the state, and bordering the great m ineral field of Jo p lin , M issouri, is the Quapaw’ agency. H ere th e m in in g for zinc has been developed to an enorm ous degree. T h e m em bers of the different bands u n d er the Q u a paw agency were, under various acts of congress, a l lotted their lands in severalty, for w hich tru st paten ts w ere issued to some of th e bands and to others paten ts in fee w ith restrictions as to alienation, etc. C ongress in 1897 authorized these In d ian s to lease th eir lands w ith o u t supervision for agricu ltu ral and grazin g p u r poses for th ree years and for m ining and business p u r poses for ten years. C ertain conditions, how’ever, were im posed denying th is privilege in some in stances. P ractically all of the allotted lands w ithin the m in in g district of th is reservation w’ere leased by th e allottes some tim e ago w ithout supervision. M any of these In d ian lessors were in fact incom petent to p ro tect th eir own interests. (T o be co n tin u ed next issu e)
