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)