OIL KINGS EAGER.

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 15276, 28 June 1923, Page 3

OIL KINGS EAGER.

MILLIONS CHANGE HANDS.

How many ever heard of the Constantine Theatre in Pawhuska (Oklahoma) as a gathering place for multimillionaire captains of industry? writes an American correspondent on April

The oil kings of America and their representatives formed the audience there to-day. The play was for leases to probably the richest undeveloped oil lands in the country. The event was the twenty-first lease sale of the Osage Indian nation. Thirty-two thousand acres of lanci were being offered for lease, tract by tract, to swell the coffers of the Osages, the richest aborigines in the world. , . .. As the sales mounted during the morning belief was expressed by Indian agency officials and oil men that tne 100,887,000 dollars record auction of June last year might be bettered. To-day's sale, attracted the largest number of oil millionaires In the history of the auctions, and a number of the tracts placed on the block were said to be among thVmost valuable offered. .... () , n The sale got under'way with tne arrival of the oil men ffrom Tulsa by special train. They came from all parts of the country,'-many accompanied by bankers. * An official touch the auction by the presence of Hubert Work, Secretary of the Interior, and Mrs Work; Charles H. Burke, Commissioner of Indian Affairs; Senators Robert L. Owen and J. W. Harrcld, and other Government officials. Not the least picturesque feature was the presence of a delegation of coppcr-hued Osages, on hand to watch the money roll in. Figures' that would make the lay person dizzy are dealt in quietly and without any particular concern. Col. E Walter, of Skedee, Okla., official auctioneer for the tribe, wields the hammer and calls for the bids. Someone has suggested that the "Brewster" of fiction need have no nervous prostration in spending a million a year. With one nod of his head at an Osage sale he eould have spent it all and more. And in return he might have obtained the right to drill tract that will never show anything but dry holes.

The twenty sales made prior to today brought into the treasury of the Osages a total of 68,715,975 dollars, representing leases on more than 600,000 acres. Besides, the Indians collect a royalty on all oil produced. The average income of each man, woman and child from the 2200 allotments of the Osage tribe is approximately 10,000 dollars. The lands bave been allotted to individuals, but oil rights were reserved, as tribal property and are sold as such for the common benefit.

Hence, if oil is found on the property of one Indian ho is no better off than his fellows in the tribe who hold allotments where there is no production. Average production .in the fifteen Osage pools is now nearly 100,000 barrels a day, according io J. George Wright, Osage agent. Colonel E. Walker has conducted all the Osage sales since the first !n 1902. He jumps up" the bidding scale at a 100,000 dots, a clip. in monotonous tones he calls, "What afii I offered? Nine hundred thousand dollars; who'll make it a million?" and so on.

The composure of the silent oil kings as they spend a million or more with a slight nod of the head is the wonder of the visitor. The heavy bidders sit about the house studying maps, faces masked like images, ard, when pointed to by the auctioiuer, nod if they decide to bid the prices called for. On the most valuable leases the bidding goes in leaps of 100,000 cVls., until the turning point is reached, when it drops to jumps of 5000 dols. In the record sale of 1922 the Gypy Oil Company paid 1,000,000 dols. for a tract of ItiO acres. Not all the tracts fall to the millionaire class. Most of them go for amounts under 100,000 dols. The smallest bid accepted for any tract is 500 dols.. The sale is held in Pawhuska as the capital of the Osage nation.