The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-11-09
Romance of Glenn Pool
BY FREDERIC j. HASKIM
BY FREDERIC j. HASKIN.

BY FREDERI
Keifer. Okla, Nov. s.-Imagine a waste
OF billy land. partly bare and partly wood
ed with stunted oaks, three miles wide
and five miles long, inhabited only by a
few Indians, who TIL but little patches
just around their shacks. Let the curtain
drop, and after the space OF three years,
raise 1t again in the present That fifteen
square miles of waste land Is laid out into
avenues 400 feet wide. defined at intervals
OF 400 feet by towering derricks. Between
the first scene and the last lies the ro-
nance of Glenn Pool. the richest and the
most wonderful petroleum field ever
found
Not only the thousand derricks that
mark the sites of the oil wells, but three
popuious towns have appeared. And scat
tered about over the field are great steel
tanks, which hold IN storage FIVE million
dollars worth Of crude oil. which has
been produced more rapidly than the pipe
lines could take It away. And here or
VIC may HDb great dIlllltlell ldNtS
In the earth. all filed with oil. There
are pumping stations which are forcing
the oil through long lines OF pipe to the
Atlantic ocean on the East and to the
Gulf OF Mexico on the South. There are
thousands OF men working like beavers
some drilling wells, some running pipe
lines, some building tanks over the sur
race or the ground stretch hundreds of
miles or pipes. great and small for the
OIL man has neither time nor inclination
TO bury his working pipes, and he needs
no surveyor 20 teach him that a straight
line is the shortest distance between two
points.
And. If you are as lucky as ] was you
viii see in the streets Of the little town
or Keller ball game played by boys of
the 12-year-old class. Every boy on each
team is worth a hundred thousand dollars
They are Indian minors and they own
part of the land wheroOn these wells and
tanks and pumping stations have made
wealth for the oil men and riches for
them.
Glenn Pool IS the most wonderful oil
held ever discovered because of the prac-
teal certainty that every well drilled
within the limits of the pool will be a
producer AS It costs something over
5000 to drill a well in this field dry holes
would have cut down the profits. as they
do in other fields. For this same reason
the Glenn field has proved more profitable
10 the oil producers thsu any other Amer
lean field Spindle Top, the center of the
great Beaumont Tex oil excitement.
was less than one square mile in area
It's wells A.
quality Of the oil was poor. Glenn Pool
Is fifteen or sixteen times greater in ex-
tent There are many dry holes on Spin
ole Top. There are but very few in
Glenn Pool.
Not only does Glenn Pool differ in natu-
raj characteristics from other oil fields
but the peculiar conditions imposed bv
the Federal government I'm it's efforts 70
protect the Creek Indians who own the
land, have been the cause OF many other
distinctive features. For instance the
land is practically leased from the In
dams and the government decreed that
no well should be drilled within less than
-VO rect OF the division line. As each
lessor desired 20 get as close as possibls
to his neighbours oil. all the wells bava
been drilled on this 200-foot line. This
makes rows Of wells just 400 feet apart.
The oil men elected to place the locations
at about the same distance in the other
direction, SO that the whole field presents
20 the eye geometTiCaI figure of exact
lines in other fields the wells have baen
drilled haphazard, wherever was deemed
best
There has been but comparatively lit
tle land speculation. If the land had
been purchasable, it IS probable that IL
would have been cut up into small par
ceis and sold over and over again as
mas been the case IN other oil fields
where rich strikes have been made. But
mere no land owner could sell his prom
erty. with the exception Of a very few
negroes. who had aIlotments in the field
The Indians were permitted to lease their
lands, with the approval of the Secretary
or the Interior, for a period OF fifteen
years, and the minors might lease their
land until their majority. The assign
ment OF lease must have the approval
OF the government, and is such an in
trieate affair that quick transactions OF
the purely speculative sort are well-nigb
impossible.
The most thrilling part Of the romance
OF Glenn Pool is that 1t was uncovered
by such a lucky chance. If Bob Cal.
breath. who drilled the discovery we'll
the Ida Glenn No /. had chosen his To-
cation a hundred feet farther east. the
great Glenn Pool might never have been
known. Certainly It would not have bean
found at this time. The limits of the nool
have been sharply defined by the dry holes
which have been sunk just outside its linn
its on the east. north, and south. The
western limit has not yet been found
but the oil sand is pinching out 10 the
westward, and the field probably viii
extend but little farther i'm that djrec-
ton. No oil has been found 10 the east
ward OF the original well. and a drv hole
was the result of Galbreath's expIora
ton in that direction.
Bob Galbreath was born in Ohio. Al
though Obi is a great oil State. he knew
nothing of the oil business until he came
TO the Indian Territory in 1901. and he
gan work in the Red Fork field. fifteen
miles north of here He had settled in
Oklahoma City IN 1897. and engaged in
the real estate business with two mart
ners. In the year 1901 the firm sold q
million dollars worth OF property and
Galbreath took his share OF the profits
10000 and came to Red Fork. He went
down to what is now Glenn Pool. and was
struck with the peculiarities of the geo |
logical formation. He was so sure that
he could almost smell the oil. He tried
10 secure a lease. but the land had NOT
yet been allotted and the Department Of
the Interior would not permit any leases
TO be made. He went back to Red Fork
and kept drilling wells. but without sue |