Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1913-03-02

/ see by the paper that one Nilsson
Thomas, claiming 10 be- an oil man
from Gushing, testified as 10 the great
value u some Of this land, do not
know Nilsson Thomas, never heard of
him before, and none Of the many oh
men In this town today ever heard oi
/ him
His testimony as reported hy the
! papers, that some OF this land Is
! worth 10000 an acre bonus, is abso-
lutely foolish. There ia none Of II
worth any such bonus today and ON
! August 18th Of last year when this
lease was made there was not an acre
of this school land that would have
brought a bonus from any oil man
who had to take It and develop II
under the terms Of the states lease.
As to the land in pawnee county
there is none Of the land contained In
my lease Of August l2th which is now
worth a bonus in my opinion
The samo thing can be said Of the
Kay county land, and in fact Of an the
lands under this lease, / doubt very
much whether ! will ever make a
dollar out Of that lease.
The amount Of money that must be
spent in the development Of this lease
viii he enormous, and the time to re-
ceive returns from any oil that may
be found is so short that II is SER
ious question whether ! viii ever get
out whole; and that should ! be for
tunate enough to find oil ON any Of
these sections under this lease Of Au-
gust 18th, within two years from last
August II would probably take anoth-
er year in which TO fully develop the
oil on that section, and under the
terms of this lease | would have only
two or three years longer in which to
reap the reward for that discovery
and investment.
If one Of these sections should
prove to be all good II would take so
wells upon that section TO fully devel-
op it. IT will take from s200, 100000
to $500, 100000 II is easy to see that
1t would take an enormous amount Of
oil to get me back my money within
five years / would have 10 sell $780,
10000 To $5OO.000.00 worth Of oil be.
fore my lease expired Say that It
was $4O0, 10000, while / was selling
that amount of oil to get my money
back the state would receive 5000
for its ROYALTY share. Then at the
end of five years from August 18th
last must come I'm and compete with
the world to secure a renewal of that
lease.
must nav the state thc highest
rate of rovaItv or bonus hid for II at
that time If desired a renewal Thes.
facts are NOT taken into consideration
by witnesses who testified AS to the
yaiuc Of nv leasa
| grant that this lease would be of
great value if if was as other leases
are I'm these counties-a Ioase for rs
ROYALTY good as long os oil M. pas is
produced Rut being os II Is. eiunh
a five wear lease reouirinp me ia pay
the highest bonus obtaintbIo at Inc
eypiration Of five Years contend that
it was NOT at the time n was Granted
worth a bonus ana that II is nor
worth n bonus today
One thinp moro I want to noint out
To this committee That whom tha
commissioners Of tho Land Offica
granted me these leases thew bouno
me with very stringent provislons TO
compel me to develop this land with
the least possible DELAY
have carried ont my mart of tbis
contract. | and nv sub-lessees have
drilled over 30 wells in the mast
months. This means an enormous
amount OF work and an enormous ex-
penditure. The state has received the
benefit from this work and will re.
ceive n still greater henefit
II seems TO me that II is to tho in.
-~ost Of the state to have the land
ped as rapidlv as possihle 10
have the oil and gas character of this
land tested or determined before thev
sell anv moro of II nm, doing that
testing for the state 7 did NOT get
lease that could sit down on but
got ono that keens mo continI,allv ON
do not know whether | will ever