Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-08-30

! nave III the nOTllSTn part OIL Ine
State what is claimed to be the larg-
est diversified farm and ranch in
the world. A buffalo park where
scores of buffalo roam the fields
and hills just as they did fifty years
| ago is one of the relics of bygone
days. Here at the present time, Tom
Mix, the screen favorite, is max
ing many of the thrilling pictures of
! the West. Here on a high bluff
| overlooking Salt Fork river. at risk
of life the film heroes ride over the
banks of the stream making the
| pictures to thrill the jaded city
J folks. To add to the realism of
I the buffalo stampede in one picture
a few days ago, two buffalo were
| killed. Real Indians, real wild west,
and back of it all a moving picture
| camera.
From this ranch it was that hun
dreds of horses, brouches if you
please. were shipped to the Allies
for war duty. Cowboys rode them
or broke them preferably to the
saddle and many an exciting ride,
| not the style one sees in the wild
west shows but the real thing, was
staged before the horses were
broken.
Here dozens of tractors stirred
the soil of thousands of acres of
land and there were raised thou
sands of bushels OF
what to feed the Oil Boom
world. OF the Mil Due to Work
lers. the original of One Man
head of the estab-
lishment, the father of the present
Miller brothers. died some years
ago. Mrs. Mollie Miller, the moth
er, died year ago. 1t has been
10 no rplx l., IL.
the youngest member of the fam
lily, George Miller, that the present
oil boom is due and so in taking
up the sketch at this point l de-
sire to trace the oil development in
Northern Oklahoma back to the
first we'll drilled on the Miller
ranch. This was n dry hole, but
finally after several attempts oil
was struck and to-day the Mollie
Miller we'll holds the distinction of
being the first deep test we'll to pro-
duce an enormous quantity in the
county.
With the formation of the 101
Ranch Oil Company a number of
Pennsylvania men became interested
and Edward Marland. formerly of
Pittsburgh. has played an import
ant part in the history of the Ponca
and the Usage oil fields. Mr.. Mar
land, a practical oil man, has de-
veloped the field until to-day it is
second to none in Northern Okla
homa. Where other men stopped
at the Mississippi line he has plung-
ed ahead and struck oil in what is
known as the Marland sand, drilling
deeper than any other oil man has
ever dared to. Thus when three
years ago, Robert Watchhorn, for
-
drilled about 5000 feet after invest
| ing thousands of dollars in leases
and work and then quit, at cost of
| thousands, Mr.. Marland went into
the same territory and not only
drilled as deep but continued on in
a wildcat hope that he would strike
the precious fluid-and did. To-day
| there is flowing oil from six of the
! deepest test wells in the country,
going $500 feet. Gas has also been
| found in enormous quantities and
to-day Kansas City, Oklahoma City
and all of the surrounding country
is heated and lighted by natural
gas. Enormous refineries have been
built within the last three years to
refine oil into gasoline, kerosene. lu-
| bricating oil and parrafine and vet
the field is producing so much oil
| that thousands of barrels are ship
| ped away daily that it is impossible
to refine. Gigantic pipe lines carry
it to the Gulf and to Chicago and
| the stream seems never ending. It
was the writer's privilege a month
ago to witness the flowing of the
Alberta Four-Eyes well, 5000 bar
rels of oil a day flowing in a steady
| stream from the we'll into vast tanks
and thence to pipe lines-and oil is
| $3.50 a barrel.
Now you will probably ask what
has all this to do with the Indian
\ and my answer is that most of this
! land is found in the various Indian
reservations and to Poor Lo goes
the royalties. Strange that nature
should favor one class of people
more than another. but probably
three-fourths of all the oil in Okla
homa is found on Indian land. To-
day the Indian, especially the Usage
Indians, are the richest class of
people in the world. A rough esti-
mate would give each Usage Indian
an income of $4,000 a wear as
simple royalties while the princinaI
is untouched. The Usage tribe
share alike in the oil ROYALTIES
Among the Ponca Indians it is NOT
so evenly divided, as the Poncas
receive just the money from their
own individual land. Thus one IN
dian may receive thousands and an
other nothing from oil as not all
land is oil land.
With the leasing of the Osaee
western land the Ponca field which
this is a part of. will become the
leading field in the
Big Boom northern part of the
In Oil to State and bids far 70
continue surpass the famous
Cushing and Tulsa
fields. Panca City, the leading town
of the field, being only four miles
from producing wells, has attained
boom second only to the towns of
the gold rush in California. Big
buildings spring up; houses are
erected and business establishments
started on the strength of the pros
poets for oil. That there is q boom
on is certain, That oil is being
struck every day is positive, but
what the future holds forth no man
can say. Oil drilling, investing or
buying is n gamble. Personally, I
would advise no one to invest a
cent in oil unless they are willing
to say bood-by to the cent for as
/ have said, it is a gam hIe Tbara