White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1931-10-15
CHAPTER XII-Continued

to come along and shoot old Cimar-
ron."
II should think his wife would save
them the trouble" some one suggested.
If Yancey's sporadic contributions
Increased the papers circulation 1t
was Sabra's steady drive that main
tanned it. It was gigantic task to
keep up with the changes that were
sweeping over Usage and all of Okla
homa. Yet the columns Of the Wig
wan recorded these changes in its
news columns, In its editorial pages,
in its personal and local items and it's
advertisements, as faithfully as on the
day of its first issue when Yancey had
told them who killed Pegler. Perhaps
1t was because Sabra, even during
Yancey's many absences, felt that the
paper must be prepared any day to
meet his scathing eye.
Strange items began to appear daily
In the papers commissioning to the
eye not interested In oil; but there
was no such eye in Oklahoma, nor, for
that matter, in the whole Southwest.
Cryptic though these items might be
to dwellers In other parts Of the United
States, they were Of more absorbing
interest to Oklahomans than front
page stories Of war, romance, intrigue,
royalty, crime.
Indian Territory Illuminating Oil
company swabbed AZ barrels in it's No.
3 Lizzie in the northwest corner of
the southwest of the northwest of H.
86 after having plugged back to 4,26S
feet, and shooting with 50 quarts.
"The wildcat test Of McComb two
miles north of Kewoka which is No.
! Sutton in the southwest corner Of
the southeast Of the northeast of 3d.
% was given a shot of 1O5 quarts in
the sand from 1867 feet and hole
bridged. AS it stands it is estimated
good for $50 barrels daily"
The papers ads reflected the change
The old livery stable, with its bug
gies and phaetons, its plugs to be
hired, it's tobacco-chewing loungers, it's
odor of straw, manure, and axle
grease, was swept away, and in it's
place was Fink's Garage and Auto
Livery. Repairs of All Kinds. Buy
Stimson Salient Six. The smell Of
gasoline, the hiss Of the hose, lean
young lads with grease grimed fingers,
engine wise.
Come to the Chamber of Commerce
Dinner. The Oklahoma City College
and Glee Club will sing.
Usage began to travel, to see the
world. Their wanderings were no
longer local. Where, two years ago,
you read that DR.. and Mrs Horace
McGill are up from Concho to do their
Christmas buying, you now saw that
Mr.. and Mrs. w. Fletcher Busby have
left for a trip to Europe, Egypt, and
the Holy land. You knew that old
Wick Busby had made his pile in oil
and that Nettie Busby was out to see
the world.
Most astounding of all were the In
dian items, for now the Oklahoma
Wigwam and every other paper in the
country regularly ran news about
those incredible people who in one
short year had leaped from the Neo-
lithic age to Broadway.
The Usage Indians, a little more
than two thousand in number, who but
yesterday were ragged, half-fed and
listless band, squatting wretchedly on
the reservation allotted them, waiting
until time, sickness, and misery should
blot them forever from the land, were
now, by miracle of nature, the rich
est nation in the world. The barren
ground on which they had lived now
yielded the most lavish oil flow in the
state. Yancey Cravat's news story
and editorial had been copied and
read all over the country. A stunned
government tried to bring order out
Of chaos of riches. The two thou
sand Osages were swept off the reser-
walton to make way for the flood of oil
that was transmitted into flood of
gold. They were transported to a new
section called Wazhazhe, which is the
ancient Indian word for Usage.
Agents appointed Offices estab-
l'shed. Millions of barrels of oil. Mil
lions of dollars. Millions Of dollars
yearly to be divided somehow among
two thousand Usage Indians, to whom
blanket, bowl Of soffica, NANCY
pony, bit Of tobacco, disk of
peyote had meant riches. And now
every full blood, half blood, or quarter
blood Usage was put on the Indian roll,
and every name on the Indian roll was
entitled to a head right. Every head
right meant definite share in the mil
lions. Five in family-five head rights.
Ten in family-ten head rights. The
Indian agents Office was full of type
writer's, files, pads, ledgers, neat young
clerks all occupied with papers and
documents that read like some fam
tastic nightmare. The white mans
eye, travelling down the tidy list, with
it's story-book Indian names and it's
hard, cold, matter-of-fact figures, re-
jected what it read as being too abb
surd for the mind to grasp.