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United States. Office of Indian Affairs / Annual report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, for the years 1921-1932
([1921-1932])
Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior for the fiscal year ended June 2, 1921, pp. [1]-69 ff.
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COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. the authority theretofore granted the superintendent to execute oil and gas mining leases on their lands, and the leasing of such lands has been suspended pending authorization by the Indians in council assembled. Three oil and gas leases, covering 14,363.87 acres of land in the Blackfeet Reservation, Mont.. were approved. Oil has not been dis- covered on the reservation, but as the leases provide for immediate drilling operations the value of the lands for oil and gas purposes will be determined. One hundred and sixty-six oil and gas leases, covering 13,803.43 acres of land in the Kiowa Reservation in Oklahoma, were sold. The amounts realized from bonus and-advance royalties were $135,216.12 and $2,058.77 respectively. The average bonus per acre was $9.80. On November 18, 1920, the 4,800 acreage limitation as applied to the Indian reservations in the State of Oklahoma, exclusive of the Five Civilized Tribes, Osage Nation, and Kiowa Reservation, was modified so as to permit a lessee to thereafter acquire oil and gas leases on a total of 9,600 acres of restricted land. The modification of this rule enabled all those holding the maximum acreage to obtain additional leases, resulting in increased income to the Indians de- rived from payments of bonus and royalties. The depression in the oil industry, following the drop in price of crude oil, commencing about January 1, 1921, and the consequent curtailment of new opera- tions, reduced the income from this source to an appreciable extent. Oil development on the ceded portion of the Shoshone Indian Reservation in Wyoming has not heretofore progressed satisfactorily, due to lack of transportation facilities and pipe lines and litigation instituted by F. Chatterton and associates of Riverton, Wyo., against various lessees of departmental oil and gas leases. A compromise set- tlement was made whereby Mr. Chatterton and associates dismissed the suits and waived all rights in and to the lands embraced in said suits, in consideration of which a lease was executed in favor of Mr. Chatterton covering 2,400 acres of land within the ceded portion of the reservation, which lease, in addition to the usual rents and royal- ties, provided for the payment of $72,000 bonus and extensive drill- ing operations. Due to the settlement of this troublesome litigation which has been holding back development in this field and the fact that large capital has become interested in the lands, conditions should materially improve during the coming year. OIL AND GAS DEVELOPMENT, OSAGE RESERVATION. Development of the oil and gas resources in the Osage Indian Reservation, Okla., during the fiscal year 1921 has been rapid, not- withstanding a scarcity of materials necessary to carry on drilling operations and other unfavorable conditions affecting the oil indus- try. It is estimated that during the calendar year 1920 Osage County produced more oil than any other county in the United States. In the early part of the calendar year 1921 the discovery was made of what is known as the Burbank pool on the west side of the reserva- tion, where very little development work had heretofore been done. This new field already has more than 35 oil wells producing oil in large quantities. Two sales of oil leases were held during the fiscal year-one on October 12, 1920, and the other on June 14, 1921. Approximately 70114--21--2 17
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