![]() ![]() First drilled in 1920, the Burbank field and several others soon became one of the richest in Oklahoma.Ĭolonel Elmer Ellsworth Walters, official auctioneer of the Osage Nation (seen here on June 14, 1921), sold millions of dollars of oil leases in the shade of an elm tree. All the oilfields produced a high-quality, easily refined oil. Soon after Oklahoma statehood, more Osage discoveries brought thousands to Bartlesville, Hominy, Fairfax, Grainola and Burbank. On the grounds atop Agency Hill between the county courthouse and the Osage tribal council house, today stands a symbolic elm where auctions regularly took place on hot summer afternoons. ![]() Osage County, at more 2,250 square miles, is the largest county in Oklahoma – larger than Delaware or Rhode Island. Multi-million dollar lease auctions took place in the shade of a giant elm next to the council house. The name came straight from Osage reservation petroleum history. In the spring of 2003, the Osage nation opened a “Million Dollar Elm” casino a few miles from its council house at Pawhuska, Oklahoma. A circa 1920s painting depicts one of the many lease auctions that took place under the “Million Dollar Elm” next to the Osage Nation tribal council house in Pawhuska, Oklahoma.
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