USA > Kansas > Illustrated directory of Kansas oil men, 1918 > Part 4
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The El Dorado Oil Investment Co.
Incorporated in December 1917, for $30,000, The El Dorado Oil Investment Company already have a number of "scoops" to their credit. From their office over 20812 W. Cen- tral, they control 1300 acres in Butler County and 4300 in Wilson and Montgomery.
Consider for a moment the personnel of this company and you will agree that, at least, the officers must have had the courage of their convictions for every item in their foundation is an El Dorado product-both money and individuals. Mr. Orville Holford is president, Mr. R. C. Hunting vice-president and Mr. R. A. Thompson, former eashier for the Santa Fe, and at present interested in the book, stationcry and publishing business, holds the office of secretary and treasurer. Chas. W. Steiger is director and attorney.
Beside the company's valuable holdings in Kansas oil properties, they have big lead mining interests near Joplin. Somehow it just looks like The El Dorado Oil Investment Company is here to stay and that their principle is to deal only in propositions good enough to be financed and operated by personal friends.
PAGE FIFTY - SEVEN
MR. FRED STANLEY
MR. CLAUDE STANLEY
MR. WILL STANLEY
PAGE FIFTY - EIGHT
The Stanley Brothers By Harry Van Ness
The oil industry has been a God's blessing to a lot of people but more persons in Kansas have benefited from it as a result of the Stanley Brothers' participation in it than otherwise would have been the case. The Stanley Brothers, of Wichita, Judge Claude C., Fred B. and W. H., have made an almost unparalleled success of the oil game and while they were piling up big fortunes for themselves, they did not forget to make their friends rich. There are a score of nice private fortunes in Wichita today which are golden testi- monials of that fact. And the Stanley Brothers did not do this at the expense of other in- dividuals.
The career of the Stanley Brothers is unique in the history of the oil game in the Mid-Continent field. While other men were making money at the expense of investors by buying royalties, "ground flooring" them at double the amount they paid for them and then syndicating them at double that amount, the Stanley Brothers bought the most valu- able royalties in the Butler County field at low prices and let their friends in on them at the same figure that they themselves got in, without even charging a commission. As pro- duction increased on these royalties, the advance in the value of the shares developed hand- some profits,-in the case of one royalty as much as four thousand per cent profit.
The result is that a number of Wichitans who were in circumstances demanding economies, have been placed by the Stanleys in a position where they can enjoy comfort and luxuries the remainder of their lives.
The writer does not intend to convey the impression that the Stanley Brothers are in business for their health or for the sole purpose of effecting philanthropies. They started in the oil game after the opening of the Butler County field to make money for themselves but blood, the habits of a life time, and a long line of religious ancestry will tell. The Stanleys come from good old Quaker stock and the spirit of the Golden Rule is bred and born in them.
PAGE FIFTY - NINE
There isn't an old timer in the game,-not barring the veterans who have been in from the start to the finish of the older fields,-who knows any more about the Butler County field than does Judge Claude Stanley. He started in to master the game and by liv- ing day and night in the fields, making friends of the tool dressers, drillers and anybody and everybody who could give him practical information, he has become one of the most thorough oil men in the United States. Inclined by nature and accustomed all his life to reaping great pleasure by being able to render service to others, when he saw the wonder- ful possibilities of the game, one of Judge Stanley's first desires was that others should share when he should get good fortune "cornered."
When the Stanley Brothers purchased half of the Shumway royalty, which lease has produced more than five million barrels of oil in less than a year, for the insignificant sum of $60,000, they could have made half a million dollars for themselves by syndicating it. Instead they let their friends in and everyone of the latter have reaped a fortune. They did likewise with the Stanley-Fulkerson Royalty No. 1, Stanley-Linn Royalty No. 2. Stanley- Holcomb Royalty No. 3, Stanley-Sargent Royalty No. 5, Stanley-Abraham Royalty No. 6 and Stanley-Ralston Royalty No. 7. All of these are in Butler County and are big dividend payers.
Before the Stanley Brothers became famous in the oil game, Claude and Fred had already made an enviable reputation as lawyers of ability. Their activities in oil have not prevented them from keeping up their professional practice, -in fact, it has given them a prominent place among the attorneys specializing in oil law. They are attorneys for the Sinclair Oil Company, the Carter Oil Company, the Union Oil Company, and for a number of big oil men and smaller companies. They figure as attorneys in some of the biggest oil litigation in the Mid-Continent. Fred Stanley is the republican national committeeman from Kansas and is vice-president and general counsel for The Kansas Casualty and Surety Company. W. H. Stanley was one of the original stockholders in the famous Trapshooters Oil & Gas Company which brought in the first gusher in Butler County.
PAGE SIXTY
The Petroleum Journal
An institution which Wichita secured because an oil field sprung up within seventeen miles of the City is The Petroleum Journal, a weekly oil magazine. Harry Van Ness, editor and manager of The Petroleum Journal, was among the first to realize the need of a publi- cation specializing on the great oil fields of Kansas. He had sufficient confidence in the future of the Butler County field to found the publi- cation.
Under the management of Mr. Van Ness, The Petroleum Journal has progressed until it is recognized among the oil men of the United States as a substantial, high-class, clean oil magazine. In recognition of the influence which The Petroleum Journal has exerted in attract- ing oil men, oil industries and capital to Wichita and the Butler Coun- ty field, the Wichita Board of Commerce has made it the official or- gan of that organization.
MR. HARRY VAN NESS Editor aod Manager of the Petroleum Journal
Mr. Van Ness started the Petroleum Journal with the determina- tion to publish only accurate and reliable oil news and to avoid exploitation of dishonest projects. His slogan was "Dependable Oil News," and he has maintained that policy.
Members of the staff of The Petroleum Journal associated with Mr. Van Ness are Robert H. Timmons, president; Col. Tom Fry, associate editor; Kent Eubank, field editor; P. L. Hammond, assistant manager; G. Wildey Lloyd of Tulsa, special writer; J. A. Jenk- ins, advertising manager.
PAGE SIXTY- ONE
The Wichita Independent Consolidated Refining Company
Here is an organization that you are going to hear a great deal about. Its reports form the basis of an article such as reporters like to write up-lots of real facts that re- quire no imaginative flourishes, and make go od copy without camouflage.
In the first place, their capitalization goes down to the $25,000,000 depth and, as a foundation, should indicated that they intend to build up a big business. The site for their refining activities consists of a fifty-four acre tract in North Wichita and, as equipment, they own seventy-five miles of pipe line; 143 tank cars, and eight distributing stations. Their charter of April 1, 1917 grants them pro ducing, refining and transporting rights and,
availing themselves of the first privilege, they have a 200-barrel-a-day production from their own lease-on the Millheiser. This does not begin to supply their operations as re- finers, so they buy 2,000 barrels a day extra in order to fullfil their 100% capacity in re- leasing petroleum products for the world's need and that the cause of the Allies shall not suffer from a shortage in any commodity that an American refinery is able to produce.
The fact that Mr. J. A. Corbett, an efficient capitalist and financier, is President, with F. A. Beach, Vice-President, and C. L. Henderson, Secretary, as able reinforcements, may go a long way toward explaining why the products of The Wichita Independent Consolidated Refining Co. are in demand as far east as the Atlantic scaboard, as far north as Winnepeg. as far west as Colorado, and southwest to New Mexico.
PAGE SIXTY-TWO
Mr. Bruce Arbogast
It requires moral courage to disprove the old adage-"Once a newspaper man, always a newspaper man", but Bruce Arbogast has cast aside the yoke and has chosen the fragrance of the oil field in preference to that of printer's ink.
As a broker in oil leases and production, he has established himself in Suite 501-2-3 Fourth National Bank Building and, from that central hub, emanate his activi- ties in production, pipe line operations, refining and jobbing interests.
His immediate success in this new sphere and the ever-increasing list of pleased patrons bear vivid witness to the wisdom of his choice.
The Petroleum Royalty Company
Royalty is getting to be more unpopular every day in Europe and more popular every day in Kansas. The Petroleum Royalty Company is one of the most popular roy- alty companies in the state. In fact it is so popular with the lucky incorporators, that they won't let anyone else in on it. The company is a closed corporation, capitalized for $35,- 000, and was organized in 1917. They own the royalty from one of Butler County's best leases; N. W. 1/4, 13-26-4, have 2000 barrel per day production and expect to begin to split the profits at an early date. J. A. Linn, a well known business man of Halstead, Kansas, is president; A. H. Hill is vice-president, and A. M. Griffith, secretary and treasurer. The company's office is 501 Schweiter Building.
PAGE SIXTY . THREE
The Prairie State Oil Company
In presenting to you The Prairie State Oil Company, we have no intention of keeping strictly to the subject of oil and its derivatives. Not that the history of its activities would not make good reading but the officers of this flourishing organization are too versatile with many big interests to confine ourselves to their oil operations alone. For instance, there is that well known herd of registered Shorthorn cattle which has made Park E. Sal- ter famous. We should like to edit an interview we had recently with the president of this company and title it "A Bit of Park E. Salter's Optimism."
His theory is that the real currency of the world at present is food, and the country, state or individual who deals in the new coinage is destined to play an active part in re- stocking the world's larder. Mr. Salter's registered cattle is an established factor now and was obtained and assembled with the utmost care and a great deal of difficulty. In the first place, much of the stock he has bought recently would not have been on the market at any price under normal conditions. But just now in Scotland and England they are actu- ally killing off many heads of second rate cattle and horses-just because of the food question. And it is an almost unsolvable problem to care for those that are left. One of Mr. Salter's shipments was held up in port for some reason and the hay they consumed during ten days' delay cost $10.00 a bale. Only choice seed stock has been spared and America has procured most of that.
Then there is Mr. Salter's 800-acre farm 20 miles southeast of Wichita, and it is a veritable experiment station for the most scientific methods of farming. He says that Kan- sas land is capable of producing five times as much as it has and he is bending every effort to show how the yield can be increased. And right here is the clincher. The Liberty Bond money cannot be thrown away. It will be spent for food wherever that commodity is available, and with this year's wheat crop as a gauge and the steady growth of the stock industry in this country, it looks as tho Kansas is now entering upon the most pros- perous ten years of her history. And, so far, we haven't even mentioned her new resource as a factor for wealth.
That's getting pretty far off the subject for an oil reporter but isn't it worth while to
PAGE SIXTY FOUR
consider America's future from that view-point? Now, as to the subject of this article --- The Prairie State Oil Company was incorporated for two million dollars in December, 1917, with 8200 acres, one-half of which is in Butler County; some is in Cowley and has a mighty good outlook; and there are 2600 acres in the shallow fields of Eastern Kansas. The directorate consists of Park E. Salter, who wrote the first oil and gas lease ever writ- ten west of the Walnut River. We refer to the one obtained by The Freed Oil & Gas Com- pany; John Madden, Jr., of School House Lot fame, is Vice-President; Harry J. White, see- retary of Union Central Life Insurance Co., is Secretary, and Mr. A. N. M .Quown, a prom- inent Wichita banker, is Treasurer. Some of the directors are: Mr. E. A. Haines, a suc- cessful independent operator of Alva, Oklahoma; Cecil Newby, President of the First National Bank of Englewood; W. E. Dixon of the Home Furnishing Company, and J. M. Hanes of the Union Central Life Insurance Company, and T. V. MeCluggage, successful at- torney, native son, and graduate of Ann Arbor.
You have already heard a lot about the accomplishments of this group of men but we would just like to go on record as predicting that the results of their Prairie State Oil operations will place them still more firmly in the limelight and their office at 616 Fourth National Bank Building is going to develop into a new "who's who" club room for the oil public of Kansas.
PAGE SIXTY - FIVE
John Ferriter
Everyone in Wichita knows who John Fer- riter is, and that his success in the Real Estate business has been phenomenal, but not all have learned that Mr. Ferriter is also in the oil game. He is, and now wonders how he could have fig- ured his Real Sstate business complete before he began to buy and sell oil leases. The oil game is indeed interesting as well as profitable, says Mr. Ferriter, and although we cannot accuse him of ever being in a poker game he is sure that it's on the same order, only a much bigger game and a better chance to win and the spots of oil are big- ger than the spots on the cards.
His chief oil venture is The Robbins Oil Company, organized to find out what is under the surface six miles south of Wichita. They almost had the answer in their Number One well when they found eight feet of good oil sand at 2580 fect. Then the collapse of the casing erased all bets and caused them to start again. The officers of the company are: Henry Rob- bins, president; Charley Noll, secretary and treasurer; with John Ferriter, J. M. Mcclellan and O. A. Rorabaugh directors. Mr. Ferriter has been established here since 1895, has leases in Butler, Sedgwick and Wilson Counties and an office at 331 East Douglas, in the American State
MR. JOHN FERRITER, (Courtesy of the Beacon) Bank Building.
PAGE SIXTY - SIX
The El Dorado-Linn Oil & Gas Company
The accented feature in favor of the above company is its happy choice of officials. In each case, it would seem that the executive had been chosen because of his peculiar capacity to fill the office. For instance, they have selected a practical driller with a score of years of actual operating experience as their president. He is Mr. J. M. Ash of Parker, Kan- sas. Then there is C. W. Harvey, the secretary, for forty-five years a resident of Butler County and the former secretary of the El Dorado Chamber of Commerce. J. Oscar Evert- son, previously county treasurer, is the vice-president of the organization and Ralph Tolle, the treasurer, is cashier of The Farmers and Merchants' National Bank.
The El Dorado-Linn Oil & Gas Company was incorporated for $50,000 in October, 1917 and bases its operations upon its large single tract of 1160 acres in Linn County. With star rigs, it has gone into the shallow sand to a depth of from 570 to 610 feet and brought back several producers with an average of twenty barrels each. They have a stock of 1,000 barrels on the ground now and are negotiating with a refinery to contract for all their production. Recently, the organization was offered 300 per cent profit on their pro- perty and turned it down. Of course, that doesn't mean that an individual cannot dispose of his own shares, but that it was merely the decision of the board of directors that it was not to the interests of the stockholders to sell at this time.
When interviewed at the company's office, No. 5 Eris Theatre Bldg., the secretary, Mr. C. W. Harvey, expressed the sincerest optimism regarding the corporation's outlook and none of his stock in the venture is on the market. That signifies enough to those who know Mr. Harvey's ability to judge a good lease, and his knowledge of the oil acreage in Kansas.
PAGE SIXTY - SEVEN
Gallaher & Gilfillan
If you buy much stuff in the oil line, by this time you've bought something with the "Gallagher Guarantee" on it and it's been right. If it wasn't it was made right, wasn't it? That's the way Jim Gallagher does business. Gallagher & Gilfillan is the firm name and its offices are 511 Fourth National Bank Building.
Just to show you to what lengths they will go to give real service, there is that inci- dent of filling Mr. F. A. Halliday's order on the C. R. Murray lease at Isabell, Kansas. That gentleman dropped in the office at 7:40 Sunday night and placed his order for a supply of 6%-in. casing provided it could be delivered at the lease, 75 miles away, the next day. So Gallagher & Gilfillan forces with the aid of a spotlight after dark, loaded a series of trucks and started out with a procession down Douglas Avenue at two o'clock Monday morning and arrived at their destination before six o'clock Monday night.
They will sell you a good lease, fix you up with cable and tools to drill your well, fur- nish you casing, tub- ing and a boiler and engine and sell your production. If you need anything you haven't got, Jim Gal- lagher will get it for you and won't gouge you, either. And every thing goes with the "Gallagher Guar- antee." That's the reason Gallagher & Gilfillan are brokers that aren't broke.
PAGE SIXTY - EIGHT
The A-1 Oil & Gas Company
The A-1 Oil & Gas Company started drilling in territory so wild that they used to hire guards to keep the coyotes out. Now the derricks on their big acreage south and east of Augusta make the sky line look like a comb, and old timers at Atlanta think the lights from the drilling rigs at night are the outskirts of Wichita. This Company started in at $100,000, increased their capital to $200,000 and one of the stockholders who said he would not shave till the stock went to ten times par, has already lathered his face and will need a new Gillett before many months. But seriously, the A-1 Company is no longer a comer. It has arrived as one of the big independent producers of the field. It has an immense block of acreage in Southern Butler County, and it all looks good. Every well the company has drilled is a producer and a good one. The company is in sound financial condition and will soon be a dividend payer. E. E. Cressler is President, and J. W. Blood Secretary. Its offices are at 415 Beacon Building.
The Sunshine Drilling Company El Dorado, Kansas
A nomenclature like the above is most apt for a drilling company that can accom- plish what this organization has done in actual operation. One of the spectacular items was their record of drilling four wells in the Shaffer Pool to an average depth of 2500 feet and completing each well in twenty-two days. Most oil activities would be sunshiny -under those conditions.
On November 27, 1917, Mr. W. L. Brandon, as president, together with Fred and J. M. Mollendick, as associates, organized this elosed corporation and immediately spud- ded in for drilling contracts and actual operation. The president contributed a score of years of actual operation in the oil fields of West Virginia, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Ok- lahoma, and Kansas and his co-operators have added their sixteen years' experience as drillers and tool dressers.
PAGE SIXTY . NINE
Mr. C. C. Whitaker Independent Operator
So many of Mr. Whittaker's ventures have been of serv- ice to the other operators, that we hope his big deal, now pending, for drilling in seven or eight wildcat wells on deep well-defined structure, will come in and figure only upon his own income tax. The results of his efforts have been signifi- cant, however, in defining the field, and the early survey he made in his capacity as a trained geologist and engineer, with the degrees of B. A. and M. A. from Olivet College, Michigan, is still thought by many to be the real authority.
When interviewed in his office at 605 Schweiter Build- ing, "C. C.," as his friends all know him, made the statement that he was, at this time, preparing to carry on with deep drilling in the El Dorado field and in the shallow fields of Eastern Kansas. He has opened one small field in Wilson County and, at the time the boom first struck here, had 25,000 acres leased in Elk County. Mr. Whittaker has been completely submerged several times with the dust from what he thought were sure to be oilers. However, he has some production and, in his own terms, has had "a million dollars' worth of fun," and we think you will agree that such an attitude deserves the greater success that is surely in store for his tenacity and perseverance.
MR. C. C. WHITAKER
PAGE SEVENTY
CHAS. A. LAMB
It must have been difficult for Mr. Chas. A. Lamb to translate his business interests from terms of yards and pounds in merchandise to barrels and tanks in oil but it was doubt- less worth the effort, for Gage, Okla., has lost a successful merchant and the oil fields have gained an operator who has brought the average up several degrees. He has some mighty good holdings in the Sluss Pool, Greenwood and Wilson Counties with wells on most of them beside offset acreage in various localities.
From his office in 418 Fourth National Bank Building, Mr. Lamb will buy or sell your leases, handle production from either angle or tell you the funny little items that happen on the inside of the oil game. His sense of humor is keen enough to appreciate the joke-even when it is on himself, and that might be why, when he fell for a block of acreage separated from production by a dry hole, he drilled and brought in an oiler to the surprise of every one including the agent who sold it to him. Even Dame Fortune likes a Good Sport.
THE OIL BROKERAGE CO. OF KANSAS 209 El Dorado National Bank
There has been no farm product discovered to date that yields the profit of a lease crop. Perhaps that is why Mr. J. B. Clark gave up the former and, on September 2, 1917, established the Oil Brokerage Company of Kansas with his son and Mr. L. D. Benton as associates. Mr. Clark was born in Nemaha County and now can tell you anything you want to know about Kansas land-either way from the Jack-post. Mr. Clark, Jr. is also a native son and acts as scout for the firm because he knows nearly every farmer in the state.
Their co-worker, Mr. Benton, was for eleven years a prominent banker in Cassoday, Kansas and, until the fall of 1917, considered himself settled there for life. At that time he began dabbling in leases with the Clarks and was soon caught in the whirlpool of big deals and, already the firm has to its credit the J. M. Batman transaction upon which the Empire now has six producing wells. The consideration was $135,000.00 and put this company in the limelight. They will buy orsell you a lease in any locality if it is at all de sirable and price is right.
PAGE SEVENTY -ONE
MR. U. G. CHARLES
THE KANSAS-OKLAHOMA-TEXAS OIL & GAS DEVELOPMENT COMPANY
The Kansas-Oklahoma-Texas Oil & Gas Development Company has almost as much acreage as it has name. Down in Texas they control 13,140 acres in Terrell County and 11,657 acres in Tom Green and Irion Counties with an especial tendency toward extremely large blocks of leases all in one piece. For instance, there is that immense block, 20,000 acres in Jefferson County,-and, Mr. Requa, that last zero is not a mistake. Their policy of doing big things on a big scale extends to their business management as well, for they cater only to corporations or individuals who can afford to buy and produce on the same lavish ratio.
Mr. U. G. Charles, whose picture appears opposite this page, is president and head of the company, and with his ability the future of the company is assured. Their head office is at 515 Beacon Bldg., Wichita, Kansas.
BARNES, HICKMAN & HICKMAN El Dorado, Kansas
Without the drillers, this publication would not have enough material to compose a pamphlet-not to mention an artistic souvenir edition of the Kansas Oil Industry. We haven't heard of any producing company getting very far without the co-operation of a driller pretty early in the program.
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