Weston Wednesday: Great Prairie Oil and Gas Co.
Editor's Note: In collaboration with the Bartlesville Area History Museum, the Examiner-Enterprise has revived the late Edgar Weston's 'Revisiting the Past' columns that ran in the newspaper from 1997-99. Weston's columns recount the history of Bartlesville as well as Washington, Nowata and Osage counties.
The Great Prairie Oil and Gas Company was incorporated in 1900 with offices in Neodesha, Kansas. It had been organized as a purchasing and pipeline subsidiary of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, a Rockefeller Company. This served only Kansas oilfields at that time and producers in the Osage and Cherokee Nations were lucky to find a buyer for their oil at any price, even after transporting it to the refinery at Neodesha.
The Phoenix Oil Company and other Osage Oil Companies were merged into the Indian Territory Illuminating Oil Company in December 1901. In 1900, town boosters of Bartlesville persuaded the Santa Fe Railroad to erect a loading rack at the Bartlesville depot and a two inch line from the local wells were able to load tank cars furnished by the Neodesha Refinery. A line was also erected to a loading rack three and one half miles southwest of Bartlesville.
The first oil shipped from Bartlesville was in May 1900, to mark the first shipment of oil from the future state of Oklahoma. In 1903, the Prairie Oil and Gas Company erected a 35,000 barrel storage tank near the Bartlesville Railroad depot. It was connected to the producing oil wells by pipeline. It did not take long to fill the tank and railroad tank cars and an unloading station was installed at Caney, Kansas, which was connected to the refinery at Neodesha. Oil was shipped by tank cars from Bartlesville to Caney. Prairie finally extended its six-inch pipeline into Indian Territory in 1904, after being delayed pending an act of congress, permitting the laying of pipelines over Indian land. By July, Prairie had completed its line to the “Bible” pumping station, about eighteen miles south of Bartlesville, and connected to the producing leases with gathering lines.
In October 1905, average production of all wells in Kansas and Indian Territory was about six barrels per day. The Cherokee Nation was credited with 183 completions, 162 producers, 6 gassers and 14 dusters in September alone. All this made good business for the Prairie Oil and Gas Company which had established a purchasing agency in Bartlesville early in April 1905.
The arrival of Dr. Howard Weber and T.N. Barnsdall began the testing of oil production east of Dewey in 1905 along Coon Creek. Dr. Weber discovered and developed the famous Weber Pool east and southeast of Dewey and a shallow pool northeast of Dewey. This and other large production brought a greater interest by Prairie Oil Company. Adequate transportation facilities finally had been obtained and gathering lines to the leases, thus oil could be sold at the lease tank battery where it was produced.
While the Prairie pipelines were being strung across future Washington County, the company began construction of “the world’s largest crude oil tank farms.” The one north of Ramona, where earthen dikes still can be seen east of U.S. Highway 75, ultimately contained 222 tanks, holding 35,000 barrels each, with a total capacity of 7,770,000 barrels. Another north of Copan, where the dikes are also visible today, contained 107 tanks, with a total capacity of 3,745,000 barrels. The tax revenue benefits to these two communities has been tremendous especially in construction and operation of the school systems.
“The network of pipelines serving the Mid-Continent Oilfields had increased vastly the year of Statehood and Prairie Oil and Gas Company (which served this area) operated two trunk lines extending eastward through Kansas to connect with the eastern trunk lines of the Standard Oil Company leading to the eastern seaboard.”
Prairie Oil and Gas Company was interested in establishing its corporate office at Caney, Kansas in 1915. They explored a site that is now the location of Wark Memorial Park but Caney did not seem too receptive to the venture and Caney lost the building to Independence, Kansas. The beautiful structure was built at Independence in July, 1916. This beautiful large building has been a tremendous asset to Independence and is still in use today containing many offices and small companies.
Prairie Oil and Gas Company was taken over by Prairie Pipeline Company that took over all of the assets of the Prairie Oil and Gas Company, including its pipelines, pumping stations, and telegraph lines. The Prairie Oil and Gas and Prairie Pipeline Companies had a very highly regarded reputation among the leaders in the oil industry.
The depression had taken a toll on all of the oil companies and Sinclair began stalking a rival, the giant Prairie, as large as Sinclair. Then in 1932 Sinclair annexed the assets of Prairie Pipeline and Producing Companies for stock valued at 136 million. This acquisition gave Sinclair the largest pipeline system in America, 36,000 barrels of oil production a day, many other assets and immense prestige. The Sinclair complex had suddenly doubled in size. A few months later, again in exchange of stock, Sinclair acquired the Rio Grande Oil Company, which produced and marketed crude oil in California.
During these events, the holding company lost the Sinclair name, and became simply Consolidated Oil Corporation a title which continued until the modern name Sinclair Oil Company was assumed in 1943. A realistic write-down of $143 million in assets still left Sinclair 8th in size.
Of course, none of the exchanges in Prairie Oil and Gas Company could have taken place unless John D. Rockefeller hadn't brought them about or endorsed them. Sinclair operated the former Prairie properties, laid off many well-qualified personnel and attempted to resume the prestige of former days of Prairie Oil and Gas Company.
The Copan and Ramona tank farms were emptied of crude oil and stood empty for some time then they were taken down. The roof metal and timbers were sold locally to build barns, sheds, and cattle pens. The sheet steel sides and bottoms were riveted together. The rivets were cut and the sheets flattened and loaded in railroad coal cars, as well as the steel bottoms, and shipped to the west coast and loaded in ships. The steel sheets were sold to Japan and came back as bullets in World War II.
This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Weston Wednesday: Great Prairie Oil and Gas Co.
