Osage Nation - Natural Resources and Headrights

Natural Resources and Headrights

The Osage discovered oil on their reservation lands, a resource that allowed them to prosper financially but put their people at risk for fraud and murder. In 1894 large quantities of oil were discovered to lie beneath the vast prairie owned by the tribe. Because of his recent work in oil in Kansas, Henry Foster, a petroleum developer, approached the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to request exclusive privileges to explore the Osage Reservation in Oklahoma for oil and natural gas. The BIA granted his request in 1896, with the stipulation that Foster was to pay the Osage tribe a 10% royalty on all sales of petroleum produced on the reservation.

Foster found large quantities of oil, and the Osages benefited greatly monetarily. The "black gold" eventually led to more hardships. In preparation for statehood, the US government pressed the Osage to accept allotment and end tribal government. Before having a vote within the tribe on the question of allotment, the Osage demanded that the government purge their tribal rolls of people who were not legally Osage. The Indian agent had been adding names that were not approved by the tribe, and the Osage submitted a list of more than 400 persons to be investigated. Because the government removed few of the fraudulent people, the Osage had to share their land and oil rights with people who did not belong.

The US Congress passed the Osage Allotment Act on June 28, 1906. Because the Osage owned their land, unlike other tribes who had to submit to allotment, they kept control of it all. The government made the allocation of land extremely complicated, in a way that prevented most Osage from owning contiguous parcels. This increased their incentive to sell or lease portions of land.

In addition, they negotiated keeping communal control of the mineral rights. The act stated that all persons listed on tribal rolls prior to January 1, 1906 or born before July 1907 (allottees) would be allocated a share of the reservation's subsurface natural resources, regardless of blood quantum. The headright could be inherited by legal heirs. This communal claim to mineral resources was due to expire in 1926. After that, individual landowners would control the mineral rights to their plots, which increased the incentive of those eager to gain Osage lands before the deadline.

Although the Osage Allotment Act protected the tribe's mineral rights for two decades, any adult "of a sound mind" could sell surface land. In the time between 1907 and 1923, Osage individuals sold or leased thousands of acres of formerly restricted land to non-Indians. At the time, many Osage did not understand the value of such contracts, and often were taken advantage of by unscrupulous businessmen, con artists and others trying to grab part of their wealth. Non-Native Americans tried to cash in on the new Osage wealth by marrying into families with headrights.