| OCR Text |
Show 58 COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. But now every step is scrutinized,by the probate attorneys, who in-sist that lands that are to be sold must.be appraised by representa-tives of the United States, and that all sales shall be duly advertised, thereby doing away with the undesirable practice of private sales. In the accomplishment of these beneficial results, the probate at-torneys have necessarily performed a vast amount of routine work, including the holding of conferences with.allo'ttees and others in nearly 50,000 instances and the writing of upward of 57,000 letters and other official communications. I Now that the scope and volume of the probite work is apparent, - I look forward. with Confidence to the achievement during the next year of even greater results than those attained. I I OIL AND (fAGFIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES. I Mining for oil and gas in the Five Civilized Tribes, Oklahoma, ~ , ' during the past fiscal year has been very active, and extensive wild-catting has keen done. No large pools have been discovered. The 1 production of the Gushing field has declined very rapidly, and this 1 fact, together with the conditions which have existed in connection ' with the marketing of crude oil at home and abroad, is! probably the cause of the increased price of oil from 40 cents per barrel at the close of the fiscal year, to $1.55 during the past winter. The posted price remained at $1.55 during the last three or four months of the year. ' Ilowever, practically one-third of the oil produced in the I Mid-Continent field has been sold at a premium, which varies from - 5 to 55 cents per barrel above the posted price. The Indian lessors have been receiving their proportionate share of the premium re- ' ceived by the lessees. During the past year the affairs of several large oil and gas lessees have been investigated, with the result that violations of the regula- ' - tions have heen discovered and the guilty parties have been com-pelled to reduce their acreage within the maximum of 4,800 acres . allowed by the regulations. From 1,372 leases, covering 109,107.68 'acres, t'here was produced during the fiscal year ended June 30,1916,23,988,862.32 barrels of oil from departmental leases, ns against 27,088,994.02 barrels during the previous year. The receipts from gas wells during the.fisca1 year . . aggregated $51,557.62, and the receipts from coal production on I allotments, $15,893.29, representing 212,069 tons, of which 160,607 I tons.were produced in the Creek Nation. While 3,110,131.70 less bar- ' rels of oil were marketed from departmental leases during the year ended June 30, 1916, the royalty interest was $1,359,279.74 in excess of that for the previous year. |
