influence of the nineteenth century.” He went on, “It seemed a
great adventure. My parents never saw the charm of it all that I
did. We used to go often to Lot 50, about nine miles into the
Osage, in a horse-drawn wagon. It took a couple of hours and we
had to cross a river to get there.”
Workers strike oil in Osage territory. Credit 17Before encountering the Indians, Jean Paul had asked his
father, “Are they dangerous? Will we have to fight them off?”
His father laughed. “No,” he said. “They’re rather quiet and
peaceful.”
One damp spring day in 1917, Frank Phillips—a wildcatter who’d
previously sold a tonic to prevent baldness—was out with his
workers on Lot 185, less than half a mile from Lot 50. They were
on a platform drilling when the derrick began to tremble, as if a