too, for the Osage Indians...often are stoical but interested
spectators,” the Associated Press reported, deploying the usual
stereotypes. Others in the community—including prominent
settlers like Hale and Mathis, the Big Hill Trading Company owner
—took a keen interest in the auctions. The money flowing into the
community from the oil boom had helped to build their
businesses and to realize their once seemingly fantastical dreams
of turning the raw prairie into a beacon of commerce.
Frank Phillips (on bottom step) and other oilmen arrive in Osage
territory in 1919. Credit 22The auctioneer—a tall white man with thinning hair and a
booming voice—would eventually step under the tree. He typically
wore a gaudy striped shirt and a celluloid collar and a long flowing
tie; a metal chain, connected to a timepiece, dangled from his