with a gold-leaf ceiling and Waterford crystal chandeliers), twelve
bathrooms, seven fireplaces, three kitchens, and an elevator lined
with buffalo skin. The grounds contained a swimming pool and
polo fields and a golf course and five lakes with islands. When
questioned about this excess, Marland was unapologetic: “To me,
the purpose of money was to buy, and to build. And that’s what
I’ve done. And if that’s what they mean, then I’m guilty.” Yet in
only a few years, he would be so broke that he couldn’t afford his
lighting bill and had to vacate his mansion. After a stint in politics,
he tried to discover another gusher but failed. His architect
recalled, “The last time I saw him, I think he was just sitting on a
nail keg of some kind out there northeast of town. It was raining
and he had on a raincoat and rain hat but he was just sitting there
kind of dejected. Two or three men were working his portable
drilling rig and hoping they might find oil. So I just walked off
with a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes.” Another famed
oilman in Oklahoma quickly burned through $50 million and
ended up destitute.
The press claimed that whereas one out of every eleven
Americans owned a car, virtually every Osage had eleven of
them. Credit 26