Washington County

Manufacturing And Other Industries While the manufacturing industries of Bartlesville are not large, yet it has a number of well established firms and others are being added. The eleven shops well prepared with foundry, welding, and manufacturing machinery for drilling tools, engines, oil tanks, well packers, pumps, pattern devices, and repair work of all kinds are in operation all the time. These shops employ several hundred men and are always running at full capacity. Bartlesville being the center of oil and gas interest for this district, there are many oil well supply stores having offices here. Three large smelter companies […]

Bartlesville, the county seat of Washington County, is located near the west central part of the county at the junction of the M. K. & T. and the Santa Fe railroads. The town was named in honor of Jacob H. Bartles who came down from Kansas to this section of the country soon after the Civil war. He was so favorably impressed with the appearance of the country that he settled near the present site of his city namesake, on the banks of Caney Creek. He was a practical farmer and within the space of a few short years he

Washington County is located in the northern part of Oklahoma, bordering on the State of Kansas and adjoining the rich Osage County on the east. It is forty miles in length, north and south, but only eleven miles wide. Although it is one of the smallest counties in the state, by reason of its fertile farm. lands, its apparently unlimited supply of oil and natural gas, and its progressive citizenship, it has become one of the wealthiest and most important counties of Oklahoma. It is well watered by Caney Creek, quite an important stream, which flows southward through the entire

Its soil is principally of the sandy loam character and produces excellent crops of corn, wheat, oats, fruits and vegetables. The rougher portions of land produce good grass and are well adapted to raising peaches, grapes and berries. This county is just a little too far north to be included in the cotton belt of the state, yet small fields of cotton are occasionally found in the valleys of Caney Creek and its tributaries. For several years past some of the most progressive farmers have become interested in raising thoroughbred horses, cattle and hogs, and herds of Shorthorn and Holstein

Dewey is located but four miles north of Bartlesville on the Santa Fe and M. K. & T. railroads. Like Bartlesville, it owes its beginning to Jacob Bartles. Mr. Bartles was instrumental in securing the first railroad to build down through Washington County. It was called the Kansas, Oklahoma & Southwestern, but was soon absorbed by the Santa Fe system. When the railroad reached the present site of Dewey, Mr. Bartles moved one of his country stores over to the railroad. This took place shortly after Admiral George Dewey won his great victory over the Spaniards by destroying their fleet

While the manufacturing industries of Bartlesville are not large, yet it has a number of well established firms and others are being added. The eleven shops well prepared with foundry, welding, and manufacturing machinery for drilling tools, engines, oil tanks, well packers, pumps, pattern devices, and repair work of all kinds are in operation all the time. These shops employ several hundred men and are always running at full capacity. Bartlesville being the center of oil and gas interest for this district, there are many oil well supply stores having offices here. Three large smelter companies are located in Bartlesville

Congress passed a law a few years ago providing for the establishment of ten mining experiment stations, at the same time appropriating an annual fund from the Federal treasury for the operation of these stations, all of which were to be under the supervision of the Bureau of Mines. In the latter part of 1917 the Secretary of the Interior, realizing the magnitude and importance of the petroleum industry as well as the many problems confronting the producers and refiners, decided that one of these stations should be devoted exclusively to petroleum and natural gas. The question immediately arose as