Toward the close of the war, he was compelled to flee to Texas, in company with a good many of his comrades. After peace was declared, he returned to the Cherokee Nation penniless, but still retaining his courageous spirit. He worked for wages for awhile, and as he began to regain his lost fortune, he embarked in business for himself and accumulated a comfortable fortune. He held numerous positions of honor and trust in the Cherokee Nation, engaged extensively in farming and in 1896 he assisted in organizing the First National Bank of Claremore, it being the first National bank to be established within the limits of the present Rogers County.
Oil
From year to year for many years, the farmers of this section were content to plod along, satisfied with the returns received from the cultivation of the soil, never dreaming, perhaps, that vast fortunes in oil and natural gas lay hidden underneath the soil. Early in 1906 oil was discovered four miles west of Claremore, at a depth of 700 feet, and since that time many profitable wells have been drilled.
The earliest discovery of oil in Rogers County, however, was made about thirty years ago, although the development was slow for ten or more years thereafter. Oil is found in numerous places in this county at a depth of not more than five hundred feet,. and some of the wells drilled fifteen or twenty years ago are still producing oil. This section of the state is what oil men call a “shallow” field, for the reason that oil is found much nearer the surface than in most other localities. The production of oil in this county is not limited to any one neighborhood, for profitable wells have been drilled in the extreme northern part of the county, around Chelsea, in the central part of the county around Claremore and in the extreme southern part around Inola. In connection with this development of oil quite a profitable business has developed within the past few years in the matter of manufacturing casing-head gasoline from the gas which is given off from the oil. This is an additional source of revenue, as formerly this gas was allowed to escape through the atmosphere.
Natural Gas
Rogers County is especially favored with an almost inexhaustible supply of natural gas at depths of from 650 to 1,250 feet. and the citizens of the county are especially fortunate in that none of its supply is connected with any. of the interstate great pipe lines which would take it. to the great cities of nearby states. This assures an ample supply for domestic and industrial purposes for this county for years in the future, and at rates that are lower than other parts of the Mid-Continent field.
There are so far developed three distinct gas pools, one covering several thousand acres south and east of Talala, in the Big Bend of the Verdigris River. This field .has been for ten years supplying Chelsea, Oolagah and the large shallow oil fields of the north part of the county, and is connected by a network of pipe lines, carrying gas to all points where there is a demand in the north part of the county, and to the gasoline plants of Nowata County.
The greatest gas field yet discovered in the county is that south and west of Foyil, seven miles north and west of Claremore, where numerous wells have been brought in, each with a daily volume of from 7,000,000 to 16,000,000 cubic feet. This field is being enlarged each month by addition of new wells, which have already proven the gas pool to embrace several thousand acres.
Several miles west and south of this field a new pool has been recently discovered which is deeper and of greater rock pressure than any of the others in tie county, and which gives every assurance of being of longer life, as the sand is found in the upper strata of the Mississippi lime.
In addition to the above there is a good gas field west of Claremore, also north and east of Claremore, which has for several years been-supplying the domestic consumption of the City of Claremore.
Claremore, Chelsea, Foyil and Oolagah have for years been amply supplied by local gas only, with every assurance of an ample supply for years to come, and in addition all the heat and power of the several cities of the county has been supplied with local gas as well as a large brick plant at Claremore, and another at Chelsea.
Financial Condition of Rogers County
Rogers County has an area of about seven hundred and twenty-eight square miles. The total assessed valuation for the fiscal year ending July 1, 1920, was $16,733,605, this assessed valuation ranging from $10 per acre and up, from the pasture lands to the best farming lands.
It has forty-one school districts, all of which have good school buildings, using from one to twenty-five teachers. They are all in splendid condition financially, all of their bonds and coupons being met when due. Most all maintain a nine-months’ school.
It has about one hundred and twenty-five miles of state roads and most of the section lines are open and passable to the public.
The county received for the fiscal year ending July 1, 1920, from advalorem levies $539,406.20 and from miscellaneous sources $154,168.47, making a grand total of $693,574.67.
Source: Benedict, John D. Muskogee and northeastern Oklahoma, including the counties of Muskogee, McIntosh, Wagoner, Cherokee, Sequoyah, Adair, Delaware, Mayes, Rogers, Washington, Nowata, Craig, and Ottawa. 3 v. illus., ports., facsims. 28 cm. Chicago, S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1922.