Episode two uncovers the untold stories from just a fraction of one Osage headright share.
(Bloomberg) — Listen to In Trust on iHeart, Apple Podcast, Spotify
In Trust, an investigative podcast from Bloomberg News and iHeartMedia, is a story about family, oil and a system that moved wealth over decades — dollar by dollar, acre by acre — and shapes this land to this day. This is the second episode of the series. Learn more about the project, and listen to the first episode here. A transcript of this episode is available here.
The list of non-Osage headright holders that surfaced in 2009 didn’t include a vital detail: the number or fraction of shares held by each. That information was considered private by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs. But a new list obtained through a public records request provides a partial look — the names and headright shares of certain non-Osage entities, including universities, churches, companies and trusts.
One of those organizations is Hissom Memorial Center, a name that’s attracted particular scrutiny because it was shut down nearly 30 years ago after staff were accused of abusing the patients who lived there. According to BIA records, Hissom holds a little over a third of a share.
The list also includes the University of Oklahoma, which says it funds a scholarship for Osage students with proceeds from its 1.73 headrights. And the BIA’s documents attached a number to one of the trusts that appeared on an earlier list published by a local newspaper, the Bigheart Times. The Alfred A. Drummond Trust, held on behalf of family members, has half a share.
Read more: Who Gets Osage Oil Money? A List From BIA Raises New Questions
Where did that half share come from? A biography of Alfred A. “Jack” Drummond, one of the earliest Drummonds in Osage County, offers the first clue and points to dozens of interview tapes from the 1970s and ’80s.
Those tapes, along with archival records, reveal the Osage family that originally owned the share, and how a White man named O.V. Pope got it from them — only to sell it almost immediately to Jack for the equivalent of roughly $340,000 in today’s dollars. In the years since Jack bought it, that share has paid out about $1.7 million when adjusted for inflation.
Episode two hears from a beneficiary of the trust, who says he doesn’t have control over it but that the return from this headright fraction has been fairly modest over the years.
Of the 2,229 headrights in the Osage Mineral Estate, more than 500 are now in non-Osage hands. Following the story of just a fraction of one reveals the personal and financial cost of such wealth transfers. How many others are out there? —With Allison Herrera
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