Talk:Marland Oil Company
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In 1908, E. W. Marland came to Ponca City, Kay County, Oklahoma from Pennsylvania, upon the urging of a relative, Lt. Franklin Roosevelt Kenney, who introduced Marland to the Miller brothers- Joseph Joe" Carson Miller, Zachary "Zack" Taylor Miller and George Lee Kockernut Miller, of the famous 101 Ranch near Ponca City. Marland immediately decided that the surface geology indicated that there was oil in the area. Marland raised capital for the 101 Ranch Oil Company from financiers back in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and began drilling. Unfortunately the first seven wells were uneconomic gas wells and by 1910 the company was on the verge of failure. Then John G. McCaskey, the “Sauerkraut King”, an original investor and a company director reorganized the Company. Elected President, McCaskey raised funds from Pittsburgh investors including W. F. McFadden, a retired Carnegie Steel Company executive. For $1,000 and a 12.5% override, a lease was obtained from Willie-Cries, a Ponca Indian and on June 11, 1911, that well Willie-Cries-For-War struck oil and stayed in production until 1976, bringing wealth to the company and its investors.(1)
By 1920 it is estimated that Marland and his partners controlled 10% of the worlds oil production (the equivalent of Saudi Arabia in 2006) and that Marland was worth $85 million.(2) On October 8, 1920 Marland incorporated the Marland Oil Company to acquire through an exchange of stock control of the Marland Refining Corp. and Kay County Gas Co.(3)
The rapid expansion of his oil business forced the newly made millionaire to borrow large amounts of capital from New York bankers. By 1928, this practice had accelerated until control of the company was wrestled from him by the bankers, who forced the combination with The Continental Oil Company. Marland Oil then changed the name of the company to the Continental Oil Company, or as it is better known, CONOCO. Meanwhile, Marland was given a figurehead role with the operation and by the early 1930s, he had lost his fortune. He was later elected to the U.S. Congress and eventually Governor of Oklahoma.
1 American Biography, Volume XLV, 1931. The American Historical Society, Inc. New York. 2 Life and Death of an Oil Man, John Joseph Mathews, University of Oklahoma Press, 1951. 3 Moody’s Debt Rating Book, 1969
