Oil transformed the Osage Indian Nation, and the so-called "Million Dollar Elm" became a symbol of that impact because millions of dollars worth of Osage oil leases were auctioned in its shade. Planted at this site in the latter part of the 19th century as an ornament and for shade, the tree received its name not from tribal leaders but from reporters and magazine writers dramatizing the occasions when important heads and founders of the world's greatest oil companies came in person to bid. The auctioneer, the histrionic Colonel Walters, became famous for securing top bids. The story began with the drilling of the first well in the Osage in October 1897. On March 2, 1922, the first 160-acre tract to bring a million dollars or more was in the NE 25-27-5, with Skelly Oil Company and Phillips Petroleum Company bidding jointly on it. The highest bonus paid for a 160-acre tract was $1,990,000 by Midland Oil Company on March 29, 1924, in the NW 14-27-5. In all, 18 tracts brought bonuses of $1,000,000 or more. By November 1969, Osage lands had produced a billion barrels of oil, and it was estimated that two billion barrels remained in the area.