The Daily Oklahoman
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
June 27, 1907
page 1
Death and Damage In Tornado's Wake
Fierce Storm Sweeps O'er Mid-Continent Oil Fields
Three Rig Builders Are Killed Near Sapulpa, I. T.
Oil On River Ablaze
Derricks Blown Down - Storm Strikes Many Territory Towns
Three lives were lost, hundreds imperiled and property valued at thousands of
dollars destroyed by a fierce tornado that swept across the northern portion of
Indian Territory and northeastern Oklahoma yesterday morning.
Bartlesville, Collinsville, Sapulpa, Tulsa, Ramona, I. T., and Cleveland and
Pawnee, Okla. are among the towns visited by the twister and each sustained
slight damage.
The loss of life and the greatest property destruction occurred in the
mid-continent oil field, where it is estimated that 150 derricks have been
destroyed and hundreds of thousands of dollars damage done to oil and gas
property.
Special to the Oklahoman.
Sapulpa, I. T., June 26. Three men were killed and 150 oil well derricks
were demolished by a tornado that swept this vicinity from the southwest at 8:30
o'clock this morning. As a result of the tearing up of oil and gas pipes, with
the toppling over of the many derricks, a great number of the wells have broken
open and large volumes of oil and gas are escaping. Polecat creek is covered
with a layer of oil a foot thick, which as caught on fire and is now burning
fiercely for more than a mile.
The flames are leaping to the clouds and the entire country is illuminated
from the blaze. The roar of the escaping gas from a dozen different localities
can be plainly heard.
The three men killed were all well rig builders working on a new derrick one
and a half miles from town. John Robin is the only one of the dead who
has been identified.
Both the wagon bridge and the railroad bridge across Polecat creek are in
imminent danger of burning from the oil on the river and large companies of men
have been on duty for hours guarding these structures from the flames.
The loss in escaping oil and gas and the destruction of derricks will mount
into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The storm passed over this city, but did little material damage. The
partially completed roof of the new hotel was blown off, as were a number of
porches to dwelling houses. The wires were down in every direction, and it is
impossible to ascertain the extent or range of the storm.
Special to the Oklahoman.
Tulsa, I. T., June 26. Three people are known to have been killed several
are injured, and property to the amount of at least a million dollars was
destroyed by a tornado which sweep this section of Indian Territory today. The
known dead are Frank Roper and two unknown men.
The storm came from the north and traveled due south until it struck the
hills north of Tulsa, when it turned southwest through the heart of the Glenn
oil field.
Mammoth steel tanks were blown down; 30 derricks were demolished and one
entire rig and several oil tanks were destroyed by lightning.
The camp of the Gulf Pipe Line company was wiped off the map and a great gas
well on the Nevada-Berryhill lease was freed from its casing and is beyond
control.
Kiefer, Red Fork, Jenks, Mounds, Sapulpa and other towns south of Tulsa
report property destruction and people injured.
For 60 miles south of this city the path of the storm is plainly traced by
the destruction left in its wake.
Bartlesville, Collinsville and Ramona were in the path of the storm when it
came down from the north and the Turley, the Skiatook and the Bird Creek fields
were visited by the twister.
In Tulsa several buildings were unroofed, others were blown from their
foundations, giant ___ were blown down and a dozen people were slightly injured
by flying debris. Telegraph and telephone service is badly crippled and the full
extent of the storm can not be ascertained.
Special to the Oklahoman.
Muskogee, I. T., June 26. A terrific tornado swept the mid continent
oil field from Cleveland, Okla. to Muskogee, at an early hour this morning. One
death has been reported and the property loss is climbing rapidly. Frank Roper,
a tool dresser was killed at Kiefer. He was working at well No. 1, on the
Hoffsteter lease when the wind struck the rig demolishing it and killing Roper.
The Barnes Oil company at Kiefer lost five rigs and the Quaker & Eastern Oil
company lost about $20,000 worth of oil property, principally pump houses and
tanks. A member of the Refinery Oil company operating at Turley, lost five rigs
at that place and three more at Cleveland, Okla. A dispatch from Turley says
that there are 54 rigs in sight from that place that have been blown down and
wrecked. No lives were lost there so far as can be learned.
The storm came from the north. It was a straight wind accompanied by a
heavy rain. Its force was broken when it reached Muskogee.
A telephone message from Sapulpa tonight says that a church and the new
hotel at that place were unroofed and that considerable damage was done to
plate glass fronts and to residences. The message also insists that two men
were killed just south of town but they have not been identified. Keifer is in
the heart of the Glenn Pool and a telephone message from that point tonight
states that there are in sight from Keifer 150 derricks that were wrecked by
the storm.
Lightning struck an oil tank near Keifer and set it on fire. Reports from
various sections of the oil field in the Osage nation indicate that
practically all the rigs in exposed parts of the nation have been blown down
and incomplete steel oil tanks that were being erected in the tank farms have
been wrecked.
Lightning struck one of the buildings at the Creek orphan home two miles
east of Okmulgee and the building with all of its contents were burned.
At Choteau and Miami in the Cherokee nation the tornado unroofed several
houses and blew down the walls of unfinished brick buildings.
The home Mr. Smith, at Mazie, is reported to have been wrecked.
The damage to growing crops and to the oil interest all over the
mid-continent field has been tremendous, fields of corn have been laid flat
and the oil field is strewn from end to end.
From most reliable reports possible together under the circumstances it
appears that the storm area extended from Cleveland, Okla. on the west to
Choteau on the east and from the northern part of the Osage nation on the
north to Muskogee on the south.
Special to the Oklahoman.
Pawnee, Okla. June 26. One frame building in Pawnee was blown down and a
farm residence one mile from town was badly damaged by lightning this morning,
during the heaviest wind and rainstorm that had visited this section for
years.
Seven box cars were blown from the Santa Fe tracks and other minor damage
was done by the storm and wind. No fatalities have been reported. Word
received here from Cleveland says that a number of oil well derricks were
blown down and demolished.
Special to the Oklahoman.
Chouteau, I. T., June 26. During a heavy wind and rain storm here today
considerable damage was done. At Mazie, five miles south of here, it is
reported that the walls of a brick building were demolished and several houses
and barns unroofed. It is reported that a house owned by a Mr. Smith was
completely overturned, but the statement is not verified.
[NOTE: I checked June 28-30 and found no further mention of the tornado or
the names of those three who died]