Teapot Dome rock near Midwest
Recently, President Biden approved taking oil out of the strategic oil reserves to help reduce gas prices in the United States. Early in the 20th century, the U.S. Navy obtained most of its fuel oil from coal. President Taft, to ensure that the Navy would always have enough fuel, designated several oil-producing areas, as naval oil reserves. One is Teapot Dome, named for an unusual rock formation, near Midwest, Wyoming,
In April of 1922, the biggest scandal, until Watergate, rocked Washington and had its roots in Wyoming. The Teapot Dome Scandal was a bribery scandal during the administration of Warren G. Harding from 1921 to 1923. At the time, the Secretary of the Interior, Albert Bacon Fall, leased the Navy petroleum near Teapot Dome, and the Salt Creek Oil field. He also leased oil from reserves in California, to private oil companies without competitive bidding.
In 1921, President Harding ordered that control of the field be transferred from the Navy Department to the Department of the Interior. Interior Secretary Albert Fall persuaded Navy Secretary Edwin C. Denby to transfer this control.
Once the control had passed to the Department of the Interior, Fall was implicated in an oil leasing scandal, which made him a rich man. In 1924 an investigation by the US Senate revealed that Secretary of the Interior Fall accepted a large bribe from the private oil interests. In 1929, Fall served nine months in prison.
The Laramie Republican and the Laramie Boomerang, on December 27, 1923:
Former Secretary Fall Used Borrowed Cash On His Ranch: Public Lands Committee Satisfies Itself Concerning Doing By the Associated Press Washington, Dec. 27 A. detailed statement of the real estate and cattle investments of former Secretary Albert B. Fall, filed today with the senate public lands committee, declared that a $100,000 loan advanced to Mr. Fall by E. B. McLean, the Washington publisher, enabled him to purchase additional ranch holdings in recent years in New Mexico. The source of the funds with which. tho former secretary enlarged his New Mexico establishment had been sought by the committee as a result of testimony given by previous witnesses in the senate inquiry into the loosing of the Teapot dome oil reserve to Harry F. Sinclair while Mr. Fall was at the head of the Interior department. Must Give Details. Washington, Dec. 27.—Overriding the protest of Harry F. Sinclair, oil operator and holder of the lease to naval oil reserves in Wyoming, the senate public lands committee today voted to require him to give details of all transactions in the stock of tho companies formed in connection with, that lease and of operations of syndicates organized to market such stock. Much of the information asked by the committee had been given by the witness previously, and his refusal to answer was confined to questions relating to activities of his associates. The committee divided four to three on the motion to compel Mr. Sinclair to reply, Senators Lenroot, Wisconsion, Smoot, Utah, and Cameron, Arjzona, Republicans, voting in the negative, and Senators Walsh, Montana; Kendrick, Wyoming, and Adams, Colorado, Democrats, and Ladd, Republican, North Dakota, voting in the affirmative. Renewing against “production in an inquiry of those business relationships, and those delicate and complicated operations which constitute so large a part of any business,” Mr. Sinclair persisted in his refusal to say what consideration was given by the Hyva corporation for its large holdings of Mammoth Oil company stock, for which consideration was given for their stock by members of the Mammoth syndicate, which supervised the efforts of Joseph L. Livermore to “make a market” for Mammoth oil. “These are private transactions of private citizens, and are not pertinent in this inquiry,” said Mr. Sinclair. Among the large Investors in the Mammoth syndicate was H. P. Whitney, who had listed as holding 155,000 shares. When the witness refused to say what had been paid for this block, or what disposition had been made of the proceeds, Senator Walsh announced he would ask for a subpoena for Mr. Whitney. Mr. Sinclair offered to supply practically all data required by the committee bearing upon the complicated procedure by which the Mammoth stock issued to him was transferred to tho Hyva corporation, and then, in large part, was turned over to the syndicate for use in making a market, only to be re-purchased by the witness later.
An Oil Well
Wyoming State Tribune, Cheyenne April 23, 1922
Secretary of state ‘William E. Chaplin yesterday received from Congressman Frank V. Mondell a telegram, dated Washington, outlining the policy of the federal government regarding the draining of the Teapot Dome naval reserve in Wyoming, as that policy in set forth in a letter to Mondell from Edward C Finney, acting Secretary of the Department of the Interior Congressman Mondelll’s message was in response to an inquiry from Secretary Chaplin for information regarding the government’s Teapot Dome plans
The telegram to Sec. Chaplin follows, “In response to my letter of April 17, making inquiry as to the status of the navel reserve No. 3 (Teapot dome. Wyoming), I have a letter from Acting Secretary Finney as follows, ” ‘Answering your letter on April 17th, making inquiry as to the status of naval reserve No. 3.; Wyoming. I have the honor to advise you that a contract was entered into April 7, 1922. by the secretary of-the Interior and the secretary of the navy with the’ Mammoth Oil company, “a Delaware corporation, H, F. Sinclair, president. The contract is in the form of a lease of the area within he said naval reserve, with graduated royalties running up”to 50 per cent, according to the; quality and quantity of production. The contract provides for the drilling of a number of wells, for construction of a ‘pipeline from the field to a till existing pipe lines in Missouri, thus putting the field in touch with the Atlantic coast and Gulf of Mexico points, for the exchange of crude for fuel oils for naval purposes, and’ for the delivery naval specified fuel oil at points designated by on the Atlantic coast. …. As you know, crude oil is not suitable for use by the navy as fuel in an unrefined state, and before being available for storage and naval use must be placed in the form of fuel oil. Experts state that the storage of fuel oil in suitable tanks result in practically no loss from evaporation…. and the navy department and interior department have been in close co-operation endeavoring to carry out the purposes for which the reserves were created namely, not the sale of oil for commercial or other purposes, but the securing of a reserve of fuel oil for naval purposes. (Signed) EDWARD C, FINNEY Acting Secretary
Senator John B. Kendrick, who lived and ranched around Sheridan, and built the Trails End Mansion, was credited with beginning the investigations into the Teapot Dome scandal.
Kendrick Mansion
In an article in The Rawlins Republican, May 18, 1922, Kendrick’s name is mentioned.
The Political Tempest over Teapot Dome (Wheatland Times) for the past few weeks there has been much discussion about hi.- leasing of the naval oil reserve known as the teapot dome adjoining the salt creek field, to the Si nclair oil interests the lease was negotiated by the secretary of the interior and the secretary of the navy. Democratic papers and officials have charged all kinds of Kraft, favoritism and dishonesty m connection with this transaction and Senator Kendrick promptly introduced a resolution in the Senate demanding an investigation of the alleged outrage. One of our Democratic friends, shortly after the furor was started, asked us why The Times did not say something about the Teapot Dome scandal. We replied that at the time we did not have sufficient information upon the subject to form an opinion.
Since then we have read a great deal of criticism, mostly biased and have at hand a copy of the letter of explanation written to President Harding by Edward C. Finney, acting Secretary of the interior, and Edwin Denby Secretary of the Navy, and have arrived a the tentative conclusion that the transaction was a wise one that is likely to prove of vast benefit to this state, and that the storm ol criticism and condemnation is prompted by the Wyoming monopoly whose greedy operations will be effectively checked, the operation of the Sinclair people under their government lease of Teapot Dome.
Senator Kendrick’s resolution was passed unanimously by the Senate. The Departments of the Interior and Navy and President Harding welcomed the full investigation. Their attitude toward the inquiry substantiates their position m stating that the contract is a good one from the stand point of the federal government. the state, and independent producers.
The scandal was big news during 1922 up until 1924. In a Wyoming State Ledger, An Independent Democratic Paper Cheyenne, on June 22, 1922.
The Teapot Dome The More the Scandal Is Aired the Worse It Smells It is doubtful if any administration ever pulled off a deal which is so generally denounced as the leasing of the Teapot Dome to Harry Sinclair by Secretaries Denby and Fall. Trim many republican papers are now trying to make it appear that, the deal will be a good thing for Wyoming; but it is a hard task they have allotted themselves. It is hard to convince anyone that if the deal was all right that it would have been necessary to exercise such secrecy as was used. Congress has appointed a committee to make an investigation of the deal, and if a real investigation is made there will he more than one officer in high places who will feel called upon to tender his resignation. Investigations so far made by the press stamp the attempts of Secretary Wall to whitewash himself and Secretary Denby as quite raw, as they have disproven his claim that there was no secrecy in the matter. The attempts of Congressman Mondell to perform the great juggling feat of carrying water on both shoulders are making him appear in a very ridiculous role. He has not proven to anyone that the deal was an honest one; and he has failed to convince thy people of this state that he really is making an effort to have the matter investigated.
In fact prominent men in every city are denouncing him as a weakling.
Many of the articles were defending the parties involved, as this article from The Sheridan Enterprise, May 10, 1922.
Republicans would sooner or later rush to the defense of the Harding administration as soon as they saw what a furor is being raised over the Teapot dome scandal. W. R. Weeks of Lander makes a labored effort to whitewash the administration; but he has only muddled the matter. He claims that the administration only protected the schools of the state m making this secret deal. But he does not explain why the schools could not have been protected if the administration had complied with the law m granting a lease. There are several oil companies which would have given as much or more than the Sinclair Interests are to pay, and there would then have been no grounds for the charge of dishonesty now being made.
The Democrates used the scandal to get votes for their candidates as per this ad in The Wyoming Democrat, Cheyenne, November 2, 1922
Mondell Condemns Own Stand on Teapot Dome
The Teapot Dome lease to the Mammoth Oil Company, was signed, sealed and delivered April 7, 1922. On April 17th the Casper Herald published the following telegram from Mr. Mondell in response to a message or protest from the Rocky Mountain Oil and Gas Producers’ Association:
A boxed ad inside the ad
Can Mr. Mondell, or any other Republican, explain why, more than a week after the lease had been signed, Mr. Mondell was hopeful,”that no action binding the department has been taken.” Can he explain why, more than a week after the lease had been signed by Secretary Denby, that official was not “entirely clear as to what commitments if any had been made?” Can the voters of Wyoming place any confidence in officials who secretly lease one of their greatest oil fields and then deny to their representatives that any lease had been made? VOTE FOR Kendrick, Ross and Rose DEMOCRATIC STATE COMMITTEE. (Political Advertising)
Sinclair Dinosaurs near Midwest Truck Stop
The Teapot Dome Scandal: A political scandal that reached as far as Midwest, Wyoming, and involved Sheridan’s own John B. Kendrick, who initiated an investigation into the corruption.
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Last modified: April 9, 2022