Mammoth Oil Company Case Study

As of last week albert Bacon Fall had secretly granted Harry F. Sinclair of the Mammoth Oil Company exclusive rights to the Teapot Dome in Wyoming on April 7, 1922. After Pres. Warren G. Harding had transferred supervision of the naval oil reserve lands from the Department of the interior, that’s when Fall granted Sinclair the oil rights. When leases and contrasts went under investigation by committees of the U.S. Senate . Fall and members of his family had received from an unknown source more than $200,000 in liberty bonds. These bonds indicated that they had come from a company organized by Sinclair and others receiving benefits from the lease. Congress directed president Harding to cancel the leases. The supreme court declared that the leases were fraudulent and ruled illegal Harding transfer of authority to Fall. Fall was convicted of accepting a bribe in Elk Hills negotiations and imprisoned. Doheny and Sinclair were acquitted of charges of bribery and criminal conspiracy. Sinclair will spend 6 and a …show more content…
Navy officials making a new global presence, realized they needed a fuel supply that was more reliable and more portable than coal. They watched as nations began development of petroleum powered ships. These ships would have no need for coaling stations. The USS Wyoming, a battleship initially launched in 1900 became the first ship in the fleet to be converted into oil power in 1909. More ships were converted from coal. The Navy grew more concerned about the long term availability of oil. If the oil ran out the Navy would be paralyzed. Congress set aside federally owned lands in places where known oil deposits most likely existed. These reserves would not be drilled unless a national emergency made it necessary. One of the three petroleum reserves set aside was near Salt Creek in northern Natrona County in a place named for a unusual rock formation nearby the Teapot