Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1512164
to see her come down the staircase?" he said. I believe it was a reference to Vivian Leigh in Gone with the Wind—descending a grand staircase. The second comment got me thinking: "How will we know they are rich?" This question haunted me for several days. The Osage were incredibly wealthy, but their daily needs seemed modest in comparison. In those days, headright payments were made public, and everyone knew how much cash the Osage were receiving. Each of the 2,229 Osage, of either "full" or "mixed" blood, on the roll book as of July of 1907, were given six hundred fifty-seven acres of land, and they were bringing in sizable incomes each year. In 1920, each 'headright' received $9,900 from oil lease income—the equivalent of about $152,000 today. Since each member on the roll book would receive the same amount whether dead or alive, young or old, a family of six, in that year, brought in the equivalent of about $912,000 in today's money. And the payments were increasing every year. The fact was that everyone knew they were rich and wanted their money. But as I continued to research the Osage, I learned that coming from a communal background, they were not as ostentatious as many people thought and did not refer to themselves as wealthy. They had an innate appreciation for fine things. They loved fine cars the way they loved fine horses in the past, and they used the money to buy ribbons, jewelry, china, furniture and household help. But the Osage were ruled 'incompetent' by the American government and were thus appointed white guardians to manage their income. Because most of these guardians were corrupt, many Osage only received a part of their headright or none of it. Mollie in 1923, a millionaire by today's standards, was refused permission to buy a radio for her new home. Unscrupulous lawyers, doctors, ranchers, sheriffs, businessmen and politicians were accomplices. Many millions of dollars and thousands of acres of land were swindled from the Osage. And no guardian was ever prosecuted. With an inventory of assets and a list of scripted sets, a plan was devised to effectively use the buildings and prairie of Osage County to build the world for Killers of the Flower Moon. C. MOLLIE'S HOUSE. DINING ROOM. SET PHOTO. D. MOLLIE'S HOUSE. LIVING ROOM. PRODUCTION STILL BY MELINDA SUE GORDON/APPLE TV+. E. TRAIN DEPOT. PLAN AND ELEVATIONS BY CIERRA MADISON. MODELED ON THE ORIGINAL IN FAIRFAX, OKLAHOMA, AND BASED ON THE ORIGINAL PLANS OF THE SANTA FE RR COMPANY STATION. F. TRAIN DEPOT IN PROGRESS. THE CREW PUT DOWN 1600' OF TRACK FOR OUR STEAM LOCOMOTIVE AND BUILT THE STATION AROUND THE SHELL OF AN OLD COMMERCIAL DEPOT IN PAWHUSKA. SET PHOTO. G. TRAIN DEPOT. THE BACKGROUND WAS SIMPLIFIED BY CGI TO REPRESENT FAIRFAX AND THE PRAIRIE AROUND IT IN 1920. PRODUCTION STILL. E G F