William B. Pine. Among those prominently connected with the great oil-producing industry in Oklahoma is Mr. Pine, whose interests in this field of enterprise are of broad scope and who maintains merited precedence as one of the progressive and representative citizens of the City of Okmulgee, besides which he is giving effective service in the important office of member of the Oklahoma State Advisory Board.

Mr. Pine was born at Bluffs, Scott County, Illinois, on the 30th of December, 1877, and is a sou of William G. and Margaret (Green) Pine, both likewise natives of Illinois and both representatives of sterling pioneer families of that state. William G. Pine was born in Pike County, on the 5th of May, 1847, and his wife in Scott County, on the 17th of August, 1855. They now maintain their residence in the Village of Naples, Scott County, where Mr. Pine is living retired, after many years of earnest and successful association with industrial and business interests in that section of the state. Of the five children the eldest is Harry G., who resides at Bluffs, Scott County, Illinois; the subject of this review was the next in order of birth; John M. likewise maintains his home at Bluffs, Illinois; Roswell D. is associated with William B., of this sketch, in the oil-producing business and he also resides in the City of Okmulgee; and Grant S. remains in the old home town of Bluffs, Illinois.

William B. Pine gained his early education in the public schools of his native town and continued his residence in Illinois until 1904, when, as a young man of twenty-six years, he came to Oklahoma Territory and cast in his lot with this now vigorous and progressive commonwealth. He was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm and after his graduation in the high school at Naples, Illinois, in 1896, he devoted three years to successful work as a teacher in the schools of his native county, his pedagogic services being accorded during the winter terms and the intervening summers having found him actively identified with farm enterprise. He was finally sent into Kansas as an expert in harvesting machinery, and in that state he gained his initial experience in connection with the oil industry, with which he was identified in the fields about the City of Wichita during one summer. He then entered the employ of the National Supply Company, of Ohio (oil well supplies, Toledo), and represented this corporation at the Cleveland, Oklahoma, store for a time. Upon severing his connection with this company to engage in the oil-supply business it was but conjectural what emolument he would receive from the new venture, and at the end of two months he was given $110 for his salary.

Upon coming into active association with the oil business Mr. Pine became a representative in Kansas for T. N. Barnesdale, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for whom he did effective work in the Wichita fields, and in 1904 he came to Oklahoma as a representative of Mr. Barnesdale, for whom he worked on salary until February, 1909, when he established his residence at Okmulgee and associated himself with F. M. Robinson in the securing and developing of oil leases. Under these relations he continued his identification with development work until 1912, when he and his associates sold their entire holdings to a European syndicate, these leased lands having comprised 40,000 acres, and the property having been sold for $725,000. In effecting the sale Mr. Robinson was the principal and Mr. Pine was his chief coadjutor. Since that time Mr. Pine has conducted extensive and successful activities as an independent oil producer, and his leased lands now comprise 20,000 acres, from which he has a production of 500 barrels of oil a day, besides which he has a number of gas wells that are giving excellent yield. Mr. Pine has become one of the leaders in the oil industry in the Okmulgee region and is serving as president of the Okmulgee Oil Producers’ Association. As a member of the State Advisory Board which obtained the passage of the law governing and conserving the oil and gas resources of Oklahoma, Mr. Pine has rendered most effective and timely service, especially through his personal efforts in the furtherance of legislation for the benefit of the oil and gas industry in the state. In politics he maintains an independent attitude and gives his support to the men and measures meeting the approval of his judgment, irrespective of strict partisan lines. He is vital, loyal and progressive as a citizen and takes a lively interest in all that touches the welfare and advancement of his home city and the state of his adoption. Both he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

On the 18th of June, 1912, Mr. Pine wedded Miss Laura M. Hamilton, daughter of James Hamilton, of Naples, Illinois, and the one child of this union is William Hamilton Pine.