| Russell Havenstrite | |
| Birth Date: | 18 March 1896 |
| Birth Place: | Lovell, Oklahoma Territory, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Spouse: | Edith White |
Russell Easton Havenstrite (1896-1958) was an American wildcatter and polo player.
Russell Havenstrite was born March 18, 1896,[1] in Lovell, Oklahoma.[2] His parents were Jacob W. Havenstrite and Jennie M. Stirk.[3] His mother's maiden name was Stirn.[4]
In the 1920s, Havenstrite moved from Lovell, Oklahoma to Signal Hill, California in the Greater Los Angeles area to drill oil.[2] In 1932, he moved to Alaska to find oil.[2] He became interested in possible oil found at Iniskin, near Homer, Alaska.[2] In 1936, he established the Iniskin Bay Associates, together with Carlton Beal (1914–1994), Walt Disney (1901–1966), Darryl F. Zanuck (1902–1979) and Hal Roach (1892–1992).[2] By 1938, they began drilling their first oil well at Iniskin.[2] In 1941, the firm found oil in Newhall, Santa Clarita, California and became prosperous.[2] [5]
After the Second World War, Havenstrite drilled again at Iniskin, with the financial backing of Chicago banker Hugo Anderson, the father of Robert Orville Anderson (1917–2007).[2] However, Harold L. Ickes (1874–1952), who served as United States Secretary of the Interior from 1933 to 1946, had blocked him from drilling.[2] In 1946, he flew the Andersons, the Disneys and the Zanucks on his private Douglas DC-3 plane to see his jade mine in Kotzebue, Alaska and his gold mine in Candle, Alaska.[2] [6] In 1954, he drilled a second well at Iniskin, but he stopped sometime in 1955.[2] Two weeks after he stopped, Richfield Oil found more oil at Iniskin.[2]
Havenstrite established the Beverly Hills Polo Club in Beverly Hills, California.[7] In 1950, he hired ten-goal polo champion Robert Skene (1914-1997) to manage the club.[8] The same year, he and Jimmy McHugh judged Queen of Mexican Polo contestants at the BHPC.[9] He also played polo at the Uplifters Polo Club in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles with Charles Farrell (1901–1990), Frank Borzage (1894–1962) and Walt Disney (1901–1966).[10]
Havenstrite was married to Edith White.[11] They had a parrot.[2] They owned a penthouse in the Fine Arts Building located at 811 West 7th Street in Los Angeles.[12] From 1938 onwards, they resided in Beverly Hills, California and attended high society events.[13] [14] [15] They also went shooting with William Woodward, Jr. and his wife Ann in Cooch Behar, India.[16] Moreover, they attended fundraisers for the Republican Party.[17] He was a member of the Bohemian Club, the Los Angeles Country Club and the Bel Air Country Club.[18] [19]
Russell and Edith had a daughter, Phyllis, on September 29, 1922 in Oxnard, California. She attended the Douglas School for Girls in Pebble Beach, California.[20]
Havenstrite died of a heart ailment in Santa Monica on March 18, 1958.[21]