Uncowed by his illustrious associates, Sinclair exhibited an extraordinary self-confidence which gave authority to his quick decisions. Still under thirty years old, he deferred to no one. An eastern magnate, director of one of Sinclair's little one-lease companies, described Sinclair's management to a friend: "He calls us together occasionally to tell us what he's done." The characteristics of his later life already were manifest. Said a colleague of him in retrospect: "He was shrewd but hearty, tough but genial, a masterful trader, a hard-driving sportsman. He was MacGregor--where he sat, there was the head of the table."

Sinclair's diligent usefulness to others paid off in 1904. His drilling syndicate at Kiowa, Oklahoma, netted him $100,000. For the first time he had cash--and more importantly, the power to borrow. Quickly he developed the Canary field, Oklahoma, into 100 wells in 1905. The profit from this venture he cast into the Glenn Pool, Oklahoma's first huge producer. By 1907, Sinclair was the richest man in Kansas.

Following the oil play southwestward, Sinclair and one of his many partners, Patrick J. White, bought crude oil from wildcatters for ten cents a barrel in every prolific field before pipeline outlets were available. Erecting steel tanks, the partners stored millions of gallons of bargain oil. When conditions stabilized, they sold the filled tanks at a $1.20 per barrel profit. By 1913, Sinclair bossed 62 oil companies, owned eight drilling rigs, and with his brother controlled a Tulsa bank. Producing from every mid-continent field, he settled in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as its first citizen.

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