In Trust

Bloomberg
  • 4.7 (579)
  • DOCUMENTARY
  • COMPLETE SERIES
In Trust

A hundred and fifty years ago, the Osage Nation bought a stretch of prairie the size of Delaware, in what's now Oklahoma. The Osage owned the land and everything beneath it. Today, much of present-day Osage County has left Osage hands. In some cases, appropriation was swift and brutal: Dozens of Osages were murdered for their share of lucrative mineral rights to this oil-rich land, a period often referred to as the Reign of Terror. But other transfers of wealth played out more subtly—dollar by dollar and acre by acre, over decades—helped along by policies created by the US government. Learn more and follow our listener guides at bloomberg.com/intrust.

  1. EPISODE 1

    The List

    For years, Osage citizens had to sift through rumors and wrinkled pieces of paper for clues to one pressing question: Who ended up with shares of their reservation’s mineral rights? The answer was a secret, guarded by the federal government. Until one day in 2009, when a local newspaper published a list of those names – including some familiar ones. Learn more and see bonus material from the episode: https://bloom.bg/3xujL9x  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    56 min

  2. EPISODE 2

    The Headright

    The extended Drummond family includes TV’s “Pioneer Woman,” Ree Drummond, and Oklahoma Attorney General candidate Gentner Drummond. If you add up the holdings of scores of family members, the Drummonds today are the biggest landowner in Osage County.  Many Osages have long wondered: How’d the family get so much land? An out-of-print book and hours of forgotten tapes reveal clues. They also point to an untold story of one Osage woman’s resilience. Learn more and see bonus material from the episode at https://bloom.bg/3DNjPp1. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    53 min

  3. EPISODE 3

    The Osage Price

    The Drummonds’ story, and a lot of the family’s early wealth and influence in Osage County, grew from one of their first businesses here, a store that the family patriarch took over in the early 1900s. It sold everything from flour to caskets. Much of it on credit. But the store had another function: It provided its owners financial leverage over Osage customers, in life and in death. Learn more and see bonus material from the episode: https://bloom.bg/3Lp8xZB.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    52 min

  4. EPISODE 4

    The Guardianship

    By the 1920s, Fred Gentner Drummond was deeply embedded in Osage financial affairs. His store extended credit to Osages. He administered the estates of many of these same Osages – approving big debt repayments from them to his own store. But Fred Gentner and his brothers had another lever – a way to make Osage money work for themselves, and their friends. Hear how it worked, and how one Osage man fought back. Learn more and see bonus material from the episode at https://bloom.bg/3BWIAxF.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    53 min

  5. EPISODE 5

    The Association

    Charles Wah-hre-she was an influential Osage religious leader. He died in Oklahoma City of a gallbladder illness, according to his 1923 death certificate. But for decades, Wah-hre-she’s family has heard a different story of his death. A descendant searches for answers, and tries to understand how a funeral bill grew so big it triggered alarms in the US Congress. Learn more and see archival documents and photos from the episode: https://bloom.bg/3CdQum6 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    45 min

  6. EPISODE 6

    The Middlewoman

    She was hailed by the local press as a hero of Oklahoma’s drive for statehood, which divided communal Native lands into individual parcels that could be leased or sold. A few years later, she was assembling tracts of Osage lands that she flipped to ranchers including Jack Drummond. But Anna Marx LaMotte’s tactics were anything but heroic. This is the story of how one White woman worked to reshape Osage County in the years after allotment, and how US policies furthered what she started. See archival photos and documents from the episode at https://bloom.bg/3eaycsW.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    47 min

  7. EPISODE 7

    The Ranch Bid

    Hundreds of allotments left Osage hands, swiftly at first, and then over decades. Not long ago, the Osage Nation had just 30 days to try to get a big chunk of this land back, when a prized ranch was put on the block by billionaire Ted Turner. See archival documents, photos and more from the episode at https://bloom.bg/3fYU7Uw.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    48 min

  8. EPISODE 8

    The Pivot

    A century has passed since a lot of the transactions that helped the three Drummond brothers amass tens of thousands of acres of Osage land. Now, with the Osage Nation seeking self-determination and Gentner Drummond running for state office, the fates of Osage and Drummond descendants continue to cross. Learn more at bloomberg.com/intrust. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    36 min

  9. EPISODE 9

    The Moonscape

    Since “In Trust” aired, we’ve heard more stories about how Native wealth was exploited. Not far from Osage County, citizens of the Quapaw Nation tell eerily similar accounts of unexplained deaths and mismanaged mineral resources. Lead and zinc mining around Picher, Oklahoma, provided bullets for two world wars, but left Native families to restore land that looks more like the surface of the moon than the prairie. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    31 min

  10. EPISODE 10

    The ‘Oklahoma!’ Haze

    There was one portrait of Oklahoma’s history that towered over all others. One with sweeping prairies and singing and dancing cowboys. The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma! became synonymous with America’s westward expansion. It also left out a key part of the state’s history and people. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    33 min

  11. EPISODE 11

    The Return to Osage County

    A little over a year from the first episode of In Trust has passed. Hosts Rachel Adams-Heard and Allison Herrera return to Osage County to discuss the reporting and story with members of the community. We’ll share highlights from the panel, moderated by Shannon Shaw Duty of the Osage News, and talk about Allison’s recent reporting from the premiere of “Killers of the Flower Moon” in Cannes. Learn more and see bonus material from the episode: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-11-21/in-trust-episode-11-discussing-the-impact-of-killers-of-the-flower-moon  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    30 min

  12. EPISODE 12

    Bonus Episode: The Celebration

    In this special bonus episode of In Trust, the Osage Nation puts nearly 42,000 acres of land back into trust with the US government. The move caps a nearly decade-long saga and protects the land from being sold, stolen or lost. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    9 min
See All Season 1 (12)

Trailer

Shows with Subscription Benefits

  • Bloomberg's Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway explore the most interesting topics in finance, markets and economics. Join the conversation every Monday and Thursday.

    • 4.5 (1479)
    • INVESTING

  • Bloomberg Radio host Barry Ritholtz has in-depth discussions with the people and ideas that shape markets, investing and business.

    • 4.4 (2050)
    • INVESTING

  • Bloomberg Daybreak delivers today's top stories, with context, in just 15 minutes. Get informed from Bloomberg's 3,000 journalists and analysts.

    • 3.8 (37)
    • BUSINESS NEWS

  • The economy and the markets are "under surveillance" as we cover the latest in finance, economics and investment. Listen to Jonathan Ferro, Lisa Abramowicz and Annmarie Hordern for the top interviews from Bloomberg Surveillance Television. And join Tom Keene and Paul Sweeney for the best conversations from Bloomberg Surveillance Radio. Watch Surveillance TV LIVE each mornings: http://bit.ly/3P7nstQ. Watch Surveillance Radio LIVE weekday mornings: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF.

    • 3.9 (1085)
    • BUSINESS NEWS

  • Tariffs, crypto, deregulation, tax cuts, protectionism, are just some of the things back on the table when Donald Trump returns to the Presidency. To help you plan for Trump's singular approach to economics, Bloomberg presents Trumponomics, a weekly podcast focused on the Trump administration's economic policies and plans. Editorial head of government and economics Stephanie Flanders will be joined each week by reporters in Washington D.C. and Wall Street to examine how Trump's policies are shaping the global economy and what on earth is going to happen next.

    • 4.3 (329)
    • INVESTING

  • Elon Musk’s sprawling business empire has granted the billionaire a degree of power and global influence that transcends the industries he’s reshaped. He is the leader of no fewer than six hugely influential companies, spanning electric vehicles to wartime communications, and their innovations could shape the fates of nations.  Musk is polarizing, confounding and inescapable. And he is the biggest business story of our time.  Each week, listen in as host David Papadopoulos convenes a panel of Bloomberg Businessweek journalists who are tracking Musk’s companies and the surprising ways they intersect. They break down the business mogul's latest moves and analyze what they could mean for us all.

    • 3.2 (140)
    • BUSINESS

  • Zero is about the tactics and technologies taking us to a world of zero emissions. Each week Bloomberg’s award-winning reporter Akshat Rathi talks to the people tackling climate change – a venture capitalist hunting for the best cleantech investment, scientists starting companies, politicians who have successfully created climate laws, and CEOs who have completely transformed their businesses. The road to zero emissions has many paths and everyone’s got an opinion about the best route. Listen in.

    • 4.8 (177)
    • BUSINESS

  • Merryn Talks Money with Bloomberg senior columnist Merryn Somerset Webb is your key to understanding how markets work – and how you can make them work for you. Every episode features a relaxed but in-depth conversation with a fund manager, a strategist, a Bloomberg expert or just someone Merryn finds particularly interesting in any given week. Listen in for the kind of insights and explanations everyone can use to help them make better saving and investing choices.

    • 4.3 (31)
    • INVESTING

  • When sports, business and culture collide, there’s often a deal to be made. Join Alex Rodriguez and Bloomberg correspondent Jason Kelly as they get the inside track from corporate titans, sports champions and game-changing entrepreneurs on investing, strategy, reinvention and the ones that got away. The Deal is a Bloomberg Podcasts and Bloomberg Originals series that’s passionate, relaxed, insightful and inspirational. If you think you know these icons, prepare to be surprised. Hosts: Alex Rodriguez is chairman and chief executive of A-Rod Corp, an investment firm that backs startups and partners with global companies across real estate, sports and entertainment. While best known as a fourteen-time All-Star and World Series champion with the New York Yankees, Rodriguez is now an owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx sports teams and an on-air analyst for Major League Baseball. Jason Kelly is the chief correspondent of Bloomberg Originals. During his two decades at Bloomberg, Kelly has served as executive editor of Bloomberg Television, hosted Bloomberg Businessweek on television and radio, and also hosted Power Players and Next in Sports series. He’s also the author of two books, The New Tycoons, about the global private equity industry, and Sweat Equity, an inside look at the business of fitness.

    • 4.0 (70)
    • BUSINESS

  • Foundering is an award-winning, serialized podcast from the journalists at Bloomberg Technology. Each season, Foundering brings you inside a different high-stakes drama from the technology industry, where its companies are wielding unprecedented capital and power.

    • 4.5 (966)
    • TECH NEWS

  • Reality TV stars are freezing their eggs on camera. Lawmakers in DC are debating federal protection for IVF. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested in slick startups that market fertility treatments for all. But this rapid growth has revealed cracks in the system. Misconception, a new series from Bloomberg’s Prognosis, follows reporter Kristen V. Brown on her own intimate journey as she uncovers the business of fertility. Along the way, she finds a fractured industry — a profit-driven field of medicine that thrives on dueling messages of hope and fear as people gamble everything for a chance at a baby.

    • 3.7 (806)
    • SCIENCE

  • The killers of Berta Caceres had every reason to believe they’d get away with murder. More than 100 other environmental activists in Honduras had been killed in the previous five years, yet almost no one had been punished for the crimes. Bloomberg’s Blood River follows a four-year quest to find her killers – a twisting trail that leads into the country’s circles of power.

    • 3.8 (712)
    • TRUE CRIME

Unlock episodes early and listen ad-free.

View Subscription FAQs

Hosts & Guests

4.7
out of 5
579 Ratings

About

A hundred and fifty years ago, the Osage Nation bought a stretch of prairie the size of Delaware, in what's now Oklahoma. The Osage owned the land and everything beneath it. Today, much of present-day Osage County has left Osage hands. In some cases, appropriation was swift and brutal: Dozens of Osages were murdered for their share of lucrative mineral rights to this oil-rich land, a period often referred to as the Reign of Terror. But other transfers of wealth played out more subtly—dollar by dollar and acre by acre, over decades—helped along by policies created by the US government. Learn more and follow our listener guides at bloomberg.com/intrust.

Information

  • Channel
    Bloomberg
  • Creator
    iHeartPodcasts and Bloomberg
  • Episodes
    15
  • Seasons
    1
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    2025 iHeartMedia, Inc. © Any use of this intellectual property for text and data mining or computational analysis including as training material for artificial intelligence systems is strictly prohibited without express written consent from iHeartMedia
  • Show Website
    In Trust
  • Provider
    Bloomberg L.P.

More From Bloomberg

You Might Also Like

Content Restricted

This episode can’t be played on the web in your country or region.

To listen to explicit episodes, sign in.

Stay up to date with this show

Sign in or sign up to follow shows, save episodes, and get the latest updates.
Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

Asia Pacific

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

The United States and Canada