Russell Easton Havenstrite (1896–1958) was an American wildcatter and polo player.
Early life Russell Havenstrite was born March 18, 1896,http://death-records.mooseroots.com/d/n/Russell-Havenstrite in Lovell, Oklahoma.Jack Roderick, Crude Dreams: A Personal History of Oil & Politics in Alaska, Epicenter Press, 1997, pp. 33-35 His parents were Jacob W. Havenstrite and Jennie M. Stirk.U. S. Social Security Applications and Claims Index 1936-2007. His mother's maiden name was Stirn.https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VPN9-XSS
Career In the 1920s, Havenstrite moved from Lovell, Oklahoma to Signal Hill, California in the Greater Los Angeles area to drill oil. In 1932, he moved to Alaska to find oil. He became interested in possible oil found at Iniskin, near Homer, Alaska. 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). By 1938, they began drilling their first oil well at Iniskin. In 1941, the firm found oil in Newhall, Santa Clarita, California and became prosperous.Santa Clarita Valley History
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). However, Harold L. Ickes (1874–1952), who served as United States Secretary of the Interior from 1933 to 1946, had blocked him from drilling. 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.Michael Barrier, The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney, University of California Press, 2007, p. 207 In 1954, he drilled a second well at Iniskin, but he stopped sometime in 1955. Two weeks after he stopped, Richfield Oil found more oil at Iniskin.
Polo Havenstrite established the Beverly Hills Polo Club in Beverly Hills, California.Mandeville Canyon Association In 1950, he hired ten-goal polo champion Robert Skene (1914-1997) to manage the club.Horace A. Laffaye, Profiles in Polo: The Players who Changed the Game, McFarland & Company, 2007, p. 138 The same year, he and Jimmy McHugh judged Queen of Mexican Polo contestants at the BHPC.Jimmy McHugh and Russell Havenstrite judging Queen of Mexican Polo contestants at Beverly Hills Polo Club, Calif., 1950 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).Martha Crawford Cantarini, Chrystopher J. Spicer, Fall Girl: My Life As a Western Stunt Double, McFarland, 2010, p. 13
Personal life and death Havenstrite was married to Edith White.http://www.californiabirthindex.org/birth/phyllis_havenstrite_born_1922_706385 They had a parrot. They owned the Fine Arts Building located at 811 West 7th Street in Los Angeles. And used the penthouse as a personal space. Cecilia Rasmussen, Opulent Building Brought the Arts to Downtown, The Los Angeles Times, March 14, 2004 From 1938 onwards, they resided in Beverly Hills, California and attended high society events.Wrights, Contents, Leeds Are Among Party Hosts, The Miami News, February 11, 193810 best dressed women at Afternoon with Eve Party, 1958Society (Cameron Hall's Party), 1951 They also went shooting with William Woodward, Jr. and his wife Ann in Cooch Behar, India.Susan Braudy, "The Dark Ann and Billy Woodard", New York Magazine, p. 41 Moreover, they attended fundraisers for the Republican Party.$12,000 Stone Lost, Returned to Owner, Spokane Daily Chronicle, August 21, 1956 He was a member of the Bohemian Club, the Los Angeles Country Club and the Bel Air Country Club.The California Register, Social Blue Book of California, 1966, p. 346
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.
Havenstrite died of a heart ailment in Santa Monica on March 18, 1958.Obituary, found in http://www.alaskageology.org/documents/13/December%202013%20Newsletter.pdf
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