May 20, 1930 – Professional “Doodlebuggers” launch a Geophysical Society 

The Society of Economic Geophysicists adopts a constitution and bylaws in Houston. The organization will become a leader in the science of petroleum exploration.

In 1937 the society adopts the name by which it is known today, the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, which fosters “the ethical practice of geophysics in the exploration and development of natural resources, in characterizing the near surface, and in mitigating earth hazards.”

A bronze statue dedicated in 2002, “The Doodlebugger,” welcomes visitors to the Society of Exploration Geophysicists headquarters in Tulsa. The name is a badge of honor among geophysical crews searching for petroleum.

SEG’s journal, Geophysics, which first appears in 1936, includes articles about the petroleum industry’s three major prospecting methods then – seismic, gravity, and magnetic. The lead article warns young geophysicists about employing “black magic” or “doodle-bug” methods based on unproven properties of oil, minerals or geological formations.

“This is the first time that the term ‘doodle-bug’ was applied to scientific methods, particularly if they had no scientific validity,” explain the authors of Geophysics in the Affairs of Men.

“Twenty years later, it was a badge of honor to be known as a doodlebugger, i.e., the field personnel of geophysical crews,” notes the 1982 book by Charles C. Bates, T. F. Gaskell and  R. B. Rice. ”Still later, the term was applied to everyone who worked in exploration geophysics.”

A bronze statue, “The Doodlebugger,” is unveiled in SEG headquarters during a May 2, 2002, ceremony. The statue, created by sculptor Jay O’Melia, stands almost 10 feet tall and weighs more than 600 pounds.

O’Melia also created an “Oil Patch Warrior” statue of a roughneck dedicated in 1991 in Sherwood Forest near Nottingham, England. The seven-foot bronze statue honors American oilmen who drilled more than 100 wells there during World War II.

A duplicate statue of the “Oil Patch Warrior” is dedicated in 2001 in Memorial Square in Ardmore, Oklahoma – where many of the U.S. roughnecks volunteered for the secret project. Read more in “Roughnecks of Sherwood Forest.”

SEG today has more than 33,000 members in 138 countries and “serves the geoscience community with timely events, helpful information and networking opportunities, all with the purpose of advancing geophysics today and inspiring geoscientists for tomorrow.”

May 23, 1937 – John D. Rockefeller dies in Florida

John Rockefeller, 1839-1937

Almost 70 years after founding Standard Oil Company in Ohio - and 40 years after retiring from the company in 1897 - John D. Rockefeller dies in Ormond Beach, Florida, at age 97.

Rockefeller’s fortune peaked in 1912 at almost $900 million, although by then he had already given away hundreds of millions of dollars.

Born July 8, 1839, in Richford, New York, Rockefeller attends high school in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1853 to 1855 – and at age 16 he becomes an assistant bookkeeper with a produce shipping company.

Rockefeller forms his own company in 1859 – the same year as oil is discovered in western Pennsylvania – and studies the oil refining business. In 1865, at the age of 24, he takes control of his first refinery, which will be the largest in the world in three years.

After retiring decades later, Rockefeller uses his unprecedented wealth to fund endeavors such as the University of Chicago, Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, General Education Board (now the Rockefeller Foundation), the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission, and Spelman College in Atlanta.

May 24, 1902 – First Edition of the Oil & Gas Journal

The Oil & Gas Journal is founded as the Oil Investors’ Journal in Beaumont, Texas, by Holland Reavis. It focuses on complex financial issues facing operators and investors in the Beaumont oilfields, discovered the year before on Spindletop Hill.

Pennwell Corp., Houston, today publishes the weekly journal.

In 1910, Patrick C. Boyle acquires the Oil Investors’ Journal. A former oilfield scout for John D. Rockefeller and publisher of the Oil City (Pennsylvania) Derrick newspaper, Boyle renames the publication the Oil & Gas Journal, eventually increases its frequency to weekly, and expands coverage to all oil industry operations.

Today’s Houston-based Pennwell Corporation Oil & Gas Journal is a leading petroleum industry publication, notes its website. The Derrick newspaper has been owned by the Boyle family for more than 100 years. After experiencing the oil boom of nearby Pithole, Boyle was 39 when he purchased the newspaper in 1885.

Boyle was known “as the most spectacular oil scout ever employed,” notes Oil150.com. Oil Companies used scouts to spread news and rumors throughout the region – sometimes using very colorful ways to outfox their competitors. “His flaming red hair and black horse, known as Daniel Webster, helped Boyle become a legend.”

May 26, 1891 – Carbon Black Patent will lead to Crayola Crayons

Adding to popular products like carbon-black based “Staonal” markers, Binney and Smith Company will introduce its first box of eight “Crayola” crayons in 1903.

Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith receive an 1891 patent (no. 453140) for an “Apparatus for the Manufacture of Carbon Black.” Their process produces a fine, soot-like substance intensely black – a better pigment than any other in use at the time.

The booming Pennsylvania petroleum industry will supply the oil and natural gas feedstock for the Easton-based Binney & Smith Company’s carbon black – which wins a quality award at the 1900 Paris Exposition.

“The objects of my invention are to manufacture lamp-black from oil in an improved and economical manner, whereby waste of the product and unnecessary expenditure of labor are avoided, and to manufacture carbon-black from gas in such a manner as to obtain improved quality of black which shall have the soft flaky texture of lamp-black made in ordinary ways,” writes Binney in the patent abstract.

Formerly the Peekskill Chemical Works, best known for its production of red iron oxide and carbon black for paints, inks, and stove and shoe polishes, Binney & Smith mixes carbon black with oilfield paraffin and other waxes to introduce a paper-wrapped black crayon marker for crates and barrels. The new product is promoted as being able to “stay on all” and accordingly named “Staonal.” It is still sold.

Binney and Smith Company – today known as Crayola – will produce its first box of eight crayons in 1903 – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, brown…and black. Read more in “Carbon Black and Oilfield Crayons.”

May 26, 1934 – Diesel-Electric Powered “Streamliner” sets Record

Powered by a single eight-cylinder diesel engine, the “streamliner” traveled from Denver to Chicago in just over 13 hours – a passenger train record.

America’s first diesel-electric “streamliner,” the 97.5 ton Burlington Zephyr, pulls into Chicago’s Century of Progress exhibition after a nonstop 13 hour “dawn to dusk” run from Denver – cutting traditional steam locomotive time by half.

Powered by a single eight-cylinder diesel engine, the revolutionary passenger train has traveled 1,015 miles.

During its “dawn to dusk” record-breaking run, the Zephyr burned only $16.72 worth of diesel fuel.

On its record-breaking run, Zephyr burns just $16.72 worth of diesel fuel. The same distance for a coal-burning train would cost $255.

It has been just 60 years since steam locomotives and the transcontinental railroad have linked America’s coasts.

“With its spectacular appearance at the Century of Progress, Zephyr’s speed, elegance, economy announce a new era in rail transportation,” notes one historian. By the end of 1934, eight major U.S. railroads have ordered diesel-electric locomotives. The engine technology’s cost advantages in manpower, maintenance, and support were quickly apparent. Read more in “Adding Wings to the Iron Horse.”

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The petroleum industry supplies America with an amazing variety of products that are often “hiding in plain sight.” For Binney & Smith Company, common oilfield paraffin changed the company’s destiny by coloring children’s imaginations.

Dustless chalk circa 1904.

Although they longed for color, students in Alice Stead Binney’s classroom had to settle for dustless chalk. An-Du-Septic dustless chalk was so popular among turn-of-the-century teachers that it won a Gold Medal at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis.

Teachers like Alice loved the tidy new product, but their choices were limited. Pencils of the day were primitive, with square “leads” made from a variety of clays, slates, and graphite.

Color writing implements were the toxic and expensive imports of artists, best kept away from schoolchildren.

Alice’s husband Edwin, and his cousin, C. Harold Smith, created the award-winning An-Du-Septic chalk as a consequence of expanding their pigment business into the sideline production of slate pencils for schools.

Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith receive an 1891 patent for their “Apparatus for the Manufacture of Carbon Black,” which produces a fine, soot-like substance intensely black pigment – better than any other in use.

In Easton, Pennsylvania, the Binney & Smith Company (formerly Peekskill Chemical Works) was best known for its production of red iron oxide and carbon black for paints, inks, and stove and shoe polishes.

Carbon Black & Paraffin Crayons

Fifth-grade artist in Bolivar, New York, used an oil product, paraffin-based crayons, to illustrate oil production. Image courtesy the Pioneer Oil Museum in Bolivar.

The Binney & Smith 1891 patent for an “Apparatus for the Manufacture of Carbon Black” detailed production of the fine, soot-like substance that was more intensely black than any other pigment in use at the time.

“The objects of my invention are to manufacture lamp-black from oil in an improved and economical manner, whereby waste of the product and unnecessary expenditure of labor are avoided, and to manufacture carbon-black from gas in such a manner as to obtain improved quality of black which shall have the soft flaky texture of lamp-black made in ordinary ways,” writes Binney in the patent (no. 453,140) abstract.

The booming Pennsylvania petroleum industry supplied oil and natural gas feedstock for the company’s carbon black, which would win an award at the 1900 Paris Exposition.

Binney & Smith mixed their carbon black with oilfield paraffin and other waxes to introduce a paper-wrapped black crayon marker for crates and barrels. It was promoted as being able to “stay on all” and accordingly named “Staonal.” The popular product is still sold today.

Staonal was a success, but too laden with carbon black to be safe for use by children. Slate pencils and the very successful An-Du-Septic dustless chalk nonetheless put Binney & Smith salesmen into America’s classrooms. The sales force listened to teachers and learned there would be a ready market for inexpensive, non-toxic, brightly colored crayons.

Binney and Smith produced the first box of eight Crayola crayons in 1903 — red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, brown, and black.

“Crayola” Crayons

By 1903, Binney & Smith was ready to launch a new product that would change childhood forever. Alice Binney provided the historic name by combining the French word for chalk, craie with an English adjective meaning oily, oleaginous - Crayola®.

Manufacturing was based on small batches of carefully measured and hand-mixed pigments, paraffin, talc and other waxes. Paper labels were individually rolled by hand and pasted onto each crayon.

The finished products were hand packed into individual boxes and shipped in wooden crates. Sixteen Crayola crayons sold for 10 cents; eight for 5 cents: red, yellow, orange, green, blue, violet, black, and brown. Crayola was an instant hit.

The company’s proprietary formulas remain a closely guarded secret as demand for its crayons has continued to grow around the world.

Paraffin from distant petroleum refineries is now delivered to Crayola’s Easton, Pennsylvania, factory in railroad tank cars. Production capacity is more than four million crayons every day.

Crayola has grown to become a $500 million dollar a year business – a successful union of the petroleum industry to the colorful world of children’s imaginations.

On January 1, 2007, Binney & Smith™, maker of Crayola crayons and markers, became Crayola LLC in recognition of the company’s number one brand. The company is now known as Crayola.

“This organizational and name change showcases the company’s Crayola brand, sold by Binney & Smith since 1903,” explains the company, which operates a museum in Easton.

“The Crayola name has 99 percent recognition among U.S. consumer households, is sold in more than 80 different countries and represents innovation, fun, kids and quality.”

In 1912, Binney & Smith’s carbon black is used for the first time to make black tires…

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The tires of this 1904 Oldsmobile Model N Touring Runabout were not chosen for their color. Until B.F. Goodrich introduced “carbon black” into the vulcanizing process in 1910, auto tires were white.

Carbon Black Hits the Road

Bankrupt Philadelphia hardware merchant and erstwhile inventor Charles Goodyear accidentally dropped rubber and sulfur on a hot stovetop in 1839. The rubber charred like leather yet remained elastic, a discovery that led to “vulcanization.”

With the new process, natural rubber could be transformed into an industrial product with innumerable uses. Goodyear’s famous lawyer, Daniel Webster, proclaimed of his client’s invention, “It introduces quite a new material into the manufacture of the arts, that material being nothing less than elastic metal.”

Automobile tires were the ideal application for this new product. Between 1895 and 1905, more than 77,000 new automobiles were registered in the United State. The maxi-mum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph, and automobile tires were white. Natural rubber pigments and zinc oxide used in the manufacturing process gave tires their color.

In 1910, the B.F. Goodrich Company found that adding “carbon black” to the vulcanizing process dramatically improved strength and durability.

Carbon black, which looks like soot, is produced by controlled combustion of petroleum products, both oil and natural gas. Its use in tires created an immense market – initially consuming one pound of carbon black for each two pounds of rubber.

As the automobile industry grew, so did demand for tires and for carbon black. By 1931, Texas was producing more than 200 million pounds of carbon black annually from just 31 plants – 75 percent of America’s total. Substantial quantities of carbon black were used in the manufacture of pigments, inks, and paints.

Today, most of America’s carbon black is still produced in Texas and Louisiana. Demand remains closely associated with automobile tires. Cabot Corp., founded in Pennsylvania in 1882, is America’s largest producer of carbon black, with 25 manufacturing plants in 19 countries and revenues of more than $2 billion. Worldwide carbon black needs for tire manufacturing alone are forecast to be more than 13 billion pounds in 2008.

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By the summer of 1942, the situation was desperate. The future of Great Britain – and the outcome of World War II – depended on petroleum supplies. By the end of that year, demand for 100-octane fuel would grow to more than 150,000 barrels every day.

In August 1942, British Secretary of Petroleum, Geoffrey Lloyd called an emergency meeting of the Oil Control Board to assess the “impending crisis in oil.” This is the story of the “little-known, or at least seldom recognized, all-important role oil and oilmen played in the prosecution of the war,” note the authors of The Secret of Sherwood Forest – Oil production in England during World War II.

In 1942, England’s vital petroleum supplies, including high-octane aviation fuel, came by convoy — and continued to be subjected to relentless U-Boat attacks.

“The amazing and hitherto untold story, born in secrecy, has remained buried in the private diaries, corporate files and official records of government agencies,” explain Guy Woodward and Grace Steele Woodward in their 1973 book. “In the final analysis, oil was indeed the key to victory of the Allies over the Axis powers.”

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Two bronze statues separated by the Atlantic Ocean commemorate the achievements of World War II American roughnecks. The first stands in Dukes Wood near the village of Eakring in Nottinghamshire, England. Its twin greets visitors at Memorial Square in Ardmore, Oklahoma.

Dedicated in 2001, an Oil Patch Warrior stands in Memorial Square in Ardmore, Oklahoma. It is a duplicate of the statue at right, erected 10 years earlier in Sherwood Forest near Nottingham, England.

The seven-foot bronze statues, separated by more than 2,400 miles, commemorate 44 Americans who – during a critical time during the war – produced oil. They drilled in Sherwood Forest.

This once top-secret story begins in August of 1942, when Britain’s wartime Secretary of Petroleum, Geoffrey Lloyd, called an emergency meeting of the country’s Oil Control Board.

U-Boat attacks and the bombing of dockside storage facilities had brought the British Admiralty two million barrels below their minimum safety reserves. The outlook was bleak.

The Unsinkable Tanker

A photograph of the 42 volunteers from Noble Drilling and Fain-Porter Drilling companies before they embark for England on the troopship H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth in 1943.

England’s principal fuel supplies came by convoy from Trinidad and America and were subjected to relentless Nazi submarine attacks. Meanwhile, Field Marshall Erwin Rommel’s rampaging North African campaign threatened England’s access to Middle East oilfield sources.

Many at the Oil Control Board meeting were surprised to learn that England had a productive oilfield of its own, first discovered in 1939 by D’Arcy Exploration. The company was a subsidiary of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company — predecessor to British Petroleum.

Noble Drilling Corporation financed a May 1991 trip for 14 survivors of the original crew to return to Duke’s Wood in Sherwood Forest.

This obscure oilfield was in Sherwood Forest, near Eakring and Dukes Wood. It produced modestly – about 700 barrels per day in 1942 – from 50 shallow wells. Extreme shortages of drilling equipment and personnel kept Britain from further exploiting the field. Perhaps America might help.

Following the meeting – under great secrecy – C.A.P. Southwell, a D’Arcy representative, was sent to the Petroleum Administration for War (PAW) in Washington, D.C.

Southwell’s secret mission was to secure American assistance in expanding production from the Eakring field, regarded as an “unsinkable tanker.”

Derrickman Herman Douthit fell to his death.

Pressing his case in America, Southwell pursued the widely respected independent oilman Lloyd Noble, president of Tulsa-based Noble Drilling Corporation. They met in Noble’s hometown of Ardmore, Oklahoma, to negotiate a deal.

American oil companies were already heavily committed to wartime production. Noble nonetheless joined with Fain-Porter Drilling Company of Oklahoma City on a one-year contract to drill 100 new wells in the Eakring field. Noble and Fain-Porter volunteered to execute the contract for cost and expenses only. PAW approved their deal and the contract was signed in early February 1943.

On March 12, a 42-man team of newly recruited drillers, derrickmen, motormen and roustabouts embarked on the troopship H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth.

The American workers stayed at Kelham Hall. The Anglican Monastery was the ideal base for the year-long operation — it was isolated from the community, enabling relative secrecy. During their stay the roughnecks adhered to monastery rules.

Four drilling rigs for “The English Project” would be transported to England on four different ships. Although one ship was lost to a German submarine, another rig was subsequently shipped safely.

Top Secret: The English Project

The American oilmen joined project managers Eugene Rosser and Don Walker at billets prepared in an Anglican monastery at historic Kelham Hall, near Eakring.

The sudden influx of Americans was rumored to be for “making a movie.” It was said that John Wayne would arrive soon.

Within a month, sufficient equipment had arrived to enable spudding the first well. Two others quickly followed. Four crews worked 12-hour tours with “National 50″ rigs equipped with 87-foot jackknife masts. The roughnecks amazed their British counterparts with their drilling speed.

The roughneck workers left to return to America on March 3, 1944. They had added more than 1.2 million barrels of oil to the total output of the Eakring oilfield.

Using innovative methods, the Americans drilled an average of one well per week in Duke’s Wood, while the British took at least five weeks per well. The British crews made it a practice to change bits at 30-foot intervals. The Americans kept using the same bit as long as it was “making hole.”

By August, the Yanks of Sherwood Forest had completed 36 new wells, despite the challenges of wartime rationing of fuel, food, and other shortages.

By January of 1944, the oilmen were credited with 94 completions and 76 producers. But not without cost. While working Rig No. 148, derrickman Herman Douthit was killed when he fell from a drilling mast. He was buried with full military honors. Today, he remains the only civilian ever buried at the American Military Cemetery in Cambridge.

“The oil drilling work ended with the creation of 106 wells by the ‘roughneck’ crews over 365 drilling days,” the BBC would later note. “Ninety four wells produced high quality oil, an amazing achievement.”

The English Project contract was completed in March 1944 with the Americans logging 106 completions and 94 producers. England’s oil production had shot from 300 barrels a day to more than 3,000 barrels per day. “Ninety four wells produced high quality oil, an amazing achievement,” a BBC historian would later note.

Without fanfare, the roughnecks returned to the United States and the families they had left a year before. Their mission and success remained secret until November 1944, when the Chicago Daily Tribune ran a back-page feature entitled “England’s Oil Boom.” Few took notice.

By the end of the war, more than 3,500,000 barrels of crude had been pumped from England’s “unsinkable tanker” oilfields. Petroleum industry expertise would again come into action – solving the challenge of oil pipelines across the English Channel – see “Secret Pipeline of World War II.” British Petroleum continued to produce oil from Dukes Wood until the field’s depletion in 1965.

Oil Patch Warrior Statue — A Wrench instead of a Rifle

Visiting Tulsa in 1989, a British member of Parliament was fascinated by this book by Guy and Grace Woodward. Thus began the effort to commemorate the Sherwood Forest roughnecks.

The story remained largely unknown until the 1973 University of Oklahoma Press publication of The Secret of Sherwood Forest – Oil production in England during World War II by Guy and Grace Woodward. Then in 1989, British member of Parliament Tony Speller visited Tulsa for a speaking engagement — and was given a copy of the book.

Surprised and intrigued by the story it told, Speller joined with the International Society of Energy Advocates, Noble Drilling Company and others who believed that the singular accomplishment of this handful of Americans should be remembered. Well-known artist Jay O’Meilia was chosen to create a bronze tribute to these men.

O’Meilia, born in 1927 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he resides today, was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1999. Interviewed for this article, he recalls, that the statue’s designed quickly evolved.

“The notion of an ‘oil patch warrior’ soon developed…at parade rest with a roughneck’s best weapon – a Stillson wrench – instead of a rifle,” he says.

O’Meilia also remembers how authenticity was critical, down to period gloves and hard hat. “They even sent me a pair of original overalls so I would get it exactly right,” he explains.

Those who look very closely will see the tell-tale impression of a pack of cigarettes in the oil patch warrior’s pocket. “Lucky Strike,” O’Meilia laughs – “because Lucky Strike Green Goes to War” was a contemporary advertising campaign.

Artist Jay O´Meilia of Tulsa, Oklahoma, traveled to England for the May 1991 dedication of his Oil Patch Warrior statue.

In May 1991, Noble Drilling Corporation funded the return of 14 surviving oilmen to the dedication of O’Meilia’s seven-foot bronze Oil Patch Warrior in Sherwood Forest. The statue was placed on the grounds of England’s Dukes Wood Oil Museum on land donated by British Petroleum.

In 2001, ten years after the ceremony in England, the citizens of Ardmore, Oklahoma, determined to honor veterans with a downtown Memorial Square. They discovered that the original molds remained in O’Meilia’s Colorado foundry.

“Our mission was to create a memorial park that would honor those who sacrificed their lives, those who served in the military during times of war and peace, and the oil drillers and energy industry that came to England’s rescue in World War II,” explains Jack Riley, chairman of the Memorial Square committee.

O’Meilia recast the Sherwood Forest Oil Patch Warrior for Ardmore from the original molds. The statue was dedicated on November 10, 2001, with representatives from Noble Oil and Fain-Porter joining veterans at the ceremony. A brick walkway through Memorial Square displays the names of Ardmore area veterans.

“Memorial Square honors veterans who are responsible for the freedom we enjoy today – and the energy industry, which is responsible for the economic strength of our community,” declared Wes Stucky, president of the Ardmore Development Authority.

Adam Sieminski and wife Laurie visited the Sherwood Forest statue in 2005.

Time has taken away many of those on both sides of the Atlantic who struggled in wartime to preserve democracy. As many as 1,100 die every day, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Fortunately, in these two imposing bronze Oil Patch Warriors, separated by an ocean of history, the story of the roughnecks of Sherwood Forest can always be remembered.

Editor’s Note — Visit the Dukes Wood Oil Museum in Nottinghamshire, England. Adam Sieminski, chief energy economist at Deutsche Bank, Washington, D.C., visited the Sherwood Forest statue in 2005. He provied the historical society with photos – and donated a copy of The Secret of Sherwood Forest – Oil production in England during World War II.

Sieminski also encouraged sponsorship of this society’s participation in a two-day “rock oil tour” to Titusville, Pennsylvania. Read the “Energy Economists Rock Oil Tour” of August 2009.

Please support the American Oil & Gas Historical Society with a donation.

“Once I built a railroad, I made it run, made it race against time. Once I built a railroad; now it’s done. Brother, can you spare a dime?” – Bing Crosby

Primitive diesel engines had been used in railroad yards since about 1925. Four-stroke diesel and distillate engines were heavy, often producing only a single horsepower from 80 pounds of engine weight.

In the early 1930s America’s passenger railroad business was in trouble. In addition to the Great Depression, the once dominant industry faced growing competition from automobiles.

It had been just 60 years since coal-burning steam locomotives and the transcontinental railroad had linked America’s east and west coasts. Now, more than 30 million cars, trucks, and buses were on U.S. roads. What would power heavy transportation?

Although railroad steam engine technology had advanced since the “golden spike” of 1869 in Promontory Point, Utah, locomotives still “belched steam, smoke, and cinders,” notes one railroad historian. “Passengers often felt like they had been on a tour of a coal mine.”

The powerful and efficient diesel-electric Zephyr arrived in 1934 — a result of the U.S. Navy’s search for a new engine for its submarines.

The railroads’ distillate-burning internal combustion engines of the day were heavy and troublesome. Primitive diesels had been used in switch engines from about 1925, but they were slow, explains Richard Cleghorn Overton in Burlington Route: A History of the Burlington Lines.

Burning fuels ranged from a low-grade gasoline to painter’s naphtha and diesel. Distillate railroad engines emitted an oily smoke and often produced only a single horsepower from 80 pounds of engine weight. These common four-stroke engines fouled easily and required multiple spark plugs per cylinder.

Even Bing Crosby lamented the fate of railroads in his popular song, “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?”

But help was on the way for America’s failing passenger railroads. It would come from the U.S. Navy in the form of a diesel-electric engine…wrapped in a stainless steel Art Deco locomotive.

America’s first diesel-electric train set a speed record and changed railroad history.

Petroleum’s Silver Streak

“Wings to the Iron Horse,” the passenger line’s advertisement proclaimed in the 1930s. “Burlington pioneers again — the first diesel streamline train.”

New diesel-electric engines generated power for the “Making of a Motor Car” exhibit at the 1933 Century of Progress fair in Chicago. The Chevrolet assembly line fascinated thousands of visitors who watched from overhead galleries.

With the threat of war on the horizon, the U.S. Navy needed a lighter weight, more powerful diesel engine for its submarine fleet. General Motors joined the nationwide competition to develop a new diesel engine.

Seeking engineering and production expertise, in 1930 GM acquired the Winton Engine Company of Cleveland, Ohio. Winton, established in 1896 as Winton Bicycle Company, was an early automobile manufacturer.

Winton 600-horsepower diesel engines with GE generators powered the Chicago fair’s “Making of a Motor Car” assembly line exhibit.

The Winton Engine Company evolved into a developer of engines for marine applications, power companies, pipeline operators — and railroads. With GM’s financial backing, Winton engineers designed a radical new two-stroke diesel that delivered one horsepower per 20 pounds of engine weight. It provided a four-fold power to weight gain.

The Model 201A  prototype — a 503-cubic-inch, 600 horsepower, 8-cylinder diesel-electric engine — used no spark plugs, relying instead on newly patented high pressure fuel injectors and a 16:1 compression ratio for ignition.

At Chicago’s Century of Progress World’s Fair in 1933, GM evaluated two 201A diesel-electric engines, using them to generate power for its “Making of a Motor Car” exhibit. The working demonstration of a Chevrolet assembly line fascinated thousands of visitors who watched from overhead galleries.

Powered by a single eight-cylinder Winton 201A diesel engine, the revolutionary “streamliner” traveled the 1,015 miles from Denver to Chicago in just over 13 hours — a passenger train record.

One visitor happened to be Ralph Budd, president of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad (known as the Burlington Line).

Budd immediately recognized the locomotive potential of these extraordinary new diesel-electric power plants. He saw them as a perfect match for the lightweight “shot-welded” stainless steel rail cars being pioneered by the Edward G. Budd (no relation) Manufacturing Company in Philadelphia.

During its “dawn to dusk” record-breaking run, the Zephyr burned only $16.72 worth of diesel fuel.

Edward Budd was the first to supply the automobile industry with all steel bodies in 1912. His success in steel stamping technology made the production of car bodies cheaper and faster. By 1925, his system was used to produce half of all U.S. auto bodies.

The Depression, however, put the Budd Manufacturing Company almost $2,000,000 in the red — prompting its fortuitous diversification into the railroad car market to generate revenue. When approached by Burlington President Ralph Budd in 1933, this Budd was ready.

Within a year, the two technologies were successfully merged with the creation of the Winton 201A powered Burlington Zephyr — America’s first diesel-electric train. It would change railroad history.

Visitors line up to admire the stainless steel beauty of the Burlington Zephyr, which will soon be featured in a Hollywood movie. By the end of 1934, eight major U.S. railroads have ordered diesel-electric locomotives.

Art Deco Locomotives

Although ”The Silver Streak” was a 1934 “B” movie — intended for the bottom half of double features — it remains a favorite of some railroad history fans.

The Zephyr rolled into Chicago’s Century of Progress exhibition on May 26, 1934, ending a nonstop 13 hour, 4 minute, and 58 second “dawn to dusk” promotional run from Denver.

Powered by a single eight-cylinder Winton 201A diesel, the “streamliner” cut average steam locomotive time by half. The Zephyr traveled 1,015 miles at an average speed of 76.61 miles per hour and reached speeds along the route in excess of 112 mph — to the amazement and delight of track-side spectators from Colorado to Illinois.

During its record-breaking run, the Zephyr burned just $16.72 worth of diesel fuel (about four cents per gallon). The same distance in a coal steamer would have cost $255. Construction innovations included the specialized shot-welding that joined sheets of stainless steel. The lightweight steel also resisted corrosion so it didn’t have to be painted.

Americans fell in love with the Zephyr. Four months after its high-speed appearance at Chicago’s Century of Progress, the streamliner made its 1934 Hollywood film debut, starring as “The Silver Streak” for an RKO picture. The Zephyr was loaned for filming –  and the Burlington logo on its front was repainted to read Silver Streak. “The stream-lined train, platinum blonde descendant of the rugged old Iron Horse, has been glorified by Hollywood in the modern melodrama,” proclaimed the New York Times.

Winton diesel-electric engines powered a new generation of U.S. submarines. The Porpoise (SS-172) was the first of its class to join the fleet in 1935 — and served throughout World War II.

Although the black-and-white “B” movie came and went without making much of a splash, it has won its place in movie history as a rail-fan favorite, according to a 2001 article in the Zephyr Online. “It did have a lot of action, and the location shots of the Zephyr are an interesting record of this pioneer.”

The RKO film should not to be confused with 20th Century Fox’s 1976 comedy “Silver Streak,” which was filmed in Canada using Canadian Pacific Railway equipment from the Canadian, a transcontinental passenger train, according to the Obscure Train Movies website.

More than a Railroad Technology

By the end of 1934, eight major U.S. railroads had ordered diesel-electric locomotives. The engine technology’s cost advantages in manpower, maintenance, and support were quickly apparent.

Despite the greater initial cost of diesel-electric, a century of steam locomotive dominance soon came to an end. By the mid-1950s, steam locomotives were no longer being manufactured in the United States.

GM won the Navy’s competition for a lightweight powerful diesel — choosing the 16-cylinder Winton Engine Company diesel-electric to power a new class of submarine. In 1935, the USS Porpoise was first to join the fleet, where it served throughout World War II. Diesel-electrics power plants descended from the Burlington Zephyr would remain part of the fleet until replaced by nuclear propulsion.

The two trains that changed America’s railroad industry in the late 1930s: the Union Pacific M-10000 and Burlington Line Zephyr streamliners. The Zephyr is on display at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. Its competitor was cut up for scrap in 1942.

A Zephyr competitor — the Union Pacific M-10000 built by the Pullman Car & Manufacturing Company — also appeared at the Century of Progress World’s Fair in Chicago. In fact, this aluminum streamliner was revealed six weeks earlier than the Zephyr. Originally powered by an inefficient four-stroke engine, the M-10000 would switch to the Winton 201A. Recognized as America’s first streamliner, the M-10000 was cut up for scrap in 1942.

The Zephyr (later renamed the Pioneer Zephyr) is on display at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.

Please support the American Oil & Gas Historical Society with a donation.

May 14, 1953 – Tulsa’s Golden Driller debuts at Petroleum Expo

A 2007 American Oil & Gas Historical Society energy education conference includes a field trip to museums in Seminole, Drumright and Tulsa – with a stop at the Golden Driller.

The Mid-Continent Supply Company of Fort Worth introduces the original Golden Driller at the International Petroleum Exposition in Tulsa, Oklahoma, May 14 to May 23, 1953.

It is temporarily erected again for the 1959 Expo – and attracts so much attention that the company refurbishes and donates it to the Tulsa County Fairgrounds Trust Authority.

The giant is rebuilt in 1966.

Today, the Golden Driller – a 76-foot tall, 43,500 pound statue of an oil worker – is the largest freestanding statue in the world, according to city officials.

The rebuilt statue  is permanently installed at the 21st Street and Pittsburg Avenue site for the 1966 International Petroleum Exposition. Refurbished again in 1979, the angle-iron structure made of plaster and concrete reportedly can withstand 200 mph winds.

The Golden Driller first appears at the 1953 International Petroleum Exposition. In 1966, Mid-Continent Supply Company builds a permanent version that can withstand 200 mph winds. Photos courtesy the Tulsa Historical Society.

The Golden Driller’s right hand rests on an old production oil derrick moved from an oil field in Seminole, Oklahoma.

Declared Oklahoma’s official state monument in 1979, a plaque at his base dedicates him “to the men of the petroleum industry who by their vision and daring have created from God’s abundance a better life for mankind.”

Tulsa’s first International Petroleum Exposition and Congress, held in 1923, helps make the city known as the “oil capital of the world.”

May 14, 2004 – Petroleum Museum Opens in Oil City, Louisiana

In 1911, Gulf Refining Company built drilling platforms to reach the oil beneath Caddo Lake in Louisiana. This early “offshore” technology worked well and production continues today — out of sight for most vacationers, water enthusiasts and young fishermen.

The first public museum in Louisiana dedicated to the oil and gas industry opens in Oil City, 30 miles northwest of Shreveport.

Chevron donated an oil derrick that stands beside the Louisiana State Oil Museum in Oil City, about a 20-minute drive from Shreveport.

The Louisiana State Oil and Gas Museum, originally the Caddo-Pine Island Oil and Historical Museum, includes the historic depot of the Kansas City Southern Railroad. The museum preserves the many Caddo Parish discoveries – and the economic prosperity brought by a North Louisiana petroleum boom.

With the first oil wells drilled in the early 1900s, by 1910 almost 25,000 people are working in and around Oil City, which becomes the first “wildcat town” in the Arkansas-Louisiana-Texas region.

The museum documents the historical importance of the first oil discovery in 1905 – and the technology behind the May 1911 Ferry No. 1 well at Caddo Lake, one of the nation’s earliest over-water oil wells. Gulf Refining Company completed this early “offshore” oil well on Caddo Lake, where production continues today.

In 1955, the Shreveport Chamber of Commerce dedicated a 40-foot monument commemorating the 50th anniversary of the discovery of oil in Caddo Parish by the Texas Oil Company.

Natural gas was discovered in Shreveport in 1870 while drilling for water for the Shreveport Ice Factory. “A night watchman struck a match to see if the wind he heard blowing from the site would blow it out, but it ignited,” notes the Caddo Parish website (which includes a good collection of photos).

The 1870 Shreveport natural gas well was used to light the ice factory – the first documented use of natural gas in Louisiana.

The Louisiana State Oil and Gas Museum tells these stories and others about the Oil City region’s history, starting with the culture of Caddo Indians. Visitors learn petroleum heritage from photographs and full-sized replicas of early Oil City homes.

Visitors also view scaled down, functional oil and natural gas equipment as it once operated in the most famous oilfield of Northwest Louisiana.

Chevron donated a derrick and other oilfield equipment that help draw tourists to the museum, which is a 20-minute drive from Shreveport.

May 15, 1911 – Standard Oil Breakup

After reviewing 12,000 pages of court documents, Chief Justice Edward White issues the U.S. Supreme Court’s majority opinion that mandates dissolution of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey.

The historic ruling, which will break Standard Oil into 34 separate companies, upholds an earlier Circuit Court decision that the John D. Rockefeller company’s practices violated the Sherman Antitrust Act. The company is given six months to spin off its subsidiaries.

Five years earlier, President Theodore Roosevelt’s Justice Department had launched 44 anti-trust suits, prosecuting railroad, beef, tobacco, and other trusts.

“Between 1897 and 1904, a total of 4,227 firms merged to form 257 corporations,” notes one historian. ”The largest merger combined nine steel companies to create U.S. Steel. By 1904, some 318 companies controlled nearly 40 percent of the nation’s manufacturing output. A single firm produced over half the output in 78 industries.”

May 16, 1934 – “Stripper Well” Association Founded

Marginally producing wells account for almost 20 percent of U.S. oil and natural gas production.

The National Stripper Well Association is organized in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Stripper wells – marginally producing wells – make up about 80 percent of all U.S. wells and almost 20 percent of oil and natural gas production. A stripper well produces 10 barrels of oil or 60 thousand cubic feet of natural gas per day or less.

America is the only country with significant stripper well production, the association notes. Although each individual well contributes a small amount, there are about 400,000 wells still producing – contributing more than 291 million barrels of oil in 2007, when oil production generated $728 million in tax revenue.

May 16, 1961 - Natural Gas Museum Opens in Southwestern Kansas

The Stevens County Gas & Historical Museum includes the Santa Fe Train Depot in Hugoton, Kansas.

In southwestern Kansas, the Stevens County Gas & Historical Museum in Hugoton opens above a giant natural gas producing area that extends 8,500 square miles into the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles.

The museum in Hugoton educates visitors about one of the largest natural gas fields in North America – the Hugoton. A natural gas well drilled in 1945 is still producing at the museum.

The 14-county Kansas gas field has produced more than 29 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

About 11,000 wells produce both oil and gas in the Kansas portion of the Hugoton area – and thousands of miles of pipeline carry Hugoton gas throughout the United States.

The Stevens County Gas & Historical Museum, 905 South Adams Street, today includes early oil patch equipment, restored buildings – including an historic Santa Fe Hugoton Train Depot – an 1887 school house and home, a grocery store, and a barber shop.

Read more in “A Kansas Natural Gas Museum.”

May 17, 1912 – First Liquefied “Bottled Gas”

America’s liquefied petroleum gas industry is born when gas cylinders are installed on the farm of John W. Gahring near Waterford, Pennsylvania. The American Gasol Company of West Virginia hires A. F. Young Hardware and Plumbing Company for this first installation of the cylinders of “bottled gas” to be used for cooking and heating.

May 18, 1882 – Pennsylvania’s 646 Mystery Well

“Come join us on June 23, 2013, for the 131st anniversary of the great 1882 Oil Excitement in Cherry Grove,” says Walt Atwood.

The true – and at that time massive - oil production of the closely guarded secret discovery well in a Warren County, Pennsylvania, township is revealed today…with a devastating impact on oil prices.

As this oil patch community’s historians explain: “The hilltop settlement of Cherry Grove saw national history in the spring and summer of 1882 when the 646 Mystery Well ushered in a great oil boom.”

The sudden news about the mystery well, operated by the Jamestown Oil Company, sent shock waves through early oil market centers.

“The excitement in the oil exchanges was indescribable,” notes an account of historian Paul H. Giddens. “Over 4,500,000 barrels of oil were sold in one day on the exchanges in Titusville, Oil City and Bradford.”

According to Giddens, the Cherry Grove discovery demoralized the market and drove the price down to less than 50 cents per barrel. Despite this, hundreds of derricks appeared around Cherry Grove and thousands of people moved there while the boom lasted.

It was short lived, according to the dedicated volunteers of today’s Cherry Grove Old Home and Community Day Committee, which hosts special oil patch events on the last Sunday in June.

Visitors tour the actual “mystery well” site in Cherry Grove, Pennsylvania.

“Before the railroad could lay a new line to Cherry Grove, the boom went bust,” notes Walt Atwood, president of the Cherry Grove Old Home and Community Day.

“Thousands of people moved on,” he adds. “Those who remained kept the memory of the Oil Excitement alive with reunions that became known as Old Home Day.”

In 1982 and again in 2007, a group of Cherry Grove Old Home Day regulars rebuilt a replica of the 646 Mystery Well. The volunteers worked with the township supervisors to secure grants and bring in a work crew from the Pennsylvania Conservation Corps.

“Come join us June 23, 2013, for the 131st anniversary of the great 1882 Oil Excitement in Cherry Grove,” says Atwood.

May 19, 1885 – Ohio Natural Gas Well reveals Lima Oilfield

The Allen County Museum preserves northwest Ohio petroleum history. It uses several historic buildings on a large campus to educate visitors. The museum has one of the largest repositories of railroad history in the country.

Oil is discovered in a natural gas well being drilled at Benjamin C. Faurot’s paper mill in Allen County, Ohio. The development of the Lima Field will lead to its being, for a time, the largest in the nation.

“In 1885, 800 feet north of this marker, Benjamin Faurot struck oil after drilling into the Trenton Rock Limestone formation at a depth of 1,251 feet,” notes a marker at the North Street crossing of the Ottawa River in Lima.

“This event marked the beginning of the great Oil Boom of northwest Ohio. The ensuing rush brought speculators who drilled hundreds of wells in the Trenton Rock (Lima) Oil Field that stretched from Mercer County north through Wood County in Ohio and west to Indiana.”

By 1886, the Lima field was the nation’s leading producer of oil. “By the following year it was considered to be the largest in the world,” adds the marker. “Production from the Ohio portion of the Lima-Indiana field reached its peak in 1896, when more than 20 million barrels were brought out of the ground. Though short-lived, the oil rush brought an influx of people, pipelines, refineries, and businesses, giving a powerful impetus to the growth of northwest Ohio.”

Today, Lima’s Allen County Museum and Historical Society, at 620 West Market Street, reviews the area’s colorful past.

Please support the American Oil & Gas Historical Society with a donation.

Although natural gas had been discovered as early as 1922, the vast potential of the Hugoton-Panhandle field was not known until a 1927 well about 2,600 feet below the surface southwest of Hugoton.

In southwestern Kansas, the Stevens County Gas & Historical Museum in Hugoton is above a giant natural gas producing area (in red) that extends 8,500 square miles into the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles.

A small museum sits above a giant natural gas field.

In far southwestern Kansas, the Stevens County Gas & Historical Museum in Hugoton opened on May 16, 1961. It educates visitors about one of the largest natural gas fields in North America.

Every year Hugoton – the state’s “natural gas capital” – hosts as an annual “Gas Capital Car Show & Rod Run” that takes place on the fourth Saturday in August. The community’s museum, founded by Gladys Renfro, curator, and a few dedicated volunteers, serves “as a memento of the Hugoton gas field and the progressive development of Stevens County.”

The Stevens County Gas & Historical Museum includes the Santa Fe Train Depot in Hugoton, Kansas.

The 14-county Kansas gas field, part of a larger group extending 8,500 square miles into the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles, has produced more than 29 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, notes the Kansas Geological Survey (KGS).

About 11,000 wells produce both oil and gas in the Kansas portion of the Hugoton area – and thousands of miles of pipeline carry Hugoton gas throughout the United States.

“Hugoton production is a major source of natural gas and oil for the state and the nation,” KGS says, adding that the economic value produced in 14 counties of southwest Kansas exceeds 50 percent of all gas and oil produced in the state. “The major gas fields of this area have produced enough gas to supply every household in Kansas for 364 years.”

“Hugoton-Panhandle gas provides the world’s largest source of helium from which the U.S. Government has drawn a 40 year supply stockpile and spacecraft and other industries obtain current needs,” notes a monument in Guymon, Oklahoma.

Although natural gas had been discovered as early as 1922, near Liberal, Kansas, that well did not produce oil – so it was considered of little value and remained unused for several years, explains KGS.

“In 1927, gas was discovered at the Independent Oil and Gas Company’s Crawford No. 1, about 2,600 feet below the surface southwest of Hugoton,” says KGS. In 1929, Argus Pipe Line Company started construction of a pipeline to furnish gas to Dodge City.

Beginning in the 1930s, Phillips Petroleum Company produced Hugoton natural gas from 3,000 feet deep in Texas County, Oklahoma. “This field with subsequent deeper discoveries of oil and gas has provided landowners with royalty revenue and cheap fuel,” explains an historic marker in a Guymon, Oklahoma, park.

“There are nearly 8,000 producing oil or gas wells in Texas County today,” the historic marker notes. “For 75 years, the county has been one of the largest sources of revenue for the state of Oklahoma through taxes on oil and gas production.”

The Stevens County Gas & Historical Museum, 905 S. Adams Street in Hugoton, today includes early oil patch equipment, restored buildings – including an historic Santa Fe Hugoton Train Depot – an 1887 school house and home, a grocery store, and a barber shop. A natural gas well drilled in 1945 is still producing at the museum.

A 2004 Hugoton Asset Management Project brought together KGS and eight industry partners in the Hugoton field – to build a “knowledge and technical base required for intelligent stewardship, identification of new opportunities, and continued improvement in recovery strategies.”

Editor’s Note – Natural gas shale discoveries (and advanced production technologies) have overtaken the Hugoton’s once dominant role. In 2009, the Hugoton gas area produced 328 billion cubic feet of natural gas, making it the ninth largest source of gas in America.

Significant natural gas shale discoveries in the Fayetteville, Arkansas, region (2004) and Haynesville, Louisiana, region (2008) have estimated production volumes of 517 billion cubic feet and 204 billion cubic feet respectively.

Please support the American Oil & Gas Historical Society with a donation.

May 7, 1920 – Erle Halliburton launches Halliburton

Innovative oilfield technologies of the 1920s include Halliburton Company trucks with “jet cement” mixers. Photograph courtesy Hart’s E&P magazine.

The Halliburton Company is organized as an oil well “cementing” company in Wilson, Oklahoma, by Erle P. Halliburton (1892–1957), succeeding his New Method Oil Cementing Company formed a year earlier during the Burkburnett boom in Texas.

The use of cement in drilling oil wells remains integral to the industry, because its injection into the well seals off water formations from the oil, protects the casing, and minimizes the danger of blowouts.

Halliburton’s company, which will reach global dimensions within his lifetime, in 1922 patents a new “jet-cement” mixer that increases the speed and quality of the mixing process. By the end of the year, 17 Halliburton trucks are cementing wells in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas.

“Despite his success, Halliburton continued to tinker with technology,” notes one historian. He introduced cement pumps powered by truck motors rather than steam from rig boilers and a device that allowed the testing of a formation without setting casing.

“Major advances in cementing technology also ensued,” explains William Pike. Halliburton was the first to offer self-contained cementing units operating under their own power.

Pike adds that in 1949 Halliburton and Stanolind Oil Company will make oilfield history with the first commercial application of hydraulic fracturing to increase oil and natural gas production.

Learn more about the history of well cementing technology by reading the May 2007 “Cementing is not for Sissies” article by Pike, past editor-in-chief of Hart’s E&P magazine.

May 8, 1920 – Discovery of Oklahoma’s Giant Burbank Oilfield

In 1918, E.W. Marland built an oil refinery in Ponca City – and tripled the town’s population. He built his mansion there in 1928.

Drilling for natural gas on a lease 20 miles east of Ponca City, Oklahoma, the Kay County Gas Company finds oil instead.

As required by the lease agreement, Marland Oil Refining Company assumes control of the Bertha Hickman No. 1 well, which produces 680 barrels of oil in its first day.

This discovery well opens the 20,000-acre Burbank oilfield. Producing companies agree to drill using 10 acre spacing for oil conservation purposes.

The Burbank oilfield will produce between 20 million barrels and 31 million barrels annually for the next four years.

In addition to the giant Burbank field, Marland’s “Midas Touch” will bring in one well after another, including the nearby Tonkawa field, according to the Ponca City News.

“As money flowed like the oil beneath, Marland invested the proceeds in the industry’s first research division, which developed seismography techniques and new drilling methods to discover even more oil,” reports the newspaper.

The successful Marland Company will be absorbed by the Continental Oil Company – Conoco - in 1928.

Learn more about E.W. Marland, a future Oklahoma governor, and his company at the Marland Estate Museum in Ponca City.

May 9, 1863 — Confederates raid Oilfield

Confederates attack an early oil town in what will soon become West Virginia, destroying equipment and thousands of barrels of oil.

The Burning Springs oilfield is destroyed by Confederate raiders led by General William “Grumble” Jones – “making it the first of many oilfields destroyed in war,” notes the founder of an oil and natural gas museum in Parkersburg.

The Burning Springs oilfield (at bottom) was destroyed by Confederate raiders on May 9, 1863. Gen. William “Grumble” Jones and 1,300 troopers attacked in what some have called the first oilfield destroyed in a war.

“After the Civil War, the industry was revived and over the next fifty years the booms spread over almost all the counties of the state,” explains David McKain, founder and director of the Oil and Gas Museum in Parkersburg. “Drilling and producing of both oil and natural gas continues throughout the state to this day.”

Almost a century earlier, George Washington had acquired 250 acres in the region because it contained oil and natural gas seeps. ”This was in 1771, making the father of our country the first petroleum industry speculator,” notes McKain, author of Where It All Began, a history of the West Virginia petroleum industry.

In May 1861, the Rathbone brothers use a spring-pole to dig a well at Burning Springs that reaches 303 feet and begins producing 100 barrels of oil a day. An oil boom soon follows.

As early as 1831, natural gas was moved in wooden pipes from wells to be used as a manufacturing heat source by the Kanawha salt manufacturers.

A thriving commercial oil industry grew in Petroleum and California – towns near Parkersburg. Then in 1861 at Burning Springs, the Rathbone brothers’ spring-pole oil well reached 303 feet – and began producing 100 barrels of oil a day.

“These events truly mark the beginnings of the oil and gas industry in the United States,” says McKain. The wealth created by petroleum helped bring statehood for West Virginia during the Civil War, he adds.

“Many of the founders and early politicians were oil men – governor, senator and congressman – who had made their fortunes at Burning Springs in 1860-1861,” adds McKain.

When on May 9, 1863, Confederate cavalry Gen. William “Grumble” Jones and 1,300 troopers attacked Burning Springs, they destroyed equipment and thousands of barrels of oil.

“The wells are owned mainly by Southern men, now driven from their homes, and their property appropriated either by the Federal Government or Northern men,” said Gen. Jones of his raid on this early oil boom town. He reported to Gen. Robert E. Lee:

Confederate cavalry Gen. William “Grumble” Jones

All the oil, the tanks, barrels, engines for pumping, engine-houses, and wagons – in a word, everything used for raising, holding, or sending it off was burned.

Men of experience estimated the oil destroyed at 150,000 barrels. It will be many months before a large supply can be had from this source, as it can only be boated down the Little Kanawha when the waters are high.

The Oil and Gas Museum, founded by McKain and volunteers, added a small museum at Burning Springs and a park at California, about 27 miles east of Parkersburg on West Virginia 47.

In addition to Where It All Began, McKain has published The Civil War and Northwestern Virginia – The Fascinating Story Of The Economic, Military and Political Events In Northwestern Virginia During the Tumultuous Times Of The Civil War. He continues to lead efforts to promote the state’s petroleum and Civil War heritage.

May 12, 2007 – ConocoPhillips opens Two Petroleum Museums

Two oil museums open in Oklahoma as part of the state’s statehood centennial – thanks to ConocoPhillips.

A Ponca City, Oklahoma, museum tells the story of a major oil company that began as a small kerosene distributor serving 19th century pioneer America.

The Conoco Museum includes five areas exhibiting the evolution of the company’s business identity, marketing – and onshore and offshore technologies.

They tell the story of the company’s development from a small kerosene distributor serving 19th century pioneer America into a diversified global energy company.

Conoco – founded in 1875 as Continental Oil Company in Utah – merged with Oklahoma’s Marland Oil Company in 1929. Phillips Petroleum Company incorporated in Bartlesville in 1917 and merged with Conoco in August 2002.

Conoco was founded in 1875 as Continental Oil Company, delivering kerosene to retail stores in Ogden, Utah. A circa 1880s Continental Oil Company horse-drawn tank wagon welcomes visitors to the Conoco Museum.

Conoco’s earliest roots reach to the 1870s when Isaac Elder Blake – a young speculator in Pennsylvania and West Virginia oilfields – moved to the Utah Territory.

In 1875, Blake started a venture that would purchase bulk kerosene in the cheaper eastern market, then ship it by rail to Ogden. His Continental Oil and Transportation Company purchased two railroad tank cars, the first to be used west of the Missouri River.

Bartlesville’s petroleum history is exhibited at the Phillips Petroleum Company Museum.

The Phillips Petroleum Company Museum in Bartlesville exhibits company heritage in many areas, including a review of the evolution of Phillips research and products – and how the company survived an intense series of corporate battles.

The Taking to the Skies exhibit explains how the company actually produced its aviation fuels before its automotive fuels. Of course, the museum also tells the stories of oilmen Frank and L.E. Phillips.

In 1905, the brothers will strike oil with the first of 81 wells in a row – without a single dry hole. Twelve years later, they establish the company.

Read more in “Oklahoma’s Conoco & Phillips Petroleum Museums.”

Please support the American Oil & Gas Historical Society with a donation.

On May 12, 2007 - as part of statehood centennial celebrations – state-of-the-art petroleum museums opened in Ponca City and Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

A circa 1880s Continental Oil Company horse-drawn tank wagon welcomes visitors to the Conoco Museum in Ponca City, Oklahoma, which opened in 2007. Phillips Petroleum Company, once headquartered 70 miles east in Bartlesville, merged with Conoco in 2002.

The Conoco Museum tells the story of a petroleum company that began as a small kerosene distributor serving 19th century pioneer America.

“These museums reaffirm our Oklahoma roots,” proclaimed Jim Mulva, chairman and CEO of ConocoPhillips, which built the Conoco Museum in Ponca City and the Phillips Museum in Bartlesville as “gifts to the people of Oklahoma, visitors to the state, and our employee and retiree populations around the world.”

Conoco was founded in 1875 as Continental Oil Company, delivering kerosene to retail stores in Ogden, Utah.

The Conoco Museum includes five areas exhibiting the evolution of the company’s business identity, marketing – and onshore and offshore technologies.

One exhibit recreates a 1950s R&D laboratory; another depicts an outdoor scene of a “doodlebugger” at work; a third explains the technology behind the world’s first tension-leg offshore platform.

These and other exhibits tell the story of a major oil company’s development from a small kerosene distributor serving 19th century pioneer America into a diversified global energy company.

Conoco – founded as Continental Oil Company in Utah – merged with Oklahoma’s Marland Oil Company in 1929. The Phillips Petroleum Company incorporated in Bartlesville in 1917.

Conoco’s earliest roots reach to the 1870s when Isaac Elder Blake – a young speculator in Pennsylvania and West Virginia oilfields – moved to the Utah Territory.

Blake found that residents of Ogden paid $5 a gallon for kerosene refined several hundred miles away in Florence, Colorado, and hauled in barrels by bull team to Ogden.

In 1875, Blake stared a venture that would purchase bulk kerosene in the cheaper eastern market, then ship it by rail to Utah Territory.

In Ogden, the oil was put into manageable containers and delivered to grocery stores, which could dispense it to customers by the gallon, profiting accordingly.

The Continental Oil and Transportation Company soon purchased two railroad tank cars – the first to be used west of the Missouri River.

Phillips Petroleum Company, once headquartered 70 miles east in Bartlesville, merged with Conoco in 2002. Phillips was founded during the early months of World War I – when the price of oil climbed above $1 per barrel.

“Phillips 66″

The Phillips museum  tells the story of the company’s founders – brothers Frank and L.E.  (Lee Eldas) Phillips, who began their quest for oil in 1903, after hearing of vast oil deposits in Oklahoma.

In 1905, the Phillips brothers hit the first of 81 wells in a row without a single dry hole. Twelve years later, they founded Phillips Petroleum Company, headquartered in Bartlesville.

In June 1917, the brothers consolidated their Anchor Oil & Gas Company and Lewcinda Oil Company holdings into the new company, which began operating with assets of $3 million, 27 employees, and oil and natural gas leases throughout Oklahoma and Kansas.

After a decade as an exploration and production company, Phillips Petroleum entered the highly competitive business of refining and retail gasoline distribution. In 1927, the company introduced a new line of gasoline – “Phillips 66″ – at its first service station, which opened in Wichita, Kansas.

The gasoline is named “Phillips 66″ after it propels company officials down U.S. Highway 66 at 66 mph in route to a meeting at their Bartlesville headquarters.

In the coming years the company will drill the deepest wells onshore and among the farthest wells offshore – while making petrochemical advances. Phillips chemists initially researching gasoline additives developed Marlex, a revolutionary polypropylene plastic. See “Petroleum Product Hoopla.”

One chapter in Bartlesville’s rich petroleum history is exhibited at the Phillips Petroleum Company Museum, which opened May 12, 2007.

The Phillips Petroleum Company Museum in Bartlesville today exhibits its company heritage in seven areas:

A Pioneering Attitude – showing how the company became an industry leader, transforming basic oil and gas resources into many useful products.

Growing Strong - examining the evolution of Phillips Petroleum and how the company survived an intense series of corporate battles.

One Big Family – exhibit describes how Phillips became known for promoting the well-being of its employees.

Bucking the Odds – what was it like in the rough and rowdy days of the Burbank oilfield?

Energy Provider – from refined petroleum fuels to super-cooled natural gas, creating ways to deliver energy to consumers.

In addition to the Phillips Petroleum Company Museum, Bartlesville is home to Frank Phillips’ Woolaroc ranch — which includes oil exhibits and the plane that won a 1927 air race across the Pacific.

Taking to the Skies – the Phillips Company actually produced its aviation fuels before its automotive fuels.

Selling 66 – from street corners to sports stadiums, the Phillips 66 brand has been seen everywhere.

Phillips Petroleum also has left its mark on the aviation industry by designing the first aviation refueling trucks and developing a new, lighter, more efficient Phillips aviation fuel that powered the first flight between the United States and Hawaii.

Read more in “Flight of the Woolaroc – Aviation Fuel.”

Please support the American Oil & Gas Historical Society with a donation.

The American Association of Petroleum Landmen locates mineral owners and negotiates leases.

April 30, 1955 – “Landmen” form Trade Association

The American Association of Petroleum Landmen (AAPL) is organized in Fort Worth, Texas.

A key part of the petroleum industry, landmen research records to determine ownership, locate mineral and land owners and negotiate oil and natural gas leases, deals, trades and contracts as well as ensuring compliance with governmental regulations.

AAPL has grown into an organization with about 12,000 members and 43 affiliated associations in the United States and Canada.

May 1, 1860 – West Virginia Oil Industry begins in Wirt County

An early technology for drilling brine wells – the “spring-pole” – discovers oil in Burning Springs, Virginia. It is soon replaced by wooden derricks and steam-powered cable-tools.

Using their frontier experience of drilling brine wells, two brothers launch West Virginia’s petroleum industry.

Searching for oil in Wirt County, in what was then Virginia, Cass Rathbone uses a spring-pole to drill a well near a stream called Burning Springs Run.

The Rathbone well reaches 303 feet – and begins producing 100 barrels of oil a day. He partners with his brother Val as a major drilling boom begins – the first to take place outside Pennsylvania.

By the end of 1860, more than 600 oil leases are registered in the county courthouse. Warehouses and a jetty are built along the Little Kanawha River, which flows into the Ohio River at Parkersburg, about 27 miles to the northwest.

“These events truly mark the beginnings of the oil and gas industry in the United States,” says one West Virginia historian, adding that the wealth created by petroleum will help bring statehood during the Civil War.

Soon after Union forces occupy most of western Virginia, pro-Union residents in Wirt and 40 more counties in October 1861 vote to break away from Virginia.

In perhaps the first raid on a petroleum site, on May 9, 1863, Confederate Gen. William “Grumble” Jones and 1,300 troopers attack Burning Springs, destroying equipment and thousands of barrels of oil. One month later – on June 20 – West Virginia becomes America’s newest oil-producing state.

Visit the Oil and Gas Museum in Parkersburg.

May 1, 1916 – Harry Sinclair founds Sinclair Oil & Refining

In 1916, Harry F. Sinclair establishes Sinclair Oil & Refining Corporation with five small refineries and untested production leases. Sinclair’s first super-fuel is marketed in 1926. The “HC” initials stand for “Houston Concentrate,” but some advertising men prefer the term “High Compression.”

With $50 million in assets, Harry F. Sinclair borrows another $20 million and forms Sinclair Oil & Refining Corporation from a collection of depressed properties, five small refineries and many untested leases, all acquired at bargain prices.

Sinclair’s green “Dino” is introduced during the 1934 World’s Fair.

In its first 14 months, his New York company produces six million barrels of oil and 252 million gallons of petroleum products for a net income of almost $9 million.

Destined to become one of the oldest continuous names in the U.S. petroleum industry, Sinclair begins development of the apatosaurus (brontosaurus) in its advertising, sales promotions and product labels in 1930.

Three decades later, ten million visitors will marvel at an improved 70-foot Dino in Sinclair’s “Dinoland” exhibit at the New York World’s Fair. Read Dinosaur Fever — Sinclair’s Icon.

Sinclair’s refining capacity jumped from 45,000 barrels a day in 1920 to 100,000 barrels in 1926 to 150,000 barrels in 1932.

Sinclair today operates two Wyoming refineries that supply gasoline, diesel and jet fuels. A Refinery near Rawlins is one of the longest-running industrial plants in the western United States. It produces 60,000 barrels of petroleum products per day.

Sinclair’s Little America Refinery in Casper refines 20,000 barrels of petroleum products a day. The company operates more than 1,000 miles of pipeline in the Rocky Mountains.

May 1, 1931 – Regulating East Texas

A Kilgore, Texas, museum preserves oil history.

The first proration order from the Texas Railroad Commission for the giant East Texas oilfield becomes effective. Too much production from discoveries following the Daisy Bradford No. 3 well one year earlier has driven oil prices to historic lows.

With  hundreds of wells producing  almost one million barrels per day, oil prices have fallen as low as 10 cents a barrel. The commission’s order – unpopular with independent producers and enforced by Texas Rangers – limits production to preserve the field and stabilize prices.

Today, the “Black Giant” oilfield has yielded more than five billion barrels – and is still producing. It remains the largest and most prolific oil reservoir ever discovered in the contiguous United States. Read more in “H.L. Hunt and the East Texas Oilfield.” Visit the East Texas Oil Museum in Kilgore.

May 1, 2001 – Plaza honors Oklahoma Petroleum Pioneers

“King of the Wildcatters” Tom Slick is among those honored.

The Conoco Oil Pioneers of Oklahoma Plaza – a special outdoor educational exhibit area – is dedicated at the Sam Noble Museum at the University of Oklahoma, Norman.

“The history of the state of Oklahoma is inextricably linked with the remarkable history of the oil industry,” noted then Conoco Chairman Archie W. Dunham. “The individuals identified here are true Oklahoma oil pioneers in that their endeavors were most significant in the development of the oil and gas industry in this very young state.”

Tom Slick, Oklahoma’s “King of the Wildcatters” is among those honored in the Conoco Plaza. Slick, a self-taught geologist, discovered the giant Cushing oilfield in 1912.

May 4, 1869 – Thomas Rowland patents the First Offshore Drilling Rig

Although it will never be constructed as originally designed, Thomas Rowland’s offshore platform with its four telescoping legs is an 1869 technological marvel.

The first U.S. patent for an offshore oil drilling rig is issued to Thomas, owner of Continental Iron Works in Greenpoint, New York, for his “submarine drilling apparatus.”

Many believe this early patent is the beginning of the offshore oil and natural gas industry. Rowland’s design for a fixed, working platform for drilling offshore to a depth of almost 50 feet pioneers modern offshore drilling technology.

Although his rig is designed to operate in shallow water, the anchored, four-legged tower resembles modern offshore rigs.

Rowland and his Continental Iron Works also will become a leader in petroleum storage tank design and construction. The Thomas Fitch Rowland Prize is instituted by the American Society of Civil Engineers at its annual meeting of 1882.

Learn more in “An 1869 Offshore Patent.”

The earliest true offshore wells – completely out of sight from land – will not be drilled until 1947 in the Gulf of Mexico, as technologies advance after Rowland’s patent.

As early as 1891, the first submerged oil wells are drilled from platforms built on piles in Grand Lake St. Marys in Ohio, notes historian Judith L. Sneed in “The First Over Water Drilling: The Lost History Of Ohio’s Grand Reservoir Oil Boom.” See “Ohio Offshore Wells.”

Modern offshore petroleum platforms include (left to right): 1 and 2 are conventional fixed platforms; 3 is a compliant tower; 4 and 5 are vertically moored tension leg and mini-tension leg platforms; 6 is a spar platform; 7 and 8 are semi-submersibles; 9 is a floating production, storage, and offloading facility; 10) sub-sea completion and tie-back to host facility. Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The first submerged oil wells in salt water are drilled in 1896 from piers in a part of the Summerland oilfield that extends under the Santa Barbara Channel in California. Oil wells also are drilled from platforms built on Caddo Lake, Louisiana, in 1911. Read “Offshore Petroleum History.”

May 5, 1889 – Standard Oil begins construction of Whiting, Indiana, Refinery

The Standard Oil refinery in Whiting, Indiana, will be the company’s largest and most productive. Now owned by BP, it remains the largest U.S. refinery.

Seventeen miles east of downtown Chicago, Standard Oil Company begins construction on a 235-acre refinery complex. It will be the world’s largest.

The Whiting, Indiana, refinery processes sulfurous “sour crude” from the Lima, Ohio, oilfields – producing high-quality kerosene to meet the skyrocketing demand for use in home lamps. Gasoline is a minor by-product.

Whiting has been home to the Northwest Indiana Oilmen since June 2012.

The Duryea brothers will build a gasoline-powered horseless carriage two years after the Whiting Refinery ships its first finished petroleum product: 125 railroad tank cars of kerosene in November 1890.

The city of Whiting incorporates in 1903. Standard Oil Company will provide land and funding in 1923 for a memorial community center, which soon becomes the hub of city life with its social and athletic facilities.

The refinery, today owned by BP, remains the largest in the United States. It now borders the Whiting Oil City Stadium – new home of the Northwest Indiana Oilmen Baseball Club, part of a summer collegiate league that many young players join to progress to the minor and major leagues.

“The name Oil City Stadium celebrates Whiting’s history as a refinery town tucked away in the northwest corner of the state for over 120 years,” explains one community historian.

“The BP Refinery, located just beyond the outfield fence, is a constant reminder of the blue collar attitude this town was built on,” he adds.

The Whiting-Robertsdale Historical Society was organized in 1976 as a U.S. Bicentennial project. The society does reference work – collecting, cataloging and preserving materials of local historical importance. Its historic building at 1610 119th Street serves as a museum for the Whiting-Robertsdale communities.

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Grand Lake St. Marys – hand-dug from 1837 to 1845 – originally was nine miles long by three miles wide. It supplied water to central Ohio’s Miami and Eric Canal until designated a “public recreation and pleasure resort” in 1915.

America’s “first offshore drilling” is generally acknowledged to be over Louisiana’s Caddo Lake in 1911 – although historians in Mercer and Auglaize counties in Ohio say otherwise.

Mercer County documents record oil wells pumping far out in the waters of Grand Lake St. Marys 20 years before drillers ventured into the waters of Caddo Lake.

Work on the Ohio reservoir that would become known as Grand Lake St. Marys – about 60 miles north of Dayton – began in 1837 to support construction of the Miami and Erie Canal near the towns of Celina and St. Marys. To maintain the canal’s water levels, the reservoir was excavated over nine years by more than 1,700 men earning 30 cents a day.

From “Our Post Card Past; Grand Lake St. Marys Ohio,” Mercer County Historical Society, Celina, Ohio. Photo courtesy of Joyce L. Alig.

By 1845 the lake covered 17,500 acres to a depth of about seven feet. It was the largest man-made body of water in the world at the time and successfully supported the vital commerce of the Miami & Erie Canal.

Forty years later Ohio’s oil boom began.

In 1884, independent producers near Findlay discovered natural gas in a geologic formation known today as the Lima-Indiana trend. This formation stretched 260-miles across Ohio and Indiana. It would yield extraordinary quantities of natural gas and oil for decades.

Oilmen followed the Lima-Indiana Trend southwest to the shores of Grand Lake St. Marys near the Indiana border. Local companies like the Neeley-Clover Oil Co., Riley Oil Co., and Manhattan Oil Co. drilled successful wells right up to the reservoir’s shoreline, but going offshore presented a new set of challenges.

Offshore “Cribs”

Contemporary accounts of over-water drilling describe the practice of building 14 foot square “cribs” upon which traditional cable-tool rigs and their steam engines and boilers could be supported. Cribs had evolved as necessary engineering solutions to building bridges, dams, and other water structures.

On Grand Lake St. Marys, oilmen built derricks atop such cribs. Pipelines carried the oil from producing wells to storage tanks on shore.

The 1898 Auglaize County Atlas identifies an abundance of oil wells surrounding the far eastern end of Grand Lake St. Marys and also shows wells built offshore.

The 1903 Ohio Geological Survey recorded, “By 1890 the productive territory had been pushed to the eastern border of the Grand reservoir, and a year later wells were being drilled in that body of water.”

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (DNR) notes, “In 1891, at the beginning of production in the water of Grand Lake St. Marys, wells were drilled within the canal reservoir mainly by small local companies…In less than ten years, more than 100 wells were drilled within the shallow waters of the lake.”

In 1915 the state of Ohio determined that with the canal no longer in use, Grand Lake St. Marys was repurposed as a public recreation and pleasure resort area, which it remains today.

A modern DNR map still plots the locations of the historic wells over the lake.

The Neely-Clover Oil Co. was an early driller on the lake that completed many successful wells. In Wildcatting from Pennsylvania to Texas, author Harold Neely writes, “Part of the leases they had were out in the lake that was known as the Grand Reservoir of St. Marys, and these leases were secured from the state of Ohio. They drove pilings and set the rig up on platforms and drilled these wells, one to ten acres, and quite a bit of this state land was productive.”

Riley Oil Co. drilled more than 100 wells in the reservoir, including the Riley-Mosher, which began producing in 1886 and still produced 35-barrels a day as late as 1910. By then, however, the boom was over.

In 1913 the New York Times reported the reservoir “contains more than 100 oil wells,” but oil men had moved on. Production on the waters of Grand Lake St. Marys lost its economic incentive when Spindletop’s astounding yield drove the price of Ohio crude below 15 cents a barrel.

The once plentiful derricks gradually disappeared into Ohio’s petroleum history.

Editor’s Note – For a more detailed look at this unique Ohio offshore history, be sure to read “The First Over Water Drilling: The Lost History Of Ohio’s Grand Reservoir Oil Boom” by Judith L. Sneed of Mooringsport, Louisiana.

Louisiana’s Caddo Lake, circa 1911.

Sneed originally presented her article in Shreveport during a March 26-29, 2003, Petroleum History Symposium, hosted by the Petroleum History Institute (PHI) of Oil City, Pennsylvania.

Sneed’s abstract – in the 2005 Oil-History Journal - notes: In 1911 Gulf Oil Company’s Ferry Lake No.1 well was completed over the waters of Caddo Lake, Louisiana. It has long been touted as the location of the world’s first over water oil well. This accolade, however, is not correct. Stand alone oil wells produced commercial quantities of oil over a small lake in Ohio as early as 1891. How did we lose this bit of history?

Also see “Offshore Petroleum History.”

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