Oil & Gas History News, August 2021

August 18, 2021  –  Oil & Gas History News, Vol. 2, No. 8   Oil & Gas History News   Welcome to our August newsletter, the latest summertime chronology of notable petroleum history events. This month includes an 1861 Pennsylvania oil well that is still producing; an Oklahoma geophysicist’s 1921 seismic technology breakthrough; the 1956 beginning of America’s interstate highways; and the launch of a concrete oil tanker in 1918. Thank you again for subscribing — and for sharing this newsletter and AOGHS website articles!   This Week in Petroleum History Monthly Update   Links to summaries from four weeks of U.S. oil and natural gas history, including new technologies, oilfield discoveries, petroleum products, and pioneers.   August 16, 1861 – Oldest Producing Oil Well drilled in Pennsylvania   What would become the world’s oldest continuously producing oil well was completed on Oil Creek near Oil City, Pennsylvania. The McClintock No. 1 well, reaching 620 feet deep into the Venango Third Sand, initially produced 50 barrels of oil a day. The well was drilled 14 miles from Titusville…MORE   August 9, 1921 – Reflection Seismography reveals Geological Structure   A team led by University of Oklahoma geophysicist John C. Karcher conducted the world’s first reflection seismograph measurement of a geologic formation, pioneering the use of reflection seismic technology in petroleum exploration. Seismography would lead to discovery of many of the world’s largest oil and natural gas fields…MORE   August 2, 1956 – Missouri builds First U.S. Interstate Highway   Missouri became the first state to award a contract with interstate construction funding authorized two months earlier by the Federal-Aid Highway Act. The Missouri highway commission began work on part of Route 66 – now Interstate 44. “There is no question that the creation of the interstate highway system has been the most significant development in the history of transportation in the United States”…MORE   July 27, 1918 – Standard Oil of New York launches Concrete Oil Tanker   America’s first concrete vessel designed to carry oil, the Socony, left its shipyard at Flushing Bay, New York. Built for the Standard Oil Company of New York, the barge was 98-feet long with a 32-foot beam and carried oil in six center and two wing compartments, “oil-proofed by a special process,” according to Cement and Engineering News…MORE   Construction began in August 1942 on two petroleum pipelines that would prove vital during World War II. The “Big Inch” and the “Little Big Inch” lines were part of “the most amazing government-industry cooperation ever achieved.” Map courtesy Texas Eastern Transmission Corp.   World War II brings “Big Inch” and “Little Big Inch” Pipelines Conceived to supply wartime fuel demand and in response to U-boat attacks on oil tankers along the eastern seaboard and Gulf of Mexico, War Emergency Pipelines Inc. began construction on the “Big Inch” pipeline on August 3, 1942. The $95 million project laid a 1,254-mile, 24-inch pipeline (Big Inch) from East Texas oilfields to Illinois. An accompanying 20-inch-wide line (Little Big Inch) carried gasoline, heating oil, diesel oil, and kerosene as far as New Jersey. The final weld on the Big Inch was made in July 1943, just 350 days after construction began. Learn more in Big Inch Pipelines of WW II.   Energy Education   Bertha Benz makes World’s First Auto Road Trip   Thirty-nine-year-old Bertha Benz made history when she became the first person to make a long-distance trip by automobile. Her August 12, 1888, excursion also included, “the first road repairs, the first automotive marketing stunt, the first case of a wife borrowing her husband’s car without asking, and the first violation of intercity highway laws in a motor vehicle,” proclaimed Wired magazine in 2012. Learn more in First Car, First Road Trip.    Discovery of Oklahoma’s “Poor Man’s Field”   The Crystal Oil Company on August 4, 1913, completed its Wirt Franklin No. 1 well 20 miles northwest of Ardmore, Oklahoma. The well revealed the giant Healdton oilfield, which became known as the “poor man’s field,” because of its shallow depth and low cost of drilling. The area attracted independent producers with limited financial backing. Erle P. Halliburton perfected his method of cementing oil wells in the Healdton field. Learn more in Halliburton and the Healdton Oilfield.   Permian Basin inspires “Alley Oop” Comic Strip   The comic strip “Alley Oop” first appeared on August 7, 1933, but the cartoon caveman began earlier in the imagination of a young cartographer working for a West Texas oil company. The town of Iraan would later proclaim its oilfield as the inspiration for cartoonist Victor Hamlin’s popular prehistoric character. Learn more in Alley Oop’s Oil Roots.   Thanks again for subscribing to the American Oil & Gas Historical Society’s monthly email newsletter. And special thanks to our new and renewing supporting members, who understand lessons of the past are relevant to modern energy challenges. With your continued support of AOGHS, there is much to look forward to.   — Bruce Wells Support AOGHS “Any survey of the natural resources used as sources of energy must include a discussion about the importance of oil, the lifeblood of all industrialized nations.” — Daniel Yergin, bestselling author and winner of the Pulitzer Prize © American Oil & Gas Historical Society, 3204 18th Street NW, No. 3, Washington, District of Columbia 20010, United States, (202) 387-6996