First Nevada Oil Well
Wildcat wells drilled near Reno inspired decades of gambling.
The search for commercial amounts of petroleum in Nevada began in 1907 with an expensive well drilled southwest of Reno. After reaching a depth of 1,890 feet, the remote wildcat in Washoe County proved unproductive — a dry hole.
A second exploratory well was rumored to have been drilled northwest of Reno, but few details about it survived, because drilling permits were not required until 1953. (more…)
