Seminole Oil Boom
Giant oilfields bring Oklahoma petroleum boom during Great Depression.
Many oil and natural gas discoveries followed the Indian Territory’s first oil well drilled at Bartlesville in 1897, and especially after statehood came a decade later. None of Oklahoma’s 1920s oilfields compared to the economic impact of the greater Seminole area oil boom.
Although oil from the 1897 discovery in Indian Territory could not get to refineries for two years (lacking transportation infrastructure), the first Oklahoma oil well brought a surge in exploratory drilling. More oilfield discoveries followed, including the Red Fork Gusher of 1901, which helped in Making Tulsa “Oil Capital of the World,” but Seminole area oilfields eclipsed them all. (more…)
