by Bruce Wells | May 7, 2025 | Petroleum History Almanac
Erected for the 1953 International Expo, Tulsa’s towering roughneck grew into an Oklahoma landmark.
With an arm casually resting on a steel derrick, the 76-foot giant cannot be missed by visitors to the Tulsa County Fairgrounds. Popularly known as the “Golden Driller,” the first version of the 22-ton Oklahoma roughneck appeared in May 1953 as an oilfield supply company promotion during the Tulsa International Petroleum Exposition.
The leading oil and natural gas equipment expo, which began in 1923 as the International Petroleum Exposition and Congress, took place for decades at the Tulsa County Free Fair site. Tulsa independent producer William Skelly established the expo while he was serving as president of the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce.
In 1953, a golden “roustabout” statue conceived by the Mid-Continent Supply Company of Fort Worth, Texas, proved so popular it returned in 1959 after receiving a makeover.
Designated an Oklahoma state monument in 1979, the Golden Driller was permanently installed for the 1966 International Petroleum Exposition in Tulsa. Photo by Bruce Wells.
Another refurbishment and then neglect followed the fortunes of the petroleum industry. But civic leaders now proclaim the the Tulsa driller the most photographed landmark in the city once known as the “Oil Capital of the World.”
Although Mid-Continent Supply’s smaller first statue of 1952 impressed expo visitors, it was the 1959 version with an oilfield worker climbing a derrick that led to Tula’s current Golden Driller. “This time he was much more chiseled and detailed and was placed climbing a derrick and waving,” explained a volunteer for the Tulsa Historical Society in 2010.
The original Golden Driller of 1953, left, proved so popular that a smaller, rig-climbing version (called The Roustabout) returned for the 1959 International Petroleum Exposition. The Tulsa fairgrounds opened in 1903. Images courtesy Tulsa Historical Society.
According to the society’s “Tulsa Gal,” the 1959 rig-climbing roustabout’s popularity inspired Mid-Continent Supply to donate it to the Tulsa County Fairgrounds Trust Authority when the international expo ended. Sometime during the next seven years, the giant was redesigned to better withstand the elements, she noted.
Taller and much stronger, the modern Golden Driller debuted in 1966 at Tulsa’s International Petroleum Exposition. The new look came from a Greek immigrant, George “Grecco” Hondronastas, an artist who had worked on the 1953 exposition’s hard-hatted statue.
According to writer Tony Beaulieu, Hondronastas was an eccentric and prolific artist who was proud of becoming a U.S. citizen through military service in World War I. He attended the Art Institute of Chicago and later became a professor. His design work included business promotions and parade floats.
Mid-Continent Supply Company constructed a permanent version in 1966 with steel rods to withstand up to 200 mph winds but more work would be needed. The giant was refurbished again in 1979, after it was designated an Oklahoma state monument.
Hondronastas came to Tulsa for the first time in 1953, “to help design and build an early version of the Golden Driller,” explained Beaulieu, who also noted the artist “fell in love with the city of Tulsa and later moved his wife and son from Chicago to a duplex near Riverview Elementary School, just south of downtown.”
The artist was immensely proud of designing the Golden Driller — “and he would tell that to anyone he met,” added his son Stamatis, quoted in Beaulieu’s 2014 article, “An Oil Town’s Golden Idol, “ in This Land magazine.
“The battered Golden Driller statue has been declared an official state monument,” noted the Daily Oklahoma more than a decade after Mid-Continent Supply donated its 1966 version to the Tulsa County Fairgrounds. Rebuilt in 1979 (center), the modern statue has was repainted in 2011. Photos courtesy Oklahoma Historical Society.
The late Tulsa photographer Walter Brewer documented construction of the giant with images later donated to the Tulsa Historical Society. Designated a state monument and refurbished again in 1979 (the year Hondronastas died), the statue as it appears today was permanently installed at East 21st Street and South Pittsburg Avenue.
The statue contains 2.5 miles of rods and mesh, along with tons of plaster and concrete. It can withstand up to 200 mph winds, “which is a good thing here in Oklahoma,” according to Tulsa Gal. It was painted it’s golden mustard shade in 2011,
Tulsa’s giant driller has sported t-shirts, belts, beads, neckties and other promotions during state fairs. A Covid-19 mask was added in the summer of 2020. Images courtesy the Tulsa Historical Society.
The Golden Driller’s right hand rests on an old production derrick moved from oilfields near Seminole, Oklahoma — a town that has its own extensive petroleum heritage.
Fully refurbished in the late 1970s, the Golden Driller — by now a 43,500-pound tourist attraction — is the largest free-standing statue in the world, according to Tulsa city officials. “Over time the Driller has seen the good and the bad,” said Tulsa Girl.
“He has been vandalized, assaulted by shotgun blasts and severe weather,” she added. “But he has also had more photo sessions with tourists than any other Tulsa landmark and can boast of many who love him all around the world.”
An unidentified model posed on one of the Golden Driller’s shoes, probably sometime during construction of the permanent version in time for the opening of Tulsa’s 1966 International Petroleum Exposition.
The Golden Driller, a symbol of the International Petroleum Exposition. Dedicated to the men of the petroleum industry who by their vision and daring have created from God’s abundance a better life for mankind. — Inscription on a plaque at the Golden Driller’s base.
An American Oil & Gas Historical Society 2007 Energy Education Conference and Field Trip in Oklahoma City included visits to oil museums in Seminole, Drumright and Tulsa — with a stop at the Golden Driller. Photo by Timothy G. Wells.
Although the first International Petroleum Exposition and Congress had no giant roughneck statue in 1923, the expo helped make Tulsa famous around the world. Leading oil and gas companies were attracted to Tulsa as early as 1901, six years before Oklahoma became a state (learn more in Red Fork Gusher).
An even bigger oilfield discovery arrived in 1905 on a farm south of the future oil capital. On November 22, 1905, the Ida Glenn No. 1 well erupted a geyser of oil southeast of Tulsa. The giant Glenn Pool field would forever change Tulsa and Oklahoma.
Learn more Tulsa history in the extensive collection of the Tulsa Historical Society.
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Recommended Reading: Tulsa Oil Capital of the World, Images of America
(2004); Tulsa Where the Streets Were Paved With Gold – Images of America
(2000). Your Amazon purchase benefits the American Oil & Gas Historical Society. As an Amazon Associate, AOGHS earns a commission from qualifying purchases.
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The American Oil & Gas Historical Society (AOGHS) preserves U.S. petroleum history. Please become an AOGHS annual supporter and help maintain this energy education website and expand historical research. For more information, contact bawells@aoghs.org. © 2025 Bruce A. Wells. All rights reserved.
Citation Information – Article Title: “Golden Driller of Tulsa.” Authors: B.A. and K.L. Wells. Website Name: American Oil & Gas Historical Society. URL: https://aoghs.org/oil-almanac/golden-driller-tulsa. Last Updated: May 17, 2025. Original Published Date: March 1, 2006.
by Bruce Wells | May 7, 2025 | Energy Education Resources
Kansas museum preserves history of 1920s natural gas field and world’s greatest source of helium.
A small museum in southwestern Kansas preserves the history of one of the largest natural gas fields in the world. The Stevens County Gas & Historical Museum in Hugoton opened in 1961 near a gas well drilled in 1945 and still producing.
Hugoton’s petroleum museum, founded by a group of dedicated volunteers led by Gladys Renfro, serves as a Kansas energy education center. Its exhibits are “a memento of the Hugoton gas field and the progressive development of Stevens County.”
(more…)
by Bruce Wells | May 6, 2025 | Energy Education Resources
Preserving Louisiana petroleum history at Caddo Lake.
A 1905 oil discovery at Caddo-Pines brought America’s rapidly growing petroleum industry to northwestern Louisiana. A state museum in appropriately named Oil City tells the story.
Originally the Caddo-Pine Island Oil and Historical Museum, in May 2004 the Louisiana State Oil and Gas Museum was dedicated as a state museum under the Louisiana Secretary of State.
Gulf Refining Company in 1911 built drilling platforms to reach the oil beneath Caddo Lake, Louisiana. The early “offshore” technologies worked, and production continues today.
Located about 20 miles north of Shreveport, the first public museum in Louisiana dedicated to the petroleum industry maintains an extensive local history library and collected photographic archives. Exterior exhibits include the former depot of the Kansas City Southern Railroad. (more…)
by Bruce Wells | May 6, 2025 | Energy Education Resources
Museums in Bartlesville and Ponca City have preserved Oklahoma exploration and production history. One still does.
As part of Oklahoma statehood centennial celebrations in 2007, ConocoPhillips opened two petroleum museums dedicated to preserving the state’s exploration and production history. In April 2025, the spun-off downstream company Phillips 66 closed the museum in Bartlesville, citing a decline in visitors after an earlier decision to require appointment-only visits.
Often staffed with volunteers like many other Oklahoma oil museums, the Conoco Museum in Ponca City and Phillips Petroleum Company museum in Bartlesville have featured interactive exhibits, oilfield artifacts, and community events along with K-12 education programs about the industry’s energy future.
Created in 2002 through the merger of Conoco and the Phillips Petroleum, ConocoPhillips reportedly spent $5 million on each museum for the 2007 centennial openings. In 2012, ConocoPhillips separated its refinery, chemical and pipeline assets to create the separate, independent company of Phillips 66.
The permanent closure of the Bartlesville Phillips Petroleum Company Museum (with some artifacts moving to the Frank Phillip Woolaroc Ranch) has left an uncertain future for the statehood centennial’s Conoco Museum, now requiring appointments to visit.
(more…)
by Bruce Wells | May 1, 2025 | Petroleum in War
Rebel cavalry in 1863 raided Burning Springs — the first oilfield attack in war.
After burning oilfield facilities at a creek in northwestern Virginia (soon to be West Virginia), Confederate Cavalry Gen. William “Grumble” Jones reported to Gen. Robert E. Lee: “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…”
On May 9, 1863, the booming oilfield community at Burning Springs fell to the rebel cavalry raiders led by Gen. Jones. His four regiments of Virginia cavalry burned cable-tool drilling derricks, production equipment, storage tanks, and thousands of barrels of oil.
“The First Virginia (Rebel) cavalry at halt. Sketched from nature by Mr. A. R. Waud.” From Harper’s Weekly, September 27, 1862. Gen. Jones’ Brigade consisted of the 6th, 7th, 11th, 12th Virginia Cavalry Regiments and the 35th Virginia Cavalry Battalion. Photo courtesy Library of Congress.
The surprise attack south of Parkersburg along the Kanawha River by Gen. Jones marked the first time an oilfield was targeted in war, “making it the first of many oilfields destroyed in war,” proclaimed oil historian and author David L. McKain (1934-2014) in Where it All Began: The story of the people and places where the oil & gas industry began: West Virginia and southeastern Ohio.
The Burning Springs oilfield (near Elizabeth) was destroyed by Confederate raiders in May 1863 when Gen. William “Grumble” Jones and 1,300 troopers attacked in what some call the first oilfield destroyed in a war. Map courtesy Oil & Gas Museum, Parkersburg, West Virginia.
According to McKain’s 1994 book, after the oilfield attack, Gen. Jones reported his cavalry troops left rows of burning oil tanks, a “scene of magnificence that might well carry joy to every patriotic heart.”
Making West Virginia
“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,” explained McKain, who from 1970 to 1991 was president of Acme Fishing Tool Company, founded by his grandfather at the height of West Virginia’s oil and natural gas boom in 1900.
A drilling boom began at Burning Springs when an 1861 well produced 100 barrels of oil a day.
McKain, who established an oil museum in Parkersburg, spent decades collecting artifacts on display in the former company warehouse. He was often seen driving his black truck loaded with muddy, early 20th century oilfield engines and other equipment.
Once often seen driving his pickup loaded with historic oilfield equipment, David McKain founded a Parkersburg oil museum — and built exhibits at Burning Springs. Photo by Bruce Wells.
Almost a century before the Civil War, 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,” he noted. The Parkersburg historian authored several books, including a detailed history of the West Virginia petroleum industry.
Detail from 1864 “Map of the oil district of West Virginia,” including Burning Springs (at Elizabeth) in Wirt County courtesy Norman B. Leventhal Map Center Collection, Boston Public Library.
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.
Rathbone Well and Statehood
Modern West Virginia’s petroleum industry began when it was part of Virginia. John Castelli ”Cass” Rathbone produced oil from an 1861 well drilled near Burning Springs Run in what today is West Virginia. His well had reached 300 feet and began producing 100 barrels of oil a day.
Rathbone drilled more wells along the Kanawha River south of Parkersburg — beginning the first petroleum boom to take place outside the Pennsylvania oil regions
In 1861, at Burning Springs, Rathbone had used a spring pole — an ancient drilling technology — to drill to a depth of 303 feet, and the well began producing 100 barrels of oil a day. Soon, a commercial oil industry began in the towns of Petroleum and California near Parkersburg, which later became a center for oilfield service and supply companies.
The Rathbone well and commercial oil sales at Petroleum marked the true beginnings of the oil and gas industry in the United States, according to McKain.
David L. McKain established the Oil and Gas Museum at 119 Third Street in Parkersburg, West Virginia. As early as 1831, local salt manufacturers used natural gas as a heat source. Photo by Bruce Wells.
McKain, the founder of the Oil and Gas Museum in Parkersburg, maintained that the wealth created by petroleum was the key factor for bringing statehood to West Virginia during the Civil War.
“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,” McKain explained.
President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation admitting the state on June 20, 1863.
Grumble burns an Oilfield
When Confederate Gen. William “Grumble” Jones and 1,300 troopers attacked Burning Springs in the spring of 1863, they destroyed equipment and thousands of barrels of oil.
Confederate cavalry Gen. William “Grumble” Jones.
“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 the early oil boom town.
Gen. Jones officially reported to Gen. Robert E. Lee: 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 West Virginia Oil and Gas Museum was established thanks to David McKain, who added a small museum at the site of Burning Springs and an oil history park at California (27 miles east of Parkersburg on West Virginia 47). In addition to his Where It All Began, McKain in 2004 published The Civil War and Northwestern Virginia.
Learn more about petroleum’s strategic roles in articles linked at Oil in War.
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Recommended Reading: 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 (2004). Where it All Began: The story of the people and places where the oil & gas industry began: West Virginia and southeastern Ohio
(1994). Your Amazon purchase benefits the American Oil & Gas Historical Society. As an Amazon Associate, AOGHS earns a commission from qualifying purchases.
_______________________
The American Oil & Gas Historical Society (AOGHS) preserves U.S. petroleum history. Please become an AOGHS annual supporter and help maintain this energy education website and expand historical research. For more information, contact bawells@aoghs.org. © 2025 Bruce A. Wells.
Citation Information – Article Title: “Confederates attack Oilfield.” Authors: B.A. Wells and K.L. Wells. Website Name: American Oil & Gas Historical Society. URL:https://aoghs.org/oil-almanac/confederates-attack-oilfield. Last Updated: May 1, 2025. Original Published Date: May 5, 2013.
