Paramount Petroleum Company

Louisiana oil boom brings pipelines, refineries and competition.

 

Claiborne Parish made headlines on January 12, 1919, when Consolidated Progressive Oil Company completed the discovery well for northern Louisiana’s prolific Homer oilfield. About 50 miles to the west, a 1905 oil discovery at Caddo-Pines near Shreveport had brought a rush of oil exploration to northern Louisiana.

Caddo Lake drilling platforms – completed over water without a pier to shore – have been called America’s first true offshore oil wells. Exhibits at the state’s Oil City museum tell that story. Like Caddo-Pines, the Homer field was crowded with new companies within months after the discovery.

Petroleum production from the new field soon reached an aggregate of about 10,000 barrels of oil per day. Reporting from the Pennsylvania oil regions, Pittsburgh Press on September 21, 1919, proclaimed the “Homer Field is Sensation of Oil Industry.”

Derricks crowd a scene of Louisiana's oilfields.

Detail from a panoramic “bird’s eye view” of the Homer oilfield circa 1920s. Photo courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.

Superior Oil Works

Paramount Petroleum Company began when the leadership of another company operating in the Homer oilfield decided to expand operations. Superior Oil Works officers, including President George A. Todd of Oklahoma City; Secretary and Purchasing Agent H.H. Todd of Vivian, Louisiana; and Treasurer D.C. Richardson of Shreveport organized the Paramount Petroleum Company.

Superior Oil Works had been formed to build and operate a refinery close to the Homer field. Capitalized at $300,000 with common stock issued, the company began construction in Superior, Louisiana, but its officers were by then contemplating the much-expanded venture — the formation of Paramount Petroleum to integrate exploration, production, transportation and refining under one organization.

Once established, the new company absorbed Superior Oil Works and looked for potential leases near the Consolidated Progressive Oil Company’s discovery well. As construction of the Superior refinery progressed, purchasing agent H.H. Todd advertised that Paramount Petroleum was “in the market for oil refinery equipment, boilers, stills, pumps, and plant machinery, etc.”

Paramount Petroleum made a deal with Consolidated Progressive Oil in May 1919, securing one-half interest in more than 11,000 acres of both proven and unexplored territory in Claiborne Parish. The acreage was already producing about 40,000 barrels of oil, ensuring the refinery would be supplied.

“A giant refining company has been organized recently in Shreveport to be known as the Paramount Petroleum Company,” noted the Oil Distribution News. The venture was capitalized at $10 million with half of its stock subscribed.

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“Stock in this company has been consumed by the largest business and banking men of Shreveport,” added the Oil and Gas News. But the best news for investors was the headline: “Paramount Petroleum Gets 10,000 Barrel Well And Will Build Big Refinery.”

In March 1920, the Petroleum Age reported Paramount Petroleum “recently took over the under-construction Superior Oil Works refinery at Vivian [Superior], Louisiana, 23 miles north of Shreveport, to service Pine Island production.”

The publication added that another refinery was to be completed in north Shreveport in November 1920 “with a four-inch pipeline from the Homer field where Paramount Petroleum holds 4,700 acres.”

Paramount Petroleum promotion of refineries.

Paramount Petroleum Company’s newest refinery would be struggling by May 1921.

Within a month Paramount Petroleum was drilling in Claiborne Parish and shipping 400,600 barrels of oil a day. The company secured a $1 million mortgage from the Commercial National Bank of Shreveport and advertised, “Paramount refineries are supplied through our own pipelines from our own production.”

Paramount Petroleum in July 1920 completed the No. 5 Shaw well, which produced 500 barrels of oil a day from 2,090 feet deep in the Homer field. In August, the company’s No. 9 Shaw well become another 500-barrels-of-oil-a-day producer from a depth of 2,100 feet.

Anticipating more growth in oil production, Paramount Petroleum committed to an agreement for 300 tank cars from Standard Tank Car Company of St. Louis, Missouri.

“Not too bright”

“Paramount has just closed a deal for one half interest in 24 producing wells in the old Caddo field with 1,200 acres of proven territory on which many wells can yet be drilled,” reported the Petroleum Age in October 1920. “The production department of Paramount Petroleum is making splendid headway and with its large acreage, will no doubt greatly add to the earnings of the company.”

But the Petroleum Age reporter had got it wrong. By February 1921, Paramount Petroleum’s refinery at Superior was running at only about 50 percent capacity. Another trade publication reported the company’s prospects as “not too bright.”

Shipments from Paramount Petroleum’s Homer oilfield holdings dropped to just 168 barrels of oil a day. In May 1921 the struggling company leased its underused refinery and fleet of 390 tank cars to Lucky Six Oil Company for six months.

The Homer field attracted drillers from earlier discoveries at the nearby Caddo-Pines oilfields. Photo courtesy the Petroleum History Institute.

The Homer field attracted drillers from earlier discoveries at the nearby Caddo-Pines oilfields. Photo courtesy the Petroleum History Institute.

To the south, the Busey-Armstrong No. 1 oil gusher on January 10, 1921, had opened Arkansas’ El Dorado field and Lucky Six Oil Company had entered the scramble to exploit the new field’s huge production (578,000 barrels of oil in the month of May alone).

The oilfield discovery 15 miles north of the Louisiana border was the first Arkansas oil well. It attracted even more exploration and production companies to the region.

As competition intensified, Paramount Petroleum struggled to pay debts. It was unable to make a required $200,000 mortgage payment to Commercial National Bank of Shreveport in July 1921. The deal Paramount had struck with Consolidated Progressive Oil back in 1919 had become toxic.

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The National Petroleum News reported on September 7, 1921, that Consolidated Progressive Oil was seeking a court-ordered receiver to take over Paramount Petroleum. The action was based on claims totaling $849,547 — and “averred acts jeopardizing the interests of creditors.” Among the allegations was “the effect that officials of the defendant concern have admitted in writing the company’s inability to meet present and maturing obligations.”

Paramount Petroleum’s epitaph was brief. “It is officially stated that this company is out of business,” reported Poor’s Cumulative Service in December 1921. “Its properties are to be sold by the sheriff December 24 and proceeds applied on the first Mortgage notes.”

The first Louisiana oil well had been drilled 17 years before the end of Paramount Petroleum. More stories about petroleum exploration and production companies trying to join drilling booms (and avoid busts) can be found in an updated series of research at Is my Old Oil Stock worth Anything?

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Recommended Reading: Louisiana’s Oil Heritage, Images of America (2012); Early Louisiana and Arkansas Oil: A Photographic History, 1901-1946 (1982). 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 annual AOGHS supporter and help maintain this energy education website and expand historical research. For more information, contact bawells@aoghs.org. Copyright AOGHS © 2025

Citation Information – Article Title: “Paramount Petroleum Company.” Authors: B.A. Wells and K.L. Wells. Website Name: American Oil & Gas Historical Society. URL:httpshttps://aoghs.org/old-oil-stocks/paramount-petroleum-company. Last Updated: March 9, 2025. Original Published Date: August 15, 2015.

Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center

Oklahoma museum opened in 2011 to preserve history of Sooners and the American West.

 

The Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center (CSRHC) in Enid, Oklahoma, preserves the history of the settling the Cherokee Strip — and the search for petroleum in northwestern Oklahoma. The museum opened in 2011 following six years of work by many Enid residents, including a leading independent producer.

Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center

Hundreds gathered for the April 1, 2011, opening of the $10 million Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center on the east side of Enid, Oklahoma.

Overlooking a Chisholm Trail watering hole, CSRHC stands on “one of the most meaningful spots in the history of the American West” and includes the Humphrey Heritage Village, site of the only remaining U.S. Land Office from the 1893 Cherokee Strip Land Run.

Staking a claim to a piece of land on the day of the land run was a hard journey for those who poured over the border on September 16, 1893. Known as the Cherokee Outlet Opening or the Cherokee Strip Land Run, it followed the more famous first land run into unassigned lands of former Indian Territory on April 22, 1889.

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CSRHC Chairman Llewellyn “Lew” O. Ward III (1930-2016) addressed a crowd gathered at the latest cultural addition to Enid on April 1, 2011. “Opening the heritage center is the closing of one chapter, but just the beginning of another to fulfill our pledge of claiming our past and inspiring our future,” announced Ward, who was instrumental in establishing the facility.

The $10 million center’s opening followed six years of dedicated work, explained the independent producer, who died in March 2016 after leading state and national industry associations and receiving many lifetime achievement awards. “Exhibits and programs will make a significant impact on future generations,” explained Ward, who in 1963 founded Ward Petroleum in Enid.

Ward, a past chairman of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), was presented the industry’s Chief Roughneck Award (1955 to 2019) by Lone Star Steel during the IPAA annual meeting in 1999. The American Oil and Gas Historical Society declared him an exceptional “oil patch preservationist” during its 2007 Energy Education Conference in Oklahoma City.  

Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center

The Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center includes a 1927 portable drilling rig created by petroleum technology pioneer George E. Failing, who added a drilling rig to a Ford farm truck. The same engine that drove the sturdy truck across the oilfields was used to power its rotary drill.

Thanks to Ward’s commitment to building the facility, the Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center Inc. was created in 2005 through partnerships with the Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS), the Sons & Daughters of the Cherokee Strip Pioneers Association, and the Phillips University Legacy Foundation.

The Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center chairmanat podium in 2011.

CSHHC Chairman Lew O. Ward (1939-2018) spoke at the 2011 opening. Ward served on the boards of the National Petroleum Council and the College of Engineering at the University of Oklahoma

The former heritage museum at the eastern edge of Enid became a property of the Oklahoma Historical Society in 1976 and is now the Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center, including the library.

Ward noted the new center’s oral history library contains more than 260 interviews capturing the stories of the Cherokee Strip from those who have lived them. “This growing library is an invaluable component of historical research for our region,” he added.

“Trained staff and volunteers collect the oral histories of people from the Cherokee Strip and Northwest Oklahoma,” Ward said. “The interviews are then transcribed and made available to the public and for use in the Research Center.”

Further, a the center has hosted teachers seminars on the Enid campus of Northwestern Oklahoma State University, according to Ward. The seminar explained to teaches how to incorporate lessons of leadership into their curriculum through the study of history,” he explained.

In November 2013, the center was selected by the Oklahoma Energy Resources Board (OERB) to partner in the statewide school education programs — OERB Homeroom.

Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center

In 1917, Herbert H. Champlin purchased a small refinery on the outskirts of Enid. By 1944 his company operated service stations in 20 states.

OERB spends millions of dollars annually to provide teacher training, curricula and programs that bring the petroleum industry to classrooms across the state — and offers free field trips to selected museums. “We are thrilled that the Heritage Center has been chosen to partner with OERB in their school education program,” said Museum Director Andi Holland in 2011.

“The heritage center’s Dave Donaldson Oil and Gas Gallery is well equipped marking the beginnings of oil and gas production in the Cherokee Strip through its economic importance to Northwestern Oklahoma today,” Holland added. The center’s gallery includes a series of interactive features about how natural resources are found, produced and refined.

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A program already created by the heritage center’s education department is called “Boom and Bust, Natural Resources in the Cherokee Strip,” said Cody Jolliff, the Enid museum’s education director.

“This partnership will allow more students to attend the heritage center and learn more about Northwest Oklahoma and the rich natural resources that impact our lives,” Jolliff added.

Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center exhibits include: The Outlet – Learn about life before the land run, and how the run changed the course of history; The Land & the People Gallery – Hear the stories of settlers in the years after they staked their claims.

Also among the exhibits, the Thelma Gungoll Phillips University Gallery – Celebrate the founding and history of the first private university in the state.

The Dave Donaldson Oil & Gas Gallery offers a Champlin Oil exhibit. “The Champlin Refining Company, which for many years held the distinction of being the nation’s largest fully integrated oil company under private ownership, was based at Enid,” according to the Oklahoma Historical Society.

The Sooner State’s petroleum industry began one decade before statehood with an 1897 oilfield discovery near a trading post called Bartlesville.

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Recommended Reading:   Oil in Oklahoma (1976); Oil And Gas In Oklahoma: Petroleum Geology In Oklahoma (2013); The Oklahoma Petroleum Industry (1980). 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 preserves U.S. petroleum history. Please become an AOGHS annual supporter today and help maintain this energy education website and expand historical research. For more information, contact bawells@aoghs.org. Copyright © 2025 Bruce A. Wells. All rights reserved.

Citation Information – Article Title: “Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center.” Authors: B.A. Wells and K.L. Wells. Website Name: American Oil & Gas Historical Society. URL: https://aoghs.org/cherokee-strip-regional-heritage-center. Last Updated: March 28, 2025. Original Published Date: June 1, 2011.

Rigs to Reefs

Thousands of offshore petroleum structures provide energy — and marine habitats.

 

Offshore petroleum platforms act as artificial reefs, creating important marine habitats, according to scientists. Beginning with an Exxon experimental subsea structure in 1979, the U.S. government’s “Rigs to Reefs” program established the largest artificial habitat in the world.

The Gulf of Mexico, both onshore and offshore, has continued to be a key contributor to U.S. oil and natural gas resources and energy infrastructure. Federal offshore oil production in 2023 accounted for 15 percent of total U.S. crude oil and five percent of natural gas production, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). 

Diver swims between pylons of offshore oil platform.

Offshore platforms make good artificial reefs. The open design attracts fish — and divers — where they can swim easily through the circulating water. Photo courtesy U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

(more…)

First Wyoming Oil Wells

A popular 1837 book by Washington Irving helped reveal natural resources of the Far West.

 

Tales of a Wyoming “tar spring” convinced the experienced Pennsylvania oilfield explorer Mike Murphy to drill a shallow well in 1883. He sold his oil to Union Pacific to lubricate train axles. Others would follow in the search for Wyoming oilfields.

Civil War veteran Philip Shannon explored for oil at Salt Creek outside of Casper in 1890. His well revealed what proved to be a 22,000-acre oilfield. An oil gusher drilled by a Dutch company made headlines in 1908.

But the story of Wyoming’s petroleum really began with Washington Irving, author of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” (more…)

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