This Week in History

March 26, 1930 – “Wild Mary Sudik” makes Headlines   The Indian Territory Illuminating Oil Company’s Mary Sudic No. 1 well erupts and flows skyward for 11 days before being brought under control. The gusher is known as “Wild Mary Sudik”

March 27, 1855 – Canadian Chemist invents Kerosene  Abraham Gesner, A Canadian chemist, patents a process to distill bituminous shale and cannel coal into kerosene.

March 27, 1975 – Work begins on Alaskan Pipeline  Construction begins on the largest private construction project in American history – the 789 mile long Trans Alaskan Pipeline system.

March 28, 1886 – Indiana Natural Gas Boom Begins  When the Eureka Gas and Oil Company finds gas at 700 feet, a natural gas boom comes to Portland Indiana.

March 29, 1819 – Birthday of the Father of the Petroleum Industry  Edwin Laurentine Drake (1819-1880) became the “father of the petroleum industry” when he drilled America’s first commercial oil well in 1859 near Titusville Pennsylvania.

March 29, 1938 – Arkansas discovery  The Barnett No.1 well opens the 100 million barrel Magnolia Oilfield in Southern Arkansas. Kerlyn Oil Company’s (predecessor to the Kerr-McGee company) vice president and geologist Dean McGee was rewarded with the giant Arkansas discovery at 7,646 feet.

April 1, 1911 – First “Pump Jack Capital of Texas” discovery  The Clayco Oil & Pipe Line Company’s Clayco No. 1 well launches an oil boom that lasts for decades just south of the Red River border with Oklahoma, near Electra Texas.

April 1, 1986 – Oil Prices hit Modern Low  Excessive OPEC production, worldwide recession and a U.S. petroleum industry heavily regulated by production or price controls cause world oil prices to fall below $10 a barrel.