MTCARTER-L Archives

From:
Subject: The Ekalaka oil fever of 1920, by John Franklin Lewis.
Date: 17 Apr 2006 13:29:59 -0600

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.

Surnames: Lewis, Rockafellow, O'Day, Norcutt
Classification: Lookup

Message Board URL:

http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/xMB.2ACE/115

Message Board Post:

THE FREMONT COUNTY HERALD. Sidney, Fremont County, Iowa. May 6, 1920. "OIL IN MONTANA. Big Strikes at Winett and Roundup Give Impetus to Exploration for Oil in All Parts of State". By J. F. LEWIS.-- Montana has once more proved her right and title to the name "Treasure State". Not since the discovery of gold at Alder Gulch in the early 60's or copper at Butte, has there been so much excitement throughout the state as there is over oil at the present time.

Oil has been struck in different localities, the largest strike being at Winnett in Fergus county, in the central part of the state. The oil pools were tapped at a depth of 1100 feet. The oil is of paraffin base, about 50 per cent gasoline, and of high commercial value. It is stated that the green, raw oil, just as it comes from the well, contains such a high gasoline test that automobiles using it develop more power than is developed by the ordinary commercial product. It is said to be the best grade of oil ever struck west of the Alleghanies except the product of one well in Oklahoma.

It is estimated that the Franz corporation that made the strike may be all the way from $500,000 to $1,000,000 ahead of the game already, with the great bulk of their lands left and a half interest in all oil developments where they have sold right to others. This corporation will spend a million dollars this season in developing the oil industry and in prospecting, and other corporations will expend still more. This strike has given an impetus to exploration for oil in every part of the state. The scope of possible development of an oil field extends from Carter county in the southeast corner of the state diagonally across the state to Glacier park, in the northwest corner.

The news dope from Winnett reads like Arabian Night tales. One day Winnett was a sleepy little village with a population around 200. The only thing in sight was the agricultural development of the country. Crops were poor last year, trade was dull and the future was anything but rosy. Then came the oil strike and the world discovered Winnett. In 24 hours the town's population doubled and it was almost impossible to secure accommodations for man or beast and on the first day the single restaurant with perhaps a dozen chairs fed 300 people. Eight hours constituted a sleeping portion in the hotel and the lodger who slept over that time was trespassing on the hours of repose of the other fellow, as beds were not allowed to get cold. A lot on Main street purchased for $300 on the day before the strike, sold for $600 on the following day, $900 on the next day and on the fourth day changed hands for $2,500 . There were many such deals.

John O'Day, a pioneer who has always lived on the fringe of civilization owns 640 acres adjoining the ranch on which the discovery well is siutated. The O'Day property is under lease and he will receive one-eighth of any oil developed. He has refused $100,000 for a half interest in his royalty rights to 80 acres of his property. O'Day is 60 years of age and in the autumn of a life of hardship, but he is a dead game sport.

"Nothin' doin', stranger," he replied to the oil baron who made the offer. "I may be a hayseed, but I'm no piker. I'll either be a John D. and ride around in one o' them glass automobiles, or I'll keep on sloppin' the hogs."

Over a wide area the oil sands are within a drilling depth and when prospected as they will be this summer, will undoubtedly make Monatana as large an oil state as Wyoming.

Our old friend, Bill Norcutt, and a number of other Fremont county peope live in Fergus county. But Norcutt lives near Stanford, in the western part of the county, and Winnett is in the eastern part, about a hundred miles distant. Montana counties are not like Iowa counties. Our county, Carter, is 78 miles long and 48 miles wide.

In Carter county the oil problem is the paramount issue. Prospecting has acutually begun in the southern part of the county near the Wyoming line; another company will soon begin operations in the eastern part, and still another on the north side, ten miles from Ekalaka. Expert geologists and oil spotters have for several years been making careful inspections of this territory and some of the wealthiest corporations in the United States have for more than two years been taking and holding oil leases on the lands near Ekalaka. It was the intention to begin prospecting in this field last fall, but the work was held up by the early snows. Land values near the sight of the proposed test wells are soaring. Other corporations are coming in trying to get leases but are finding it a difficult matter.

Some of our most solid and substantial business men who have for a number of years been giving close attention to the subject and who are on the inside, so to speak, say there is no doubt that there is oil in abundance in Carter county and it is only a matter of a short time until the wells will be flowing. For several years Barker, in the county just north of Carter, has been using natural gas for heating and illuminating purposes and it is generally believed that there is oil in that vicinity which will in time be uncovered.

The drilling outfit for the Ekalaka oil field has arrived at Barker, the nearest railroad station, and contracts have been made with Ekalaka lumber dealers to furnish lumber for cook shacks, bunk houses, etc. There were eight oil men in town on one day last week, representing different companies that are looking over the territory with a view to securing leases and sinking test wells. It is highly probably that the whole of Carter county will be prospected within a year or two. It is considered one of the most promising fields in the state and so much land is being leased by the oil magnates that it is affecting realty values, a curious illustration of which is seen in the matter of the Ekalaka postoffice. The owner of the building where the office is now located, has served notice on Uncle Sam to vacate. The government desires to lease a building for ten years, but no one will give that long a lease. The property owners want to be in a position to take advantage of the inc!
rease in values when the expected oil strike materializes. Meanwhile Uncle Sam must put up with any old place he can get for temporary quarters.

In no other locality in Montana has so much land been secured in territory where oil has not actually been struck, as in the vicinity of Ekalaka. As there is just two counties, between us and the oil well in Fergus county, we are waiting and expecting the story of Winnett to be duplicated before the summer is over, with the scene laid in Ekalaka.

N.B.: Fremont county, Iowa -- where John F. Lewis was a photographer, newspaper man, politician before moving to Carter county -- is made up of government survey townships 67, 68, 69 and 70 north, and of government survey ranges 40, 41, 42, 43, and a part of 44; this means it has an area of about 24 miles wide north and south, and, say, 27 or 28 miles long east and west.--W.F.

This thread:

• The Ekalaka oil fever of 1920, by John Franklin Lewis. by