Oklahoma Journeys
Week of March 1, 2008
Discovery of Cushing Oil Field 1912
It’s the Beverly Hillbillies Oklahoma style this week on Oklahoma Journeys. Western Creek County is a rugged land with jagged sandstone hills, rocky outcroppings and little farmable land. For people trying to make a living in this area, it was a day-to-day struggle. In 1912, however, the discovery of oil brought great change to this region. This week marks the 96th anniversary of the discovery of the Cushing Oil Field, and that’s the topic of this week’s Oklahoma Journeys from the Oklahoma Historical Society.
From the Oklahoma Historical Society, this is Oklahoma Journeys. I’m Michael Dean.
For the Wheeler family of the early 1900s, life in western Creek County was anything but easy. The dad, a part time stone-mason and rancher, eked out a living for his wife and three daughters from whatever work he could find. Their land wasn’t good for farming or much else; it was hilly, rocky, and held poor thin soil. The Wheeler family however soon discovered that their land held immense value of a different sort.
It was in this week of 1912 that an oilfield wildcatter, the legendary Tom Slick, visited the Wheeler family farm and arranged to drill some test wells on their property. The Wheelers agreed of course and the drilling began. Wheeler number one was the first well to come in heralding the beginning of one of the largest oil booms known up to that time. The Wheelers good-for-nothing farm, it turns out, sat on top of one of the richest oil reserves in the contiguous United States. When news of the Wheelers fortune became public the once deserted area erupted with all of the expected components of an oil boom era. New towns sprang up, thousands of men and families descended on the area, and businesses and fortunes emerged literally overnight.
The Cushing Field, as it was called, peaked in 1915 supplying 17% of the oil used in the US and 3% of the oil used in the world at that time. There was a saying in 1918 that in World War One, the allies floated to victory on a sea of oil. It was the Cushing oil field that provided that sea. The oil field not only put forth oceans of oil, but it was the last unregulated oil boom in the United States. Because of the tremendous economic and environmental chaos caused by the Cushing strike, the Federal and state government stepped in with strict rules and regulations concerning future oil field boom regions.
The Wheeler family, now millionaires, left their one room cabin, bought a house in Stillwater and put all of the Wheeler daughters through school. The site of the Wheeler farm became the town of Drumright. Today, the area still maintains a high profile in the oil and gas industry through a myriad of pipelines that converge in the tank farms in Cushing. The Wheeler Number One, the well that started it all, is still pumping in Drumright today, 96 years later.
Oil is a rich and vital part of our state’s history. At the Oklahoma History Center, you’ll a display featuring four oil derricks and other oil field equipment in an outdoor exhibit. Inside the history center is a detailed exhibit on our natural resources. The Oklahoma History Center is located on N.E. 23rd Street just east of the State Capitol. Oklahoma Journeys is a production of the Oklahoma Historical Society, dedicated to the collection, preservation, and sharing of our State’s past. I’m Michael Dean.