49
An oil driller named G. Bates is credited with the first discovery of gas in Indiana
near the town of Francesville while drilling for oil at a depth of 500 feet (152 m) in
1867 (https://aoghs.org/petroleum-pioneers/indiana-natural-gas-boom/; accessed
8/15/2019). Coal miners in the east-central part of the state were boring a hole in
search of coal near the town of Eaton, Indiana in 1876 and discovered gas a depth
of about 600 feet (180 m). Not having any way to capture it, they plugged the hole
and abandoned the location. A few years later, the 1884 discovery of natural gas
near the neighboring town of Findlay in northwestern Ohio prompted additional
drilling at Eaton, where a substantial amount of gas was encountered after the original borehole was deepened by an additional 322 feet (98 m). The gas was ignited,
and the flame reportedly reached 120 feet (36 m) into the air and was visible from
Muncie, Indiana. A gas boom swept the state and thousands of new wells were
drilled. This additional drilling revealed that a large gas field was present to the
north and east of Indianapolis, and extended into western Ohio. Named the Trenton
Field, it was the largest natural gas resource found up to that date. (Glass and
Kohrman 2005).
Because no national pipeline distribution system existed for natural gas, the production had to be used locally. Indiana gas supplies soon brought manufacturing
industries to the Midwest, including steel makers. Andrew Carnegie said in 1885
that the natural gas he used for making steel replaced 10,000 tons of coal a day, and
towns with natural gas resources competed vigorously to attract new businesses.
Sadly, much of the gas was wasted, because operators typically flared off a portion
of the production at the wellhead in what was known as a “flambeau“to prove to
investors that the gas was flowing (Gray 1994).
The Trenton Field also contained substantial amounts of oil associated with the
gas, but numerous flambeaus had reduced subsurface pressures to the point where
the oil would not flow. Almost all natural gas production from the Trenton Field
ended by 1910, with the recovery of only about 10% of the petroleum. An estimated
900 million barrels of oil remained in the field, immobilized by a lack of gas pressure (Gray 1994). High oil prices in the late twentieth century led to the resumption
of small amounts of oil production using advanced artificial lift technology.
Oil production in Pennsylvania peaked in 1891, when the state produced 31 million barrels of oil, but it was surpassed by Ohio in 1895. After three decades of
dominating petroleum production in the United States, wells in Pennsylvania and
Ohio began to slacken off by the turn of the new century, and oil drillers started
looking around for other prospects (Williamson et al. 1981). The “Mid-Continent”
region became the next area of prolific oil production in the U.S. Encompassing
Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and northern Texas, it includes the Anadarko and
Arkoma basins, both of which have been prolific producers. Oil well drilling in
Kansas began in 1892, in Texas in 1894, and in Oklahoma in 1897. Oklahoma
wasn’t even a state yet, not achieving that status until 1907.
Potential oil resources in the Gulf Coast area of Texas and Louisiana had been
routinely dismissed by petroleum prospectors since the days of the Drake well.
Despite the presence of sulfur springs and flammable gas seepages, there were few
signs of oil at the surface, and the flat topography didn’t appear to contain any of the
3.2 Spindletop, Gushers, and the Advent of Big Oil
An oil driller named G. Bates is credited with the first discovery of gas in Indiana
near the town of Francesville while drilling for oil at a depth of 500 feet (152 m) in
1867 (https://aoghs.org/petroleum-pioneers/indiana-natural-gas-boom/; accessed
8/15/2019). Coal miners in the east-central part of the state were boring a hole in
search of coal near the town of Eaton, Indiana in 1876 and discovered gas a depth
of about 600 feet (180 m). Not having any way to capture it, they plugged the hole
and abandoned the location. A few years later, the 1884 discovery of natural gas
near the neighboring town of Findlay in northwestern Ohio prompted additional
drilling at Eaton, where a substantial amount of gas was encountered after the original borehole was deepened by an additional 322 feet (98 m). The gas was ignited,
and the flame reportedly reached 120 feet (36 m) into the air and was visible from
Muncie, Indiana. A gas boom swept the state and thousands of new wells were
drilled. This additional drilling revealed that a large gas field was present to the
north and east of Indianapolis, and extended into western Ohio. Named the Trenton
Field, it was the largest natural gas resource found up to that date. (Glass and
Kohrman 2005).
Because no national pipeline distribution system existed for natural gas, the production had to be used locally. Indiana gas supplies soon brought manufacturing
industries to the Midwest, including steel makers. Andrew Carnegie said in 1885
that the natural gas he used for making steel replaced 10,000 tons of coal a day, and
towns with natural gas resources competed vigorously to attract new businesses.
Sadly, much of the gas was wasted, because operators typically flared off a portion
of the production at the wellhead in what was known as a “flambeau“to prove to
investors that the gas was flowing (Gray 1994).
The Trenton Field also contained substantial amounts of oil associated with the
gas, but numerous flambeaus had reduced subsurface pressures to the point where
the oil would not flow. Almost all natural gas production from the Trenton Field
ended by 1910, with the recovery of only about 10% of the petroleum. An estimated
900 million barrels of oil remained in the field, immobilized by a lack of gas pressure (Gray 1994). High oil prices in the late twentieth century led to the resumption
of small amounts of oil production using advanced artificial lift technology.
Oil production in Pennsylvania peaked in 1891, when the state produced 31 million barrels of oil, but it was surpassed by Ohio in 1895. After three decades of
dominating petroleum production in the United States, wells in Pennsylvania and
Ohio began to slacken off by the turn of the new century, and oil drillers started
looking around for other prospects (Williamson et al. 1981). The “Mid-Continent”
region became the next area of prolific oil production in the U.S. Encompassing
Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and northern Texas, it includes the Anadarko and
Arkoma basins, both of which have been prolific producers. Oil well drilling in
Kansas began in 1892, in Texas in 1894, and in Oklahoma in 1897. Oklahoma
wasn’t even a state yet, not achieving that status until 1907.
Potential oil resources in the Gulf Coast area of Texas and Louisiana had been
routinely dismissed by petroleum prospectors since the days of the Drake well.
Despite the presence of sulfur springs and flammable gas seepages, there were few
signs of oil at the surface, and the flat topography didn’t appear to contain any of the
3.2 Spindletop, Gushers, and the Advent of Big Oil