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Second Frantz well in Cat Creek
By: J.S. (Curley) Meek as told to Mike Voeller
Newspaper March 11, 1962
The Charles discovery well wasn't completed until April of 1920, just two months after the first
show of oil was brought in. When the well was completed 34 oilmen representing numerous
companies were on hand.
This sparked the boom and as Meek recalls, "everybody went wild. It wasn't long before all
kinds of contractors ant truckers were coming into Winnett. Before May rolled around there
were some 14 rigs drilling in the field.
"Frantz' didn't waste any time setting another location and it wasn't long before we had
another well going on Section 14 in the west end of the field. This was the well that really set
things going and I always refer to it as the 'big well'."
The crew for this well consisted of Curley Meek, A.T. Zinn, Jack Tucker and Ben Barnett.
They got their first show of oil on this well on May 20 in the first Cat Creek Sand. There was no
storage so the oil was allowed to flow over the top of the well. It ran down a dammed up
coulee and just sat there. They gave it away to farmers who used it for cattle dip but when the
oilmen saw that they were starting to use the high gravity oil in their automobiles for fuel they
promptly quit the give-away.
The oil was allowed to flow free from May 20 until August when the well was completed. It
flowed al 2160 barrels a day.
After the big well, named Wildschultz No.1, was completed one company after another started
bringing in good producers. Following the Wildschultz well Claude and Paul Stock of MidNorthern
Drilling Co. brought in a well as big as the Wildschultz.
During this period of time the Frantz Company had started to run into financial difficulties and
after going quite heavily into debt Frantz sold his interests to the Elk Basin Oil Co. He became a
director of that firm.
Frantz might have sold out a little soon. The transaction was completed just before the
Wildshutz was completed in August.
The Elk Basin Company wasted little time in getting things rolling. Their first order of business
was to build a pipeline to Winnett where Bill Cutwright was assigned the task of bUilding the
first storage tanks.
The line was completed on August 28 and on August 30 the first three carloads of oil were
shipped.
Another four-inch line was aid and transporting oil by October 16. The first line was two-incher.
By the end of September 40 rigs were producing and the two pipelines were handling 5,000
barrels of oil a day. By December 31, 1920 the field had produced $734,181 of oil.
During this time Winnett was experiencing a boom the likes of which it had never before
witnessed.
Before the boom hit Morty Boyd worked as the depot agent in Winnett alone. During the peak
of oil speculation he had nine employees and was doing a $1 million a month business. "In one
day alone two trains brought in 30 carloads of supplies," Meek said "and this in turn kept the
truckers and teamsters busy hauling them to the field. At one time the Frantz Co. had 22 four
horse teams hauling for them. Due to the limited trackage at Winnett many of the cars had to
Object Description
| Rating | |
| Title | Second Frantz well in cat creek |
| Description | A description of the oil industry at Cat Creek, Montana near Winnett, Montana. |
| Creator | J.S. (Curley) Meek as told to Mike Voeller |
| Genre | newspapers |
| Type | Text |
| Language | eng |
| Date Original | 1962-03-11 |
| Subject (keyword) | Oil refinery; Cat Creek, Montana; |
| Subject (AAT) | Oil; |
| Rights Management | No copyright restrictions |
| Other contributors | Lewistown Daily News |
| Contributing Institution | Lewistown Public Library, Lewistown, Montana |
| Publisher (Original) | Lewistown Public Library, Lewistown, Montana |
| Geographic Coverage | Cat Creek, Montana. Winnett, Montana. |
| Digital collection | Central Montana Historical Documents |
| Digital Format | application/pdf |
| Physical format | Typed newspaper article |
| Digitization Specifications | Canon MX310 300dpi |
| Full text of this item | Second Frantz well in Cat Creek By: J.S. (Curley) Meek as told to Mike Voeller Newspaper March 11, 1962 The Charles discovery well wasn't completed until April of 1920, just two months after the first show of oil was brought in. When the well was completed 34 oilmen representing numerous companies were on hand. This sparked the boom and as Meek recalls, "everybody went wild. It wasn't long before all kinds of contractors ant truckers were coming into Winnett. Before May rolled around there were some 14 rigs drilling in the field. "Frantz' didn't waste any time setting another location and it wasn't long before we had another well going on Section 14 in the west end of the field. This was the well that really set things going and I always refer to it as the `big well'." The crew for this well consisted of Curley Meek, A.T. Zinn, Jack Tucker and Ben Barnett. They got their first show of oil on this well on May 20 in the first Cat Creek Sand. There was no storage so the oil was allowed to flow over the top of the well. It ran down a dammed up coulee and just sat there. They gave it away to farmers who used it for cattle dip but when the oilmen saw that they were starting to use the high gravity oil in their automobiles for fuel they promptly quit the give-away. The oil was allowed to flow free from May 20 until August when the well was completed. It flowed al 2160 barrels a day. After the big well, named Wildschultz No. 1, was completed one company after another started bringing in good producers. Following the Wildschultz well Claude and Paul Stock of Mid-Northern Drilling Co. brought in a well as big as the Wildschultz. During this period of time the Frantz Company had started to run into financial difficulties and after going quite heavily into debt Frantz sold his interests to the Elk Basin Oil Co. He became a director of that firm. Frantz might have sold out a little soon. The transaction was completed just before the Wildshutz was completed in August. The Elk Basin Company wasted little time in getting things rolling. Their first order of business was to build a pipeline to Winnett where Bill Cutwright was assigned the task of building the first storage tanks. The line was completed on August 28 and on August 30 the first three carloads of oil were shipped. Another four-inch line was aid and transporting oil by October 16. The first line was two-incher. By the end of September 40 rigs were producing and the two pipelines were handling 5,000 barrels of oil a day. By December 31, 1920 the field had produced $734,181 of oil. During this time Winnett was experiencing a boom the likes of which it had never before witnessed. Before the boom hit Morty Boyd worked as the depot agent in Winnett alone. During the peak of oil speculation be had nine employees and was doing a $1 million a month business. "In one day alone two trains brought in 30 carloads of supplies" Meek said “and this in turn kept the truckers and teamsters busy hauling them to the field. At one time the Frantz Co. had 22 four horse teams hauling for them. Due to the limited trackage at Winnett many of the cars had to be sidetracked in Lewistown until they could be moved on east. Winnett businessmen also prospered. "I remember Pete Anderson" Meek said. "He had a store in Winnett and he said before the oil he would do about $12 in business in one day —then all of a sudden he was doing $1200 worth before he had a chance to hang his hat up when he came in in the morning." Oil companies were being formed right and left. There were some 130 companies formed and Tom Stout, publisher at the Democrat News in Lewistown, kept one press busy just printing stock. With business good the city of Winnett also took great strides forward in March and April of 1920. During that time they awarded a franchise for public lighting, installed a new water system, bought a new hook and ladder fire truck and built a fire barn. "Buildings were going up everywhere as new businesses started and hotels were opened." Meet remembers. "There were plenty of tent hotels and many old buildings were converted into hotels. "Then later in 1920 the oil well supply firms started to move in. There was the National in Lewistown run by Toni Renner, the Continental in Winnett, run by Clyde Glasser and the Lydecker managed by Rudy Ohman and the Oil Well Supply Co. managed by C. R. McChane." This however, was relatively short lived. The exploration continued throughout 1921 and 1922 then the price of oil started to decline and the field had about as many wells as was possible in its limited area. The year 1922 heralded the discovery of the Kevin-Sunburst field. Most of the companies pulled up stakes to move to the new field and Winnett began the slow process of returning to normal. There's not much left now, but the field is still going strong. During October of last year 99 producing wells in the field yielded 19,423 barrels of oil. The field's cumulative production in October stood at 773,912 barrels. "It was quite a boom" Meek said. "And you could say it the first page of the first chapter on the history of oil in Montana was written that day in February, 1920 when the Charles well hit that first show of oil. |
| Local Identifier | SC 8.7 |
Description
| Title | Second Frantz well in cat creek 1 |
| Type | Text |
| Contributing Institution | Lewistown Public Library, Lewistown, Montana |
| Digital Format | application/pdf |
| Digitization Specifications | Canon MX310 300dpi |
| Full text of this item | Second Frantz well in Cat Creek By: J.S. (Curley) Meek as told to Mike Voeller Newspaper March 11, 1962 The Charles discovery well wasn't completed until April of 1920, just two months after the first show of oil was brought in. When the well was completed 34 oilmen representing numerous companies were on hand. This sparked the boom and as Meek recalls, "everybody went wild. It wasn't long before all kinds of contractors ant truckers were coming into Winnett. Before May rolled around there were some 14 rigs drilling in the field. "Frantz' didn't waste any time setting another location and it wasn't long before we had another well going on Section 14 in the west end of the field. This was the well that really set things going and I always refer to it as the 'big well'." The crew for this well consisted of Curley Meek, A.T. Zinn, Jack Tucker and Ben Barnett. They got their first show of oil on this well on May 20 in the first Cat Creek Sand. There was no storage so the oil was allowed to flow over the top of the well. It ran down a dammed up coulee and just sat there. They gave it away to farmers who used it for cattle dip but when the oilmen saw that they were starting to use the high gravity oil in their automobiles for fuel they promptly quit the give-away. The oil was allowed to flow free from May 20 until August when the well was completed. It flowed al 2160 barrels a day. After the big well, named Wildschultz No.1, was completed one company after another started bringing in good producers. Following the Wildschultz well Claude and Paul Stock of MidNorthern Drilling Co. brought in a well as big as the Wildschultz. During this period of time the Frantz Company had started to run into financial difficulties and after going quite heavily into debt Frantz sold his interests to the Elk Basin Oil Co. He became a director of that firm. Frantz might have sold out a little soon. The transaction was completed just before the Wildshutz was completed in August. The Elk Basin Company wasted little time in getting things rolling. Their first order of business was to build a pipeline to Winnett where Bill Cutwright was assigned the task of bUilding the first storage tanks. The line was completed on August 28 and on August 30 the first three carloads of oil were shipped. Another four-inch line was aid and transporting oil by October 16. The first line was two-incher. By the end of September 40 rigs were producing and the two pipelines were handling 5,000 barrels of oil a day. By December 31, 1920 the field had produced $734,181 of oil. During this time Winnett was experiencing a boom the likes of which it had never before witnessed. Before the boom hit Morty Boyd worked as the depot agent in Winnett alone. During the peak of oil speculation he had nine employees and was doing a $1 million a month business. "In one day alone two trains brought in 30 carloads of supplies" Meek said "and this in turn kept the truckers and teamsters busy hauling them to the field. At one time the Frantz Co. had 22 four horse teams hauling for them. Due to the limited trackage at Winnett many of the cars had to |
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