First oil well in Oklahoma - wikipedia First oil well in Oklahoma First Oil Well in Oklahoma U.S. National Register of Historic Places Show map of Oklahoma Show map of the US Show all Nearest city Wapanucka, Oklahoma Coordinates 34 ° 24 ′ 6 '' N 96 ° 22 ′ 25 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 34.40167 ° N 96.37361 ° W ﻿ / 34.40167 ; - 96.37361 Coordinates : 34 ° 24 ′ 6 '' N 96 ° 22 ′ 25 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 34.40167 ° N 96.37361 ° W ﻿ / 34.40167 ; - 96.37361 Area 5 acres ( 2.0 ha ) Built 1888 NRHP reference # 72001053 Added to NRHP April 13, 1972 The First Oil Well in Oklahoma was drilled in 1885 in Atoka County, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory, though it was not completed until 1888. The First Oil Well in Oklahoma ( also known as Old Faucett Well ) is a historic oil well site near the present Wapanucka, Johnston County, Oklahoma. It was drilled by Dr. H.W. Faucett, who started work in 1885 on Choctaw land for the Choctaw Oil and Refining Company, but the 1,414 - foot ( 431 m ) well was not completed until 1888. A small amount of oil and gas was produced, but not in commercially usable quantity. The well was abandoned after Faucett fell ill and died later in 1888. The first commercially productive well in Indian Territory was the Nellie Johnstone No. 1 well near Bartlesville, Oklahoma ( then in the Cherokee Nation ), drilled in 1897. The well was added to the National Register of Historic Places ( NRHP ) in 1972. The capped well casing is the well 's only remnant. Contents 1 Background 2 Drilling operation 3 End of the Choctaw project 4 Notes 5 References Background The presence of oil in Indian Territory had been observed for many years, usually as natural seepage from the ground. Oklahoma Historian Muriel H. Wright described an incident in 1859, in which Lewis Ross, the brother of Cherokee Chief John Ross, attempted to drill a deep water well for the salt works he owned in the Cherokee Nation. Instead, the well hit an oil formation. She reported that production was estimated at ten barrels a day for nearly a year. Production stopped when gas pressure in the formation dropped too low to continue the flow. According to the NRHP submission, Dr. H.W. Faucett, a resident of New York, was one of the first businessmen to recognize the potential of oil as a fuel in Indian Territory. He wrote the following letter to Rev. Allen Wright, Governor of the Choctaw Nation in Indian Territory, dated December 12, 1883, proposing terms for exploiting this resource.... It would be impossible to interest capital in the work unless there was some agreement as to the extent of territory that could be had and the specified royalty ; it would not do to wait until petroleum was found. You will please write me fully and explicitly as to what can be done in both the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations. Say if you think the exclusive privilege can be had, also the pipe line privilege for transporting oil. '' Allen Wright evidently approved the proposal in principle and passed it on to the tribal council. On October 23, 1883, the council approved creating the ``... Choctaw Oil and Refining Company, for the purpose of finding petroleum or rock oil, and increasing the revenue of the Choctaw Nation. '' The authorizations ( basically concessions ) gave exclusive rights for producing, transporting and refining in both nations... an larea of nearly 20,000 square miles ( 52,000 km ). Muriel Wright reported that Dr. Eliphalet Nott Wright, then president of the Choctaw and Refining Company, enthusiastically backed Faucett. On several occasions when funds ran dangerously low, Dr. Wright supplied his own money to pay the workers and keep the well digging work going. This calmed the fears of other important Choctaws that Faucett was at fault for delaying completion of the well. Drilling operation Faucett 's crew erected a drilling rig on Choctaw land near Clear Boggy Creek in late 1885. The actual drilling operation was a very slow operation because all supplies had to be shipped by railroad from St. Louis to Atoka, then loaded onto oxcarts and driven 14 miles ( 23 km ) to the job site. Poor lines of communications with Faucett 's backers in the East slowed the delivery of funds, further hampering progress. Construction of the Choctaw well apparently did not begin until after August 1885. By that time, members of both the Choctaw and Cherokee companies were complaining openly about the delays. Faucett explained to the Choctaw company that everything was ready to begin. However, the Cherokee operation, which had been approved a few months after the Choctaw agreements, would be started later. So, the Cherokee council repealed its 1884 act, effectively canceling their part of the project. On receiving this news, Faucett 's New York backers, also backed out of the deal. That forced Faucett to find new financial backing in St. Louis. When Robert L. Owen tried to get the Cherokee council to reinstate the project in the following year, he found that both the Cherokees and the St. Louis backers had lost interest, so the Cherokee well was never resumed. End of the Choctaw project The Choctaw project continued as promised, without unnecessary delays. Finally, the hole reached a depth of 1,414 feet ( 431 m ), when the well started showing both oil and gas. Faucett became ill at the jobsite just as work was being completed. He rushed to his home in Neosho, Missouri to seek medical treatment, but died shortly after. Evidently, all other parties to the project felt they could not continue without him, so the Choctaw Oil Company capped the well, abandoned the site and went out of business. Notes Jump up ^ Faucett had also contacted the Cherokee Nation with similar arrangement for drilling on its lands. The Cherokee Council approved his proposal on December 13, 1884. Jump up ^ Dr. E.N. Wright was the son of Rev. Allen Wright ( and the uncle of Muriel Wright ) Jump up ^ Robert L. Owen was an influential Cherokee, who became one of Oklahoma 's first two U.S. Senators immediately after statehood in 1907. References ^ Jump up to : National Park Service ( 2010 - 07 - 09 ). `` National Register Information System ''. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. ^ Jump up to : Ruth, Kent ( August 1971 ). `` National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form : First Oil Well in Oklahoma '' ( PDF ). National Park Service. Retrieved 9 May 2013. ^ Jump up to : Wright, Muriel H. `` First Oklahoma Oil was Produced in 1859. '' Chronicles of Oklahoma. Vol. 4, No. 4. December, 1926. Accessed August 18, 2016. Jump up ^ Wright, Muriel H. `` A Brief Review of the Life of Doctor Eliphalet Nott Wright ( 1858 - 1932 ). '' Chronicles of Oklahoma. Vol. 10, No. 2, June 1932. ) Accessed August 19, 2016 U.S. National Register of Historic Places Topics Architectural style categories Contributing property Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places Keeper of the Register National Park Service Property types Lists by states Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Lists by insular areas American Samoa Guam Minor Outlying Islands Northern Mariana Islands Puerto Rico Virgin Islands Lists by associated states Federated States of Micronesia Marshall Islands Palau Other areas District of Columbia Morocco Portal Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=First_Oil_Well_in_Oklahoma&oldid=825203847 '' Categories : Oil wells in Oklahoma Energy infrastructure completed in 1888 Buildings and structures in Atoka County, Oklahoma Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Oklahoma National Register of Historic Places in Atoka County, Oklahoma Pre-statehood history of Oklahoma 1885 in Indian Territory Talk Contents About Wikipedia Add links This page was last edited on 12 February 2018, at 01 : 46. 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Question: where was the first oil well drilled in oklahoma
Answer: Atoka County, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory