The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1921-03-31

Some day, perhaps in the not dis
tant future, when Montana takes
rank among the leading petroleum
producing regions of the world, the
true history of the industry and its
development in this state will be
written.
The historian, if he be a real his
torian, will bark back a quarter OF
a century and engross the name of
the late Colonel Thomas Cruise, pion-
eer prospector, mine operator, mil
lionaire, banker and financier, on the
tablets as the first oil operator and
discoverer of Liquid gold" in this
commonwealth.
Montana's First Oil Well
To be exact, it was the evening of
August %, 1898, that the first hole
in Montana was spudded in. The
location was on the headwaters of
Butcher creek in Carbon county, but
in contrast to the modern rigs, such
as are dotting the landscape in many
sections of the state and particularly
in Cat Creek, the implement employ
ed in this initial prospecting venture
was none other than a diamond drill,
designed for exploring hard rock for
nations in metal mining operations.
A letter written to Col. Cruise by
the driller in charge, under date of
August 10, 1898, tells of delivery of
the diamond rig at the oil field. Ex-
cerpts from subsequent letters tell of
the vicissitudes attending the explo-
ration and search for the valuable
mineral fluid.
"Only been running it days on ac-
count of formation" states n of
the communications, al feet in solid
formation. Diamond drill does not
work we'll except in hard rock"
Five weeks after the well was
spudded in. Colonel Cruise received
the news that oil had been struck.
The following brief message read:
Struck oil yesterday. Could not
drill any farther. Paid men off.
Drilled 211 feet. Could not go any
further with diamond drill"
"OiI Rock at 90 Feet >
Encouraged by the discovery of
oil in the first hole, the diamond
drill was tried in two other locations
and the driller related how the oil
rock, as he described it, was tapped
at 100 feet and 80 feet, respectively,
the oil becoming so thickened In the
latter hole that the drill was with
drawn with considerable difficulty.
From a letter of October of the
same year, the expected arrival of
new machinery is told: New ma
chinery on the way. Wish you would
come down and decide where to put
drill" the letter said. Think about
600 feet from where the diamond
drill stands, but if you think 1t bet
ter to put it above the springs, will
do So"
That the securing of new drilling
machinery was attended by some de-
lays in those days is apparent from
the record of progress of prepare
tory operations, as it was not until
March. 1899, that the new rig was
hauled out.
Drillers of today keep a log by
which the progress of the we'll is re-
corded, foot by foot, but what might
be called a log of the conduct of the
general operations in the early enter
prise of Colonel Cruise is told In the
notations from filed reports.
Colonel Cruise persisted with the
same tenacity that characterized his
prospecting and mining operations
we're finally crowned with
success in the discovery of the fa-
Drum Lummon mine, in 1876,
a struggle of over 10 years I'M
der the handicap of Universities which
none but the sturdy pioneers OF yes
could overcome.
For over 10 years Colonel Cruise
continued to put up money for the
Dill p~rospectors on his Carbon county
property. Twice the camp and rig
destroyed by forest fires, and
rs the foregoing log shows, his adj
venture on the uncharted sea Of oil
prospecting was attended by about
everything that could happen to an
outfit ~endeavoring to blaze the trail
or the budding industry of today.
"CoaI or Then
Fortunes had been made In Penn
oil fields before Col. Cruise
attempted to prove that petroleum
would also be listed among the re- !