Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1939-12-30
The Beginning Of
THE THIRD DECADE

The New Year 1910 brings roseate
hopes to those fortunate enough to be
engaged in any branch of the oil industry
in Montana. The Montana oil industry
is starting its third decade on next
Notwithstanding in the period of the
third generatiOn"-which is the genera
ton OF greatest, most permanent profit.
II is the third generation which ''cashes
In" on the work and sacrifices of the
first two generations.
The first decade, during the 2O's. was
the slap-stiCk prOmOtiOnal era-the days
of "nigger riches" and sIapstick waste,
when enthusiasm and not common sense
ruled the industry. IL was "dog eat
dog" existence when the lone wolff
idea was considered best Every man
was for himself and for a nickel the rank
and file producer would cut the throat
of the Independent refiner. Those were
the dirVs when fortunes were made by
cutting the price of oil I'm the fall, storing
depression" oil ali winter, and then
raising the selling price In the spring
when there was a Canadian market.
Those were the days when Independent
refineries Were put out of business by
boosting the price of crude and lowering
the price of gasoline. When a refinery
folded up" the producers laughed.
When, in turn the refiners could soak"
the producers, paying them less than the
cost of production for their OIL the re-
timers chuckled.
In those days we bought royalties
with no measuring stick to measure val
Ues. Some of us who bought royalties
ahead of the drill were able to sell them
out at fabulous profits Some refused
to accept these fabulous profits. Many
who sold at large profits invested their
money in other prOperties-paytng too
much because there was NO measuring
stick Of value: only a sIap-stick scale
determined by excitement rather than the
amount of recoverable oil in the ground.
When the depression came in 1920
the prOmOtiOnal companies "fattened
out" Leases and royalties became a
drug on the market. The producers had
no responsible market-Only the wfles
of the Canadian market. Then came the
dawn of the second decade-the '3O's.
The second decade saw new crop of
operators Joining with the conservatives
of the first generation who survived the
jolt of the depression. Only the best of
them survived-real, hard-headed bust
ness men. With fairly good measuring
stick to work with, as result of eight
years of commercial production records.
royalty buyers and operators alike acted
more ntelItgently and made more money
than ever before. Many with beginning
of only a few dollars build fortunes for
themselves, not by stock trading or
speculative buying and selling. bat by
THE SALE OF OIL.
Left without active operating compan-
les to employ them, many drilling con-
tractors and not a few drillers moved
into the roles of operators, secured leases
for themselves and have since built mp
fortunes. However, It was q slow, hard
process. With the development OF OH
production i'm Canada, Montana lost that
market. That made the second decade
truly the greatest depression" period.
It remained for the operators to cut out
the lone WOLF policy and TO work to-
gether in the common cause Of develop
ing a new and stable market for Montana
crude and refined products.
These growing pains" were most
severe in the last half OF the decade now