Montana oil and mining journal., 1940-10-12

of this new oil strike. This was the
first commercial well in the district
and was brought in in 1922. AS this
we'll was near the town Of Sunburst and
Campbells well near the town of
Kevin. the field was called the Kevin-
Sunburst oil and gas field
About this time william Fulton, Mr.
Rice and Old Man Essex were interest
ed in the far east side, also called
sheep pasture Charlie Emmons also
had leases on the east side which were
mostly turned 10 the KaliSpell-
Oil company. Fulton and his associates
would have been contented with me-
dium size wells. but this was not TO be.
Real Gusher Flow
They began to bring in flowing wells.
real guSherS Essex sold out TO his
partners in this venture and they IN
turn later sold their interests in this
valuable oil land for several million
dollarS-so the story goes. The Kalls-
pell-Kevin Oil company were well paid
Tor their investment under the guild
ance of Charlie Emmons, of course,
Mr.. Enmons did not do too badly. He
had one 40-acre tract that produced
enough oil for any ordinary individual.
While all this was going on IN this
north country there appeared on the
scene Louis B. Tip" O'Neil and his
in the oil game and were fortunate
enough to get production in some large
wells There was a poor market Tor
this oil however, for the price was
down to go cents a barrel at this
time, SO ONeil conceived the idea OF
building a refinery at SunburSt, which
was successfully consumated.
The O'Neils operated this plant for
several years in connection with their
of1 Y,vsOvnarffac Thew finally sold their
interests to a California company Of
which their father was a director. This
company in turn sold its holdings TO
the Texas Oil company which is the
present operator of the International
Refinery in the town Of Sunburst It Is
said that the O'Neil interests were
sold for $50000O0.
In the meantime, Gordon Campbells
predictions that the whistling points
on the Great Northern would be thriv-
ing towns of Importance was mater
ializing.
Build Refineries
The Big West Oil company of Mon
tana composed mostly of Spokane cap
ital built a refinery at Kevin, which
has steadily expanded until 1t is to-
day one of the outstanding refineries
of northern Montana Many supply
houses moved into Kevin and as
result the town was now really on the
map. We must not overlook Shelby,
Toole county seat. The n-Sunburst
field is located in Toole county.
Before oil was discovered Shelby, as
a town was just about ready for burial.
Most of the business section had been
destroyed by fire and there was not
Junction" as it was then called. But
the oil and the Dempsey Gibbons
worlds championship fight put Shelby
on its feet and today 1t Is one of Mon
tana's most active towns.
While all this oil development in
TOOle county was going on the town
of Cut Bank, Glacier county seat, was
on the side line. Worse yet, the Great
had moved the freight divi-
sion back to Blackfoot where it orig
inally had been before the days of
Cut Bank. And, now, Cut Bank found
itself in about the same position that !
Shelby was in before the days Of oil
pretty badly bent, but still existing.
About this time Tip" O'Neil ap- |
peared on the scene and drilled for !
oil in the Cut Bank district and in
stead of oil he found plenty of natural |
gas. There was no market locally for |
gas, but this did not discourage Tip"
He boarded an eaStbOund Empire |
Builder and headed straight for New |
York where he was successful in in
teresting the Electric Bond and Share |
people in his gas proposition. AS re- |
suit a large absorption plant was built |
near Cut Bank. The gas was piped to /
Helena, Butte Anaconda and other |
towns in the southern part of the state
While this was going on a Spokane |
under the direction of Jerome |
was drilling for oil near |
Cut Bank. They now supply this town
with natural gas.
Cut Bank De7elOps
1t was not long before oil prospectors
we're drilling on all sides of Cut Bank,
even on town lots Soon this town /
aWoke and shed its swaddling clothes.
AS the Cut Bank Oil and Gas field
has continued to expand so has the
town of Cut Bank and it is today a
oustling center of activity.
After selling his gas interests to the
Montana Power company Tip" O'Neil
turned his attention once more to oil,
his time in the Cut Bank area He has
been very fortunate in his oil opera
lions in this new oil and gas field, but
with the loss of the Canadian market
for his oil it threw different light on
his oil business. This was an incentive
for the building of the Northwest Re-
fining company plant just west of Cut