Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1942-02-28
MILLION DOLLAR
CAT CREEK DAYS
ARE RECALLED
CONTINUED from Page Three)

Continued from Page Three
on the Charles farm was drilled IN
the winter OF 1919 and 1890 Some Oh
had been found at Devils Basin BY
Gordon Campbell but It was scarcely
commercial But when the Frantz wei
started flowing, the world agreed that
new oil empire had been discovered.
The second well was about five or six
miles west Of the Charles No. /. also
drilled by Frank Frantz. and It was
a 2,200-barTel well They damned up
the coulee to save the oil until they
could get steel tanks.
When the big boom was in fun
swing. they built tent boarding houses
and tent hotels, and you would pay
as high as $3.50 per night on a cot,
II you could get one. and you could
sleep eight hours and they would make
you get up and they would put an
other man In the same cot, using the
same linen and sometimes you didn't
even get linen. If the weather was bad
and you couldn't drive to another
town, you could sleep in a chair. II you
could get one. and pay as high as 81
and 50 for it,
Il have seen people pay as high as
IS cents for one-half canteloupe or
grapefruit
I'm 1920 a Mr. Whiting. president Of
the Whiting OIL Co. of Indiana, came
to Lewistown with a letter of intro
duction to me. He was anxious to get
in the field with US drove him from
Lewistown to the field He was very
much interested and we had agreed ON
the acreage that he would buy.
when we reached Winnett In the
evening he insisted on buying the din
ner and while waiting for our dinner
we each had half canteloupe. He
grabbed the check for our dinner and
they had charged him IS cents for
one-hah canteloupe. 1t made him so
mad that he called the deal off and
bought ticket on the next train home
and that was the last of him In Mon
tana so far as know.
when a promoter missed a train he
would give any price for ride to
Lewistown and times out Of 10 he
would have no business there and would
spend his time in front of a bar, look
ing at himself and telling what he
had done out in the field, when he /
had only been to Winnett, % miles |
from the field.
Then came the pipeline. They laid a |
two-inch line from the field to Win /
nett, uphill and downhill and on top
Of the ground. The Cat Greek oil was
a high-grade petroleum, about So per-
cent Eliminating OIL and they could /
put the crude in their cars and drive !
back and forth to town. They seemed /
to get a kick out of that
Water was a problem. We paid 81 /
q barrel for water to drill with. The
homeSteaders who had water made
more money than anyone else in the
field hauling water It was not unusual
for a man to pay 500 for a common
wagon tank to get in on the haul. They
paid as much as $40 a ton for freight
TO be hauled Is or 30 miles Teams
and trucks were running on the read
day and night from Lewistown tot
The Milwaukee railroad was
all the time and I have been
old that the Winnett branch line was
he best paying line of the entire road.
have ridden the train from Winnett
% LeWiStown when we would have to
stand in the aisle all the way and on
he return trip they would cut the
rain in two at the bottom of the hill
md bring part Of 1t to the top Of
he hill and go back to get the re-,
nainder and bring it up, hook together
md come on into Lewistown. T.,
"Office space was scarce. paid
Charlie Badger $50 per month for a
racant lot to put an office building on.
put up my own building and could
ret $50 per month for desk room. There
we're as high as six or seven men using
he same desk, and many used our
,lace to get their mail sold the
ease and building for $4,000 in 1921"
Dickerson's pioneering in Cat Creek
vas not without other profit. His early
holdings were incorporated into the :
fergus County Oil & Gas Co. There
we're nine men in the company, in
luding Charles E. Marshall, j. A.
Weaver, Tom Sackett, Mike Hall,
,harles Woodwork, j. W. johnson, s
curtis Peck, J. w. Powell and Dicker-
on. The company had properties in
be west end of Cat Greek which were !
ub-leased to a Butte group. Dickerson :
lso leased up the Valentine field of
Q, 900 acres, In addition to 2,440 acres
4 Cat Greek area. This was about
an. /, 1921.
How one member Of the group {
hwarted a million dollar deal is re- Z
ated by Dickerson. This story has
d