The Glacier reporter. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1953-current, 1953-10-23
observations
Iron The SIDELINES
By 7. A. Busey

An interesting and informative
article in the Montana Magazine
of History, high class publica.
ton put out by the Historical So
ciety of Montana, in cooperation
with the University of Montana
appears in the autumn issue deal.
ing with the story of oil devel-
opment, past present and future
in Montana.
The article in the current issue
is titled: Second Bonanza: The
History of Oil in Montana" 1t is
the first of series of articles to
be published in the magazine, and
deals with the early-day explora.
ton efforts to find and develop
the oil resources of the state, ex-
tending back into the states his.
tory for a period of fifty years
or more.
Oddly enough, the first efforts
to drill for oil occurred west of
the mountains, and it was many
years before any serious effort to
find the liquid treasure was at
tempted in the regions east of the
mountains. Now, fifty years after
these first trys at finding oil in
the western part of the state, the
only commercial production has
been east of the mountains, with
the western area still dreaming
and planning for continuation
of effort to locate the elusive
magic liquid.
Of local interest is the account
of the first efforts east of the
mountains, which occurred in
this immediate vicinity, with the
final answer still unsolved Prob
ably the first test well drilled
east of the mountains, when oil
seepage had been found in the
Swift Current creek district.
north of st. Mary's lake, now a
part of Glacier National park.
was in this immediate area. The
presence of oil in this vicinity
was first discovered by hard
rock miner, tunneling into the
side of mountain in search of
copper. After blowing up part of
the rock, the miner discovered
oil standing in little pools at the
bottom of his tunnel. This arous-
ed interest in the possibility of
oil production, and the miner
turned his attention to explora-
ton for oil rather than copper.
He interested some people with
capital in Great Falls and other
sections Of the state, and made
the first test by drilling a well
with what now would be consid-
cred crude equipment, in the val
ley now covered by water in the
basin known as Sherburne lake,
the shores of which are skirted
by the highway going to Many
Glacier hotel and camgrounds in
the park.
The diScoverer of the oil show
ings succeeded in interesting suf-
ficient capital to start drilling
test, and organized the Swift Cur
rent Oil company. There were no
roads at that time into the noun
famous area, and innumerablc
difficulties faced the promoters.
Finally drilling outfit was as
sembled, and actual drilling was
started in 1902. about the same
time the Kintla Lake test was
being started on the North Fork
of the Flathead, west of the
mountains. Oil was actually found
at the amazingly shallow depth
of five hundred feet - high
grade oil that gave promise of
great results. However, it was
thought advisable to 60 to a
greater depth, and this resulted
in unlocked for difficulties, and
the whole project wound up in
failure to prove oil could be pro-
duced in paying quantities. Other
attempts were made in the same
area, but with no tangible re-
suits. The article is illustrated
with pictures taken by j. l.. Sher-
burne, of actual drilling scenes
taken at that early period.
In succeeding years more evil
dence was accumulated that oil
was prevalent under much of
Montana's surface, but it was not
until in the 1925 that eXplora-
ton on serious basis was I'M
dertaken. From then on Mon
tana's oil history is more or less
familiar to most readers.
The first discovery of oil on a
commercial basis was in the Elk
Basin area, near the Wyoming
line in southeastern Montana.
Then came Cat Creek, followed
later by the Kevin-Sunburst field,
the Pondera field, and the So
called Cut Bank field, much of
which is on the Blackfeet Indian
reservation, and other smaller
fields where gas as we'll as oil
was found in paying quantities.
The spotlight of Montana's
rapid oil development was divert
al fnr a %;v,o~ fro,,, Ait, oroo -