Daniel F. Merriam¹

(1) University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

ABSTRACT: Exploring for Petroleum in the Flatlands: History of Oil and Gas Exploration in Kansas

The history of any subject is best told through the sequence of events and those who partook in them. Exploring for the elusive petroleum trap in the flatlands of the Midcontinent, and Kansas in particular, is no exception. Hints of petroleum in the area were seeps or 'tar springs,' known by the Native Americans, who used it for medicinal purposes. In the 19th Century travelers on the cross-country emigrant trails used petroleum as a lubricant for their wagon wheels. By the turn of the 20th Century, crude oil and natural gas were in demand and thus the quest was on for the hidden treasure. Early exploration was essentially random drilling, but 'trendology' or 'creekology' soon caught on. Mapping subtle structure in low-dip sedimentary beds proved difficult, but not impossible. As sophistication of the techniques increased, the success ratio improved. Planetable mapping was followed by core drilling and then the seismograph. Many companies had their origin in southeastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma as well as some of the future giants in the industry including Wallace Pratt, Alex McCoy, and Hollis Hedberg. The Kansas Geological Survey, created just four years after the discovery of petroleum in a well drilled near Paola in Miami County in 1860, was an active participant in this quest, providing data and ideas to the seekers, as was the U.S. Geological Survey. The work of Erasmus 'Daddy' Haworth, third state geologist of Kansas, was instrumental in locating the giant El Dorado oil field in 1914. For more than a century the Kansas Survey has provided a service to the petroleum industry in the State.

Impetius for an oil boom in southeastern Kansas came in 1894 with discovery of oil in Mississippian rocks in the Forrest No. 1 Norman well at Neodesha.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90906©2001 AAPG Annual Convention, Denver, Colorado