First Gas Processing Plant West of Mississippi River

First Gas Processing Plant West of Mississippi River. . , The gas processing industry west of the Mississippi River had its beginning near here in 1909 at the D.W. Franchot and Company Plant three miles west of this marker. Liquid hydrocarbons were extracted from gas produced with oil in the surrounding Glenn Pool. This pool was discovered on November 22, 1905 and provided raw material for the first gas processing plant. By 1920 315 plants had been built in Oklahoma., Expansion of the gas processing industry grew out of conservation of liquids contained in natural gas. This natural gasoline as it was called initially was used to fuel the increasing numbers of automobiles. Residue gas was used to fuel oil field operations and was piped to nearby towns for heating and lighting. , With the rapid growth of gas processing in Oklahoma and surrounding oil states gas processing became a major United States industry. By 1920 natural gas and the products of gas processing constituted 58 percent of the nation's total petroleum energy production Oklahoma plants and processed 30 trillion cubic feet of gas and recovered 1.5 billion barrels of liquids by 1970., Within a few years after gas processing had spread to Oklahoma it spawned two other petroleum-related processing entities. The petrochemical and the LP gas or bottled gas industries.