Oil Boom Era

Oil Boom Era. . , Oil and gas were discovered in the Newkirk area as early as the spring of 1894 when Mart McClaskey struck gas while digging a water well. McClaskey kept his find a secret until he had secured his claim. In the meantime his family quietly used the gas for cooking. In 1901, Kay County's first producing oil well was drilled on the McClaskey farm. The drilling company consisted of J. M. Hoefer, Lincoln McKinlay, Ed Korns, William S. Cline, Porter Smith, Jim Brown, and John Thomas. Although the group was short on experience, they were long on imagination. Nearly every man in Newkirk and vicinity who had a spare dollar in his jeans invested in the community enterprise. , Jim Brown, a Newkirk grocer, and Joe Hayes, a farmer, received the contract to drill the well. They used a standard derrick and drilled to 960 feet before gas was struck. As the contract depth of 1,000 feet neared, crowds gathered to watch. Although the original company had depleted its funds by 1902, oil fever was still high in Newkirk. A meeting held in city hall raised $10,000 to do further testing. This well was drilled near the present Water Treatment Plant. The venture hit a pocket of gas at 610 feet that for a short time served several of the homes in the immediate area for cooking. , In 1904 the Newkirk Gas and Mineral Company hit upon a scheme to pay for drilling expenses on one of their first wells located east of Newkirk. The Santa Fe sold tickets for an excursion train which brought spectators to the well site from Arkansas City, Newkirk and Ponca City with nearly 300 purchasing tickets. The company used sixty quarts of nitro which was put down in three long tin tubes. This was then set off with a stick of dynamite and a fuse. The shot jarred the ground for a quarter of a mile, and water spurted out of the ground spraying the crowd which was standing too close. , In a matter of moments, according to an early day newspaper, “with a rush and a roar, the well vomited forth a dense column of dark substance shooting a hundred feet high, lasting for 10 or 15 seconds. And the crowd cheered.” Although the well did not turn out to be a gusher, it did produce a high grade oil of three to five barrels per day.