On February 23, 1906, a small town in southeast Kansas found itself in the nation’s limelight as a natural gas well erupted into flames after a lightning strike. The “Caney, Kansas gas well fire” was actually located just over the state line in “Indian Territory” (soon to be Oklahoma).  Many varieties of postcards were created for the burning gas well and captioned with the Kansas towns of Caney, Coffeyville, Independence, and Bartlesville, OK.  Gas rates were estimated as high as 70 million cubic feet a day.  The “largest gas well in the world” burned for over four weeks.  One postcard, dated March 18, 1906, bears the note:  “Come and see the wonderful well.  It’s still burning.  It shook the ground so last night the window rattled.  We are 4 miles from it.”

SPENCER, Jeff A., and TAYLOR, Andy, 2007, The 1906 Caney gas well fire, Kansas, Oil-Industry History, v. 8, , p. 61-67.

SPENCER, Jeff A., 2012, The 1906 Caney gas well fire, Kansas: addendum, Oil-Industry History, v. 13, p. 149-150.

 

Visit http://www.petroleumhistory.org for more information about the 2016 Oil History Symposium in Casper, WY, July 28-30th.

At the symposium, learn more about the Teapot Dome scandal and visit the Salt Creek oil field and museum.

On August 15, 1931, Texas governor Ross Sterling ordered the East Texas oilfield shut down to stop illegal oil production and to prevent waste.  Along with the Texas Rangers, 1200 Texas National Guard troops patrolled the East Texas oil fields.  Well-known oilfield photographer Jack Nolan (1889-1972) produced real photo postcards (RPPCs) of at least eight different views associated with the troops; four are shown here.  Nolan produced many other RPPCs of oilfield views from both East and West Texas oilfields.

For more on Nolan:

SPENCER, J.A., 2009, Jack Nolan – East Texas oilfield photographer, Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions, v. 59, p. 723-728.

SPENCER, Jeff A., 2011, Oilfield photographers – three who captured North American oil booms, Frank Robbins, Frank Trost, and Jack Nolan, Oil-Industry History, v. 12, p. 45-57.

SPENCER, Jeff A., 2013, Texas Oil and Gas, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, SC, 128 pp.

The same postcard image was often produced in black & white and various colorized versions.  The same view would also be used by different cities.  These four images of an oil gusher are assumed to be from the Lima-Indiana oilfield and captions cover the Ohio towns of Lima, Bowling Green, and Celina.  Looking close at the Celina caption, you can see where “Lima” was scratched off and the “Celina” was added below.  Similarly, the first Bowling Green postcard was originally a “Lima” postcard also.  For perhaps the record shared postcard image, used in five different states by over 15 towns:

MANNING, Victoria, and SPENCER, Jeff A., 2014, Greetings from oil country: shared images of a burning oil tank across five states, Oil-Industry History, v. 15, p. 21-35.

Also entertaining is the poem written on the right-hand margin of the black & white Lima postcard, dated and postmarked in October, 1907.

“When wells are drilled in the ground. Until the gas and oil is found. With glycerin they shoot it hard. It looks just like this postal card.  Papa 10-11-07”

 

Help me out here!  I often obtain great oilfield images with no identification of the location.  Often just a well name or company name.  Two of these postcards also have a photographer name.

 

Shortly after the discovery of Louisiana’s first oil field, Jennings (Evangeline), in nearby Acadia Parish (1901), companies began looking at other topographical highs that would point to underlying salt domes. Welsh was one of these. The first well was drilled in late 1901 and in 1902 a well blew out. The first oil producer was brought on line in 1903.