Toss leads to oil boom
Evan Zabawski | TLT From the Editor January 2011
History begins with an empty whiskey bottle—and a simple act.
Let’s raise our whiskey glasses and give toast to the humble beginnings of an oil industry.
Whiskey containers play more than one role in the history of North American oil production. Readers who recall my May 2010 column, “The Barrel’s Boozy Beginnings,” about how the whiskey barrel inadvertently led to the bbl standard of measure for crude, may consider this a quasi-sequel.
About 250 miles south of STLE’s headquarters in Park Ridge, Ill., lie two Crawford County villages, Stoy and Oblong, and our story begins on a farm in this region. Oblong was originally a crossroads where Henry Peck operated a general store. His store featured a prominent sign, “Hen. Peck,” and this begat the name for the crossroads. When the village incorporated in 1883, no one wanted to keep the name Henpeck. Looking at the survey to define its borders for incorporation, it was observed to be a rectangular patch of the prairies, and thus the name Oblong was suggested—and subsequently voted in unanimously.
Stoy, though much smaller, plays a bigger role in the tale. In 1906 John W. Shire had a farm just outside the village, and since natural gas was known to exist nearby he brought a team of men in to drill for oil. When trying to decide precisely where to drill, it was decided to simply toss an empty whiskey bottle into the air and dig wherever it landed. The men only had to dig 14 feet to find oil, and shortly thereafter the oil boom began.
Both villages quickly became tent cities filled with people seeking quick fortunes—a realized dream for many between 1908 and 1910. Around 300 million barrels of crude came out of the area, with a majority processed at the nearby refinery in Robinson, Ill., operated by The Ohio Oil Co., which was owned by John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil trust.
By 1911 Rockefeller was a frequent visitor to the bank in Stoy, but he was not there the day burglars attempted to blast the bank vault. Residents were so used to hearing the explosives used for drilling that no alarm was raised. Later that year, the Standard Oil trust was broken, and The Ohio Oil Co. Operated independently for another 19 years before it bought the Transcontinental Oil Co. This transaction netted the Marathon brand, a name the entire company would adopt in 1962.
By 1920 about 7,000 wells had been drilled, although very few were drilled between 1930 and 1950 due to the availability of lower-priced crudes from East Texas. The Ohio Oil Co. Attempted waterflood development in the 1950s and 1960s. Waterflooding is where water is pumped into an existing reservoir to loosen and force out additional oil, usually yielding about 15% of the volume of the reservoir. However, low crude prices put this to an end until the 1970s when high prices returned.
Since then the Crawford County reserves have remained active, though to a lesser degree, and Stoy and Oblong have returned to being simple villages. Each occupies less than a square mile, Stoy with its 100 or so residents and Oblong comparatively bursting with about 1,600. Oblong promotes its uniquely singular name with a sign proclaiming “The Only Oblong Welcomes You,” while Stoy blends in with the surrounding farms.
Not quite lost to obscurity but largely forgotten, Stoy and Oblong led the development of a significant oil industry in the Illinois area. But just think—what if that whiskey bottle had been thrown in another direction? It seems likely oil would have been found at some point, though the legend would not be so interesting without success on the first try.
So once again, let’s raise our whiskey glasses and toast the humble beginnings of an oil industry. If you can think of any other whiskey-oil connections, please send me a note. I enjoy any excuse to talk about whiskey.
Evan Zabawski, CLS, is manager of training and education services for The Fluid Life Corp. in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. You can reach him at evan@fluidlife.com.