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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
AAPG Bulletin
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The oil industry was founded by men of imagination and daring who ignored the prophets of doom and employed their enthusiasm and optimism to discover and bring about a world of abundant energy. With this significant observation in mind, a few interesting highlights of petroleum history are traced; particularly, the achievements of Edwin L. Drake, who drilled the first
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commercial oil well in the world in 1859 near Titusville, Pennsylvania; the late Pattillo Higgins, whose faith and inspiration led to the discovery of Spindletop and the beginning of the liquid fuel age; and Columbus "Dad" Joiner, the aged and impoverished Oklahoma wildcatter, who proceeded on his goal in the face of "learned" advice to cease drilling and the scornful criticism of earth science leaders, to bring in the greatest oil field in North America--the vast East Texas field where more than six billion barrels of oil eventually will be produced.
There were other great contributors to the abundance of petroleum, such as William Knox D'Arcy, an Englishman, who suffered years of heartaches and hardships, while working in a locale which was so forbidding that other civilized men dared not venture into it, before his discovery led to the opening of the vast Persian Gulf oil reserves; the pioneer geologist, Charles Eckes, whose painstaking and minute geological investigations led to exploration for, and eventual discovery of, the great deposits of oil under Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela; and, Robert DeMares, whose persistence, based on his observations of oil seeps that spouted high into the tall tropical trees, enabled him to attract the wildcatting firm of Benedum and Trees to the rich production in the heart of the Colombian jungl s.
These were only a few of the men who sought and found opportunity through faith, determination, and optimism and, by so doing, developed the energy and fuel for a better way of life for all mankind; this suggests that the petro-professionals in the industry should pause and re-evaluate their own contributions toward a better society and a more profitable industry. A look at the past is timely in view of the prevalent pessimism and lack of determined leadership on the part of most industry personnel, especially in the field of exploration. Successful leaders of tomorrow will be individuals in today's petroleum industry who are as dedicated, determined, and purposeful as those illustrated in this paper.
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