The Nellie Johnson
Petroleum - The lifeblood of the world. Our dependence on petroleum and its by products began thousands of years ago. Petroleum is used to make fuels that power our cars, airplanes, heat for our homes, power for factories, power plants, and farm equipment. We are very dependent on petroleum. Besides fuel there are literally thousands of by products from petroleum. These by products are used to make such things as cosmetics, plastics, carpets, toys and engine grease. Each day we use several products produced because of petroleum.
Although we humans have used petroleum for thousands of years, it wasn't until the 1800's that people began to see the full potential of this product. In the late 1800's with the invention of such things as kerosene lamps and automobiles the demand for petroleum products has increased at a steady rate. Some products used for energy can be replaced. This is not true for petroleum. Once the petroleum has run out there will be no more. Scientist are working diligently to find other sources of energy to replace the fuel we have used. The Oklahoma Oil Museum provides information that will help others to understand the importance of this most precious natural resource.
Exploration for oil in the United States began in the mid 1800's with the first oil wells being drilled in Pennsylvania. The first oil well was drilled near titusville, Pa. by Edwin Drake in 1859. In the 1860's the first oil boom began in that state. Oil was soon found in other states with Texas and California leading the way, other states where early drilling occured were Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana. In 1901 in eastern Texas in the spindletop field produced the first gusher. There would be many to follow. Following Texas as a major oil producer was Oklahoma.
The first producing Oil well drilled in Oklahoma - 1889 - by Edward Byrd, a Kansas prospector, near Chelsea. Over 100,000 commercial oil wells have been sunk in Oklahoma since then.
In 1901 the Sue A. Bland blows in and the oil boom was off and running in Oklahoma Indian Territory. 1901 — Red Fork — The beginning of the Oil Boom. Red Fork, about 50 miles northwest where Arkansas Grand and Verdigris rivers join, in what was then the Creek Nation. Bounded by Highway 91 West and Arkansas River on the North and East, The Oklahoma Oil industry came of age. In 1889 Tulsa boasted a population of 200, in 1901 with the discovery of oil, Tulsa grew into a large city virtually overnight. This small town in Indian territory would soon be the oil capitol of the World.
There would be more boom towns to come. From 1923 - 1926 The Greater Seminole Area also grew overnight. Prior to the oil boom, the city of Seminole was one of the poorest areas in Oklahoma. With the discovery of oil when the Fixico #1 came in on July 15, 1926 the city grew from 800 people to over 10,000 almost overnight. Businesses sprang up everywhere to help take care of the new citizens and the money from working in the oil field. There were tent cities. Oilfield workers would rent a cot in a tent by the 8 hour shift.
The greater Seminole Oilfield included many small towns in the area. Bowlegs was once one of the wildest towns in the state. Cromwell also known for being a rough town also grew overnight. Other towns included Earlsboro, Sasakwa, St. Louis, Wewoka and other small communities that no longer exist.
Although the glory days of the oil boom are gone, many people of Oklahoma depend upon the oil industry for income. Oklahoma is still a very important oil producing state and our future will grow in new directions as the oil industry also grows.
The history of Oklahoma is actually centuries old. A thousand years ago, there was a great Indian culture that covered most of what is now the Untied States of America. This Mississippian culture had its capital at Cahokia, just east of present-day St. Louis. Cahokia flourished from about nine hundred AD to around fourteen hundred AD. During it's height, Cahokia was a great walled city, with pyramids and palaces. The city wall was over 3 miles around. Outside there was a great pyramid as large as the Great Pyramid of Egypt. The imperial palace was located on its top. Cahokia was larger at its height than London, Paris or Rome in Europe.
In addition to the imperial city, there was provincial capitals in different parts of America. The largest provincial capital was at Etowah, in present day Georgia. The farthest north provincial capital was Azitan in southern Wisconsin. The westernmost provincial capital was Spiro, in southeastern Oklahoma.
During the early 19th century most of Oklahoma was largely uninhabited. Only a few Indian hunters crossed the land. The Untied States government determined that this would be a good place to remove Indian people from other areas to resettle in this land. Only the Seminole Nation resisted removal by military action. A delegation was sent to Oklahoma to see about removal from Florida in 1832. The group rejected the removal on the grounds the land was infested with “wild Indians and horse thieves.”
However, President Andrew Jackson determined to remove all of the five civilized Tribes to Oklahoma, and ordered the removal of the Seminoles after the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws and Chickasaws had been transported to Oklahoma. The Seminoles, under Chief Miconopy, and assisted by his war leader, Oceola, resisted with a war that lasted from 1836 to 1848. The Seminoles won most of all the battles, but were so heavily outnumbered, that they were eventually defeated, placed in concentration camps at Tampa Bay, and transported by ship across the Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans, and up the Mississippi River to Fort Smith, Arkansas, where they were marched inland to Fort Gibson.
Here the Seminoles were dumped, and would have starved to death but for help given by the Cherokees. The Seminoles were then forcibly merged with the Creek Nation, and placed on the western edge of Creek land, to serve as a buffer against the Comanches and Kiowas who raided the Creeks and others. Finally, on August 7, 1856, the Seminoles, in a tri-party treaty among the Creek Nation, the United States and the Seminoles, were given their independence. The Seminole Nation was free at last.
Col. John Jumper
The great Civil War broke out between North and South in America. Each of the Five Civilized Tribes was given three seats in the confederate congress. An Indian army was raised with Stan Watie later principal chief of the Cheerokees and John Jumper Principal Chief of the Seminole Nation. Over 80 battles were fought in Indian territory. Three major battles Honey springs near Chekotah a Union victory , the 2nd was a series of battles at Big Cabin this was a Confederate victory, the third fought at Boggy depot was Confederate victory. Having fought for the South the five civilized tribes lost the western half of Indian territory which was used to settle other Indians and freed negro slaves. The Seminole Nation lost 90 percent of its land.
In 1906, the Indian Territory attempted to become a new state, under the name of Sequoyah (the great Cherokee who invented the Cherokee form of writing). Muskogee was to be the Capital. However, the U.S. government was not willing to have a non-white state. Further, the new State would have been Democratic, Upsetting the balance between Democrats and Republicans. In 1907, the two Territories were united, and admitted to the Union as the State of Oklahoma. The Seminole Nation became Seminole County, and the National Capital of Wewoka became the County Seat.
The Seminole Historical Society is striving to preserve the history of the Greater Seminole Area.
Working with all the communities of Seminole County we are compling as complete a history as
possible of one of the Greatest Oilfields in the World.
The story is one of rags to riches. No one had any idea of the tremendous wealth that lay under the scrub oak and blackjack thickets. Seminole became the center of the Greater Seminole Area Oilfield. An era that will never occur again.
Prior to the oil boom period, The Greater Seminole Area was one of the poorest economic areas in Oklahoma. Following the Civil War in 1866 the Seminole Indians were assigned a new and better located area for their homeland. At the time of statehood, in 1907, the Seminole Nation became Seminole County.
The Greater Seminole Area, located in east-centeral Oklahoma, covers approximately 1,300 square miles of territory in which there were 39 separate oil pools which produced hunderds of millions of dollars. Six of these pools, Earlsboro, Bowlegs, Seminole, Little River, Allen, and St.Louis, became giant pools in that each produced more than a million barrels of oil.
The population of the area began to "boom" in 1923. In 1926 over 100,000 persons moved into the area. Businesses of all kinds soon started, especially "eating joints", rooming houses, and recreational establishiments. Each place became noted for its redlight district. Bishops Alley, located adjacent to Seminole, attracted national attention. Such characters as the Kimes Brothers, Spanish Backy, George Birdwell, and "Pretty Boy" Floyd were nationally known and often on the FBI most wanted list. During it's heyday, The Greater Seminole field spawned two of the most nortorious boom towns, Cromwell and Bowlegs as well as Bishop's alley. These boom town areas were reputed to feature "every known device for getting the hard earned money of the young oil-field worker." Bowlegs was known as the toughest town in American in the mid 1920's. Cromwell became known as the wickedest city in the World. Liquor flowed freely despite national prohibition, brothels were everywhere and murders were committed on a regular basis.
The Greater Seminole Field had reached its peak as the roaring Twenties came to an end but the flow of crude remained high during the thirties and forties. The days when the field could be known as the greatest of them all, are gone forever. Today the oil industry is still a very great part of the economic base for Seminole County.
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