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History of Oil-field Development
Russell County
The discovery well of Russell County was also the discovery well for western Kansas. This well was completed in November, 1923, in what later became known as the Fairport pool. At that time the closest field of importance was 135 miles to the southeast in Butler county. The Russell County discovery well was drilled on the farm of Carrie Oswald in sec. 8, T. 12 S., R. 15 W. The pioneer oil men who drilled this well were rewarded with a flow of high-gravity oil at a rate of 224 barrels a day from a depth of 2,998 feet. The success of this first well stimulated the drilling of many holes on the trend of the Fairport-Natoma anticline. In 1942 there were 160 wells in the Fairport pool. As a result of drilling southward along the trend of the Fairport-Natoma anticline, the Gorham pool was discovered in October, 1926. In 1929 the Sellens and Ochs pools were discovered. In 1930 the Dillner and Gideon pools were added to the growing list of pools in Russell County, and the Hall pool was found in 1931. No pools were discovered in 1932 and 1933. The Neidenthal and Russell pools were discovered in 1934, and most of the pools now in Russell County were discovered between 1935 and 1942. In 1942 Russell County, with 60 pools, had a greater number of pools than any other county in western Kansas. As drilling has progressed there has been a merging of pools, and discoveries of new pools have become less frequent.
The cumulative production from the principal oil pools in Russell County to January 1, 1942, is given in table 1.
Table 1--Cumulative production from oil pools in Russell County to January 1, 1942, in barrels. (Data based on records of pipe-line runs.)
| Atherton | 1,098,045 |
| Big Creek | 1,899,309 |
| Big Creek, East | 203,063 |
| Boxberger | 138,477 |
| Bunker Hill | 70,241 |
| Davidson, Northeast | 10,042 |
| Dillner | 45,952 |
| Donovan | 50,220 |
| Driscoll | 15,445 |
| Dubuque | 179,864 |
| Eichman | 648,945 |
| Fairfield | 8,111 |
| Fairfield, North | 173,806 |
| Fairport | 15,015,970 |
| Forest Hill | 8,296 |
| Gideon | 40,515 |
| Gorham | 19,460,567 |
| Greenvale | 360,696 |
| Greenvale, Northwest | 15,904 |
| Gustafson | 2,334 |
| Hall-Gurney | 9,516,679 |
| Karst | 198,217 |
| Lewis | 7,154 |
| Mahoney | 24,398 |
| Neidenthal | 880,722 |
| Rusch | 30,663 |
| Russell | 4,810,729 |
| Sellens | 2,578,632 |
| Steinert | 39,972 |
| Trapp | 25,461,807 |
| Trapp, West | 95,197 |
| Vaughn | 1,007,874 |
| Williamson | 52,820 |
Ellis County
The Shutts pool in T. 12 S., R. 17 W. is the oldest pool in Ellis County. The Phillips Petroleum Company drilled the No. 1 Shutts well in section 5 in November, 1928, and found oil in the Arbuckle limestone at a depth of 3,569 feet. The largest pool in Ellis County is the Bemis. The Roark No. 1 well, drilled in 1935 in sec. 16, T. 11 S., R. 17 W., was the discovery well for the Bemis pool. Oil was found in the Topeka limestone at a depth of 3,032 feet, but most of the wells in the Bemis pool are now producing from the Arbuckle limestone. Initial production from the Arbuckle ranged from 500 to 4,000 barrels.
The Burnett pool, discovered in 1937 in T. 11 S., R. 18 W., ranks second in production to the Bemis pool. Production is from the Arbuckle limestone at a depth of around 3,570 feet. The Walters pool, discovered in 1936 in T. 12 S., R. 18 W., ranks third in Ellis County in produced barrels of oil. Production is from the Topeka limestone at a depth of approximately 3,620 feet. The Ruder pool, in T. 15 S., R. 18 W., was discovered in August, 1935. The discovery well had an initial production of 818 barrels from the Kansas City-Lansing limestones at a depth of about 3,334 feet.
In 1942 there were 28 pools in Ellis County. The cumulative production from the principal oil pools in Ellis County to January 1, 1942, is given in table 2.
Table 2--Cumulative production from oil pools in Ellis County to January 1, 1942, in barrels. (Data based on records of pipe-line runs.)
| Bemis | 15,944,713 |
| Bemis, South | 25,812 |
| Blue Hill | 374,455 |
| Burnett | 5,446,052 |
| Catherine | 123,714 |
| Emmeram | 64,535 |
| Hadley | 58,562 |
| Haller | 13,919 |
| Herzog | 48,112 |
| High Spot | 2,694 |
| Koblitz | 132,726 |
| Kraus | 58,938 |
| Marshall | 653,741 |
| Penny-Warm | 34,125 |
| Richards | 81,145 |
| Ruder | 692,968 |
| Solomon | 78,781 |
| Sugar Loaf | 10,325 |
| Sugar Loaf, Southeast | 2,935 |
| Toulon | 173,923 |
| Ubert | 155,040 |
| Walters | 1,398,565 |
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Kansas Geological Survey, Geology
Placed on web Jan. 26, 2017; originally published December 1944.
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