On Nov. 21, 1944, Cities Service Oil Company released a location to be drilled in the center of SW, NW, Section 22-5N-4W, McClain County. This well was a wildcat located in the hills of north Lindsay, which were adequate for farm travel but wouldn’t handle the heavy oil field trucks necessary to move tools into the location.
After the roads and bridges were constructed or rebuilt, the location was leveled, the derrick was built and Loffland Brothers Drilling Company moved in a rotary drilling rig and commenced drilling the first oil well in Lindsay.
The Lawson “A” No. 1 was 10,955 feet deep. The initial production was 852 barrels in eight hours through a three-quarter-inch choke. Completed on Oct. 26, 1945, this well opened a new field in the Golden Trend area of Lindsay and intensified drilling activity, causing major companies and independents to play the area around Lindsay despite the cost of leases and the deep and expensive drilling at the time.
A lot has changed since the first well. The holes became bigger and deeper, the pipe being used is a much higher grade and wells are drilled horizontally. Major improvements in drill bits, drilling mud, fracking techniques and improved well logging have drastically decreased the length of time to complete a well; also, roustabout service at that time was done by hand tools. Now roustabouts service is done by power tools.
Lindsay has been through many oil booms since the Golden Trend that began in 1945. Hopefully, with the continued knowledge from geologists and improved techniques, the oil industry here will continue for centuries to come.