Over22,000 daysago, the basinchanged for-ever!

In April1951 (justsouth of Tio-ga, N.D.), theWillistonBasin first oilwell was suc-cessfullydrilled. TheClarenceIverson No. 1well changed our history.Oil fever raced througheveryone’s veins.

One year later, in 1952, thefirst Oil Discovery Day cele-bration was held. It was ahuge success with over10,000 people attending. Am-erada (Hess) provided 3,000pounds of prime beef tofeed the enthusiastic crowd.

On Sept. 17, the EnergyCommittee of the WillistonArea Chamber of Com-merce will produce an eventcalled Williston Basin Ener-gy Festival 2011(WBEF2011.com) to cele-brate 60 years of oil in theWilliston Basin.

It will be a time to lookback to remember the risktakers who had the visionand believed oil was be-neath us. We will also salutethe oil companies and theiremployees. Just as Amerada(Hess) did in 1951, today’soil companies take risksand invest in our great re-gion and communities.

Kick off begins at 9:30a.m. (CT) with the region’slargest energy industry pa-rade. The honorable N.D.Gov. Jack Dalrymple hasbeen confirmed as the pa-rade’s grand marshal.

After the parade, a freebarbeque for all will be pro-vided by Hess. Target Logis-tics is the Food Logisticssponsor. There will be excit-ing kids’ events all after-noon with inflatables, facepainting, clowns andgames. Everyone will sleepsoundly after a full day offun!

Twenty-two companyteams (entries limited tosponsors) will prepare allkinds of different foods forour Food Festival. Withribs, steak, shrimp and allthings in-between, it will bea time to savor foods fromall over the United States.Even alligator is on themenu! All proceeds from theFood Festival People’sChoice Award with go tohelp the flood victims inMinot, N.D.

Early afternoon, we’ll be-gin with what everyone inthe Williston Basin isbuzzing about... the con-tests! Competition in threeindividual and two teamcontests will start with armwrestling, truck tow (teamof four), bit toss and the“win or get dirty” tug ofwar (team of four). There isalso a Miss Williston BasinPageant.

Finally, there will be astreet dance and fireworksshow to end the evening.

All events except the pa-rade will be held at the fair-grounds. Visitwww.WBEF2011.com forcomplete details.

SIDNEY HERALD WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 14, 2011 3B

ENERGY FESTIVAL

Executive DirectorWilliston Area Chamberof Commerce

Kevin Paschke

WillistonBasin EnergyFestival 2011

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cfandw@midrivers.comSaturday, Sept. 17, Williston, N.D.9:30 a.m.-noon. . . . . . . . . Parade (energy-themed), starts downtown

Noon-4 p.m. . . . . . . . . . . .Kids’ events: inflatables, face painting, clowns, etc.

12:30-3 p.m. . . . . . . . . . .Free barbeque, provided by Hess

1-1:30 p.m. . . . . . . . . . . .Program with the Honorable N.D. Gov. Jack Dalrymple

1-6 p.m. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Food Festival (over 22 dishes)

2-6 p.m. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Contests – arm wrestling, truck pull, bit toss, tug of war and Miss Williston Basin pageant

7-8 p.m. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Awards ceremony

9 p.m.-12:30 a.m. . . . . . . .Street dance and fireworks

(Location: Upper Missouri Valley Fairgrounds (excluding parade). All times are Central Daylight Time)

Oil Discovery Celebration 60th Anniversary 1951-2011

A variety of inflatables will be at the Williston fairgrounds to entertain the children during the Williston Basin Energy Festival. Otherfun activities will be a power jump, mechanical bull and a 36’ obstacle.

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“Call before you dig.”1260 East Main, Sidney, MT 59270 406-433-6320 • Fax 406-433-6477

The first probe for gas andoil in North Dakota wasmade in 1916 and 1917,drilled 3 1/2 miles east ofWilliston. Phillips was thepromoter and driller. It wasabandoned when it hit waterat 1,200 feet.

• 1927 – An attempt wasmade by Big Viking Corpo-ration to discover oil.

• 1937 – The Californiacompany drilled a well onNeis Kamp approximately 8miles south and west ofClarence Iverson’s farm. Itwas abandoned at 10,281 feetwith a stuck drilling pipe inthe hole. Cost was $1.4 mil-

lion. Twenty-six dry holeswere drilled in North Dako-ta from 1935-1950. Leases forthe discovery well were tak-en by Thomas W. Leach andA.M. Fruh. The leases wereassigned to Amerada Petro-leum Corporation.

• 1942 – Amerada conduct-ed first seismic program inWilliston Basin

• 1947-1949 – Most of theleasing on the Nesson Anti-cline was done during thistime.

• 1947-1950 – Ameradaspent money leasing andseismographing the landstwice.

• End of July 1950 –Drilling equipment arrived.J.F. Burton drilled a waterwell at Clarence Iverson’sfarm site. Lofflund Broth-ers’ Drilling Company wasthe drilling contractor.Drilling begin Sept. 3, 1950,on the first well of AmeradaPetroleum Corporation.

• March 14, 1951 – Perforat-ed 11,706-11,720 feet but onlygas encountered.

• April 4, 1951 – Perforated11,630-11,660. The initial teststarted at 12:55 p.m. and con-tinued for 17 hours; 307 bar-rels of oil were recovered.Approximate cost was $1

million. The discovery of oilmade North Dakota the 27thoil-producing state in the na-tion.

• June 22, 1951 – The firstroyalty check received byClarence Iverson for $172.27

Sixty years later the oil in-dustry still continues tothrive in the WillistonBasin, a bowl-shaped areathat includes parts of Mon-tana,North Dakota, SouthDakota and Canada. A com-bination of 3-D seismic tech-nology and horizontaldrilling makes the finding ofpools of oil more positivethan ever before.

North Dakota’s first successful oil well

Energy Festival4B WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 14, 2011 SIDNEY HERALD

WILLIAMS COUNTY FARMERS PRESS, WILLISTON ND | PHOTOOn Aug. 28, 1950, Bill Shemorry of the Press Graphic flew over the Clarence Iverson No. 1 location and took the above picture of thenearly completed rig. The well was spudded Sept. 3, 1950.

We also plow snow!

What is the Williston Basin Energy Festival?"A day to advocate for energy-related companies,

protect their interests and help accelerate their business vision."• A salute to energy industry workers and time to decompress• Bring together residents and industry• Education and fun for the youth

Eastern Montana's five fields in the Williston Basin• East Poplar• Richey• Glendive (most active field)• Pine• Little Beaver(Combined flowing potential for all five zones: 6,700 barrels/day)

What's happening today?• The Williston Basin continues to produce at every increasing rates. (Harold Hamm - 24

billion barrels)• Energy has given economic prosperity to the region• True heroes working in the elements to give us American oil from under American

soil.• We have quality of life! Thousands are moving here.

701-774-3655Williston, ND

People Powered.Energized Services.Maximum Results.

ARTICLE TAKEN FROM THE SEPT. 25, 1952, SIDNEY HERALD

The Sun Oil Co. will begindrilling its first test oil wellin the Williston Basin at alocation 9 miles northwestof Sidney on the Dynnesonfarm to be known as Dyn-neson No. 1 on or before Oct.1, it is definitely assuredwith the drilling equipmentnow being assembled on thesite.

Jack Prather, Sun Oil Co.production manager, saysthe well will go down 13,000feet “to fathom Sidney’s fu-ture.” This move on the partof the Sun Oil Co. would in-dicate that results from seis-mograph work of the com-pany’s crews point to the

presence of oil where this,their initial drilling project,will begin. The companyhas a large and extensiveacreage leased in the area.

A United Press writer, inthe Billings Gazette, says:“The answer to the $64 ques-tion should come prettysoon” as the result of thisdrilling “smack in the mid-dle of the eastern Montanaoil activity.”

Site leveling on the loca-tion was begun Tuesday andif this major oil companyhits black gold, Sidney willbe “in”. The borrow fromthat writer, “It will be verywell true that this test willbe the most important inthe Montana section of the

Williston Basin, because ofits central location. Oil menreason if there’s truly a vastpool in this area, Sidney isfloating right in the middleof “it”.

The drilling rig is beingmoved in from Lemmon,S.D., by the Kid WilliamsDrilling Corporation of Tul-sa, Okla. Slim Hill is the toolpusher.

Sidney is located in al-most the exact center of thepresent main drilling areasin the Williston Basinwhere producing wells havebeen brought in, mainlynortheast of Williston inthe Tioga field, northeastnear Poplar, the Shell dis-covery and several subse-

quent producers nearRichey, and a flock of themwest of Glendive. The wholebasin is being perforatedwith widely spread testdrilling. If Sun brings in aproducer in the DynnesonNo. 1 test, this central basinarea will undoubtedly comein the unprecedenteddrilling activity and boomconditions which accompa-ny it.

Nationwide oil interestwill be focused on theprogress of the Dynnesontest drilling. There is everyprospect that drilling willbe started on a number ofother locations in the imme-diate Sidney area wherelarge acreages have been

block-leaded by drilling in-terests without much fur-ther delay.

The Sun well will be thethird drilling project inRichland County. The firstwas the Otis Waters wellnortheast of Richey wheredrilling was stopped and thepipe pulled without definiteabandonment. It is now re-ported that deeper drillingthere is scheduled to be un-dertaken soon.

The Shell Etzel No. 1 wellabout 50 miles west of Sid-ney, and slightly north,down over 8,000 feet, hasshown traces of oil at suc-ceeding depths and is beingwatched for more definiteresults.

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Energy FestivalSIDNEY HERALD WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 14, 2011 5B

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• Fittings• Balon ball valves • Tubing anchors

• Fitting trailers for tank battery hook-ups

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Sanjel is proud tobe part of theWilliston Basin 60 yearcelebration.

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Richland County’s first successful oil well

SUBMITTED

Dynneson No. 1Dynneson No. 1 was the first oil well in Richland County.

Festival eventsPARADE – “NORTH DAKOTA’S LARGEST ENERGY INDUSTRY PARADE!”

• Parade route: Spectator viewing will begin at the corner of Broadway and Main Street. The route willcontinue to 11th Street and turn west. At the corner of 11th Street and Second Avenue, the route will turnnorth. It will continue north on Second Avenue until it reaches the conclusion of the parade at 26th Street.Grab a lawn chair and head out to your favorite spot along the parade route!

FOOD FESTIVAL• After the parade, a food festival will be at the Upper Missouri Fairgrounds with 22 energy industry com-

panies cooking dishes from around the United States. Some of the dishes will include chicken, shrimp, veni-son, hamburgers, pulled pork, jambalaya and yes, alligator...and so much more. Vote for your favorite! Allproceeds from the Food Festival’s People’s Choice Award will go to the flood victims in Minot, N.D.

• Target Logistics is the Food Logistics sponsor.

KID’S ACTIVITIES•Inflatables• Power jump• Mechanical bull• 36’ obstacles• Face painting• Clowns• Balloon twisters and tons of more fun

SUNSET DANCE• Live band in the agri-sports building

FRIENDLY CONTESTS• Arm wrestling• Truck pull • Tug of war • Bit Toss• Miss Williston Basin Energy Pageantprizes awarded

RAFFLE• Everything an energy worker would want...in-

cluding a bear hunt!

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ARTICE PORTRAIT | WILLISTON

CongratulationsPresident of Amerada Petroleum corporation Alfred Jacobsen, center, looks on while North DakotaGov. Clarence Brunsdale and Clarence Iverson shake hands at the first Oil Discovery Day held inWilliston April 5, 1952. “[The oilmen are] the last pioneer to appear in our midst. The oilmen have ledthe way and should prosper. Because they have the know how, our people will prosper,” Gov. Bruns-dale - 1952.

WILLISTON HERALD | FILE

A big ‘IF’Amerada’s Risser No. 1 in McKenzie County, North Dakota, was tested at several levels in 1952. Thebig “if” was if the well came in.

PRESS GRAPHIC | FILE

The Chiefs ConferPhotographed at the Bakken well are E.L. Rambo, tool pusher, W.A. Gar-rett, assistant drilling superintendent for the Noble Drilling Co., and A.D.“Blackie” Davidson, assistant production superintendent, Montana andDakota Division, Amerada Petroleum Corp.

Energy Festival6B WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 14, 2011 SIDNEY HERALD

FILE

Williston BasinA drawing of the oil industry’s most intense exploratory effort, the vast Williston Basin, coveringsome 93,000,000 acres in three states. As of Aug. 7, 1952, there were 90 active drilling locationswith eight pools shown in various stages of development.