Oklahoma's FIRST State-Regulated Oil Field - Healdton, OK
N 34° 13.999 W 097° 28.809
14S E 639976 N 3789070
Located in front of the Healdton Oil Museum at 315 E Main St, a red, granite Oklahoma Historical Marker notes that Healdton was the site of Oklahoma's first state-regulated oil field.
Waymark Code: WMRD77
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 06/12/2016
Views: 3
The marker has information on just one side. A depiction of Healdton, "back in the day," precedes the marker text:
Healdton
Oklahoma's First
State-Regulated
Oil Field
Production of crude oil from the newly discovered Healdton Field surrounding this marker site flooded the market with an oversupply of petroleum. Protesting that pipeline purchases were inadequate, producers claimed they were being deprived of individual rights to produce and sell their share of the field's production.
In response, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, in May, 1914, ordered the pipeline carrier to increase purchases of produced oil, provide facilities for rail shipment and build field tankage. The pipeline was further ordered to purchase oil ratably and equitably from Healdton producers.
This order, resulting in proration of oil purchasing, nine months after the field's discovery in August, 1913, made Healdton the first field in the state to be regulated by a state commission. This early-day proration was a forerunner of petroleum conservation laws to prevent physical and economic waste of petroleum energy in most oil states.
By late 1915, prolific production at Healdton and other Oklahoma oil fields supplied energy for a burgeoning automotive age in the United States and the Allied war machine of World War I.
As the Healdton field boomed, the influx of oilmen overtaxed the community's facilities. Hastily-built stores, rooming and boarding houses and entertainment places turned the community into a typical oil boom town. Principal boom town area was called Ragtown.
Oklahoma Historical Society, 1974
With Oklahoma Petroleum Council
FIRST - Classification Variable: Place or Location
Date of FIRST: 05/01/1914
More Information - Web URL: [Web Link]
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