A wildcatter is an individual who
drill
A drill is a tool used for making round holes or driving fasteners. It is fitted with a bit, either a drill or driver chuck. Hand-operated types are dramatically decreasing in popularity and cordless battery-powered ones proliferating due to ...
s
wildcat wells, which are exploration
oil well
An oil well is a drillhole boring in Earth that is designed to bring petroleum oil hydrocarbons to the surface. Usually some natural gas is released as associated petroleum gas along with the oil. A well that is designed to produce only gas ma ...
s drilled in areas not known to be
oil field
A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations.
Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the presen ...
s. Notable wildcatters include
Glenn McCarthy,
Thomas Baker Slick Sr.
Thomas Baker Slick Sr. (12 October 1883 – 16 August 1930) was born in Shippenville, Clarion County, Pennsylvania to Johnson M. and Mary A. Baker Slick. He became notable in 1912 for discovering Oklahoma's then-largest oil field, the Cushing Oil ...
,
Mike Benedum,
Joe Trees,
Clem S. Clarke, and
Columbus Marion Joiner; the last is responsible for finding the
East Texas Oil Field in 1930.
The term dates from the early oil industry in western
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. Oil wells in unproven territory were called "wild cat" wells from mid-1870, and those who drilled them were called "wild-catters" by 1876. For instance, the
Titusville ''Herald'' noted in 1880: "The discovery of the fluid in
New York State
New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. sta ...
was the signal for a general exodus of wildcatters from all parts of the oil country ..."
According to tradition, the origin of the term in the petroleum industry comes from Wildcat Hollow, now in
Oil Creek State Park
Oil Creek State Park is a Pennsylvania state park on in Cherrytree, Cornplanter and Oil Creek Townships, Venango County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park is adjacent to Drake Well Museum, the site of the first successful commercial ...
near
Titusville,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. Wildcat Hollow was one of the many productive fields in the early oil era. A speculator who risked his luck by drilling in this narrow valley shot a wildcat, had it stuffed and set it atop his derrick. The mounted cat gave its name to the hollow. Because the area was largely untested and somewhat away from Oil Creek Flats, the term Wildcatter was coined, describing a person who risked drilling in an unproven area.
However, ''wildcat'' was American slang for any risky business venture by 1838, long before the rise of the petroleum industry. An example was the
wildcat banking
Wildcat banking was the issuance of paper currency in the United States by poorly capitalized state-chartered banks. These wildcat banks existed alongside more stable state banks during the Free Banking Era from 1836 to 1865, when the country ...
of the 1850s. Directors of wildcat banks in the Midwest were known as "wild-catters" before
Edwin Drake
Edwin Laurentine Drake (March 29, 1819 – November 9, 1880), also known as Colonel Drake, was an American businessman and the first American to successfully drill for oil.
Early life
Edwin Drake was born in Greenville, New York on March 2 ...
's discovery of oil in Pennsylvania.
["Wild-cats in Iowa," Chicago ''Tribune'', December 28, 1857, p.2 c.5.]
See also
*
Hydrocarbon exploration
Hydrocarbon exploration (or oil and gas exploration) is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for deposits of hydrocarbons, particularly petroleum and natural gas, in the Earth using petroleum geology.
Exploration methods
Visi ...
*
William M. Keck
William Myron Keck (April 27, 1880 – August 20, 1964) was an American oil entrepreneur and philanthropist. Founder of Superior Oil Company, author Kevin Krajick has described Keck as "the world's greatest oil prospector, a man whose instinc ...
References
{{reflist
External links
Wildcatters and oil barons of America
Petroleum production
History of the petroleum industry in the United States
Oil exploration