The Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources is a
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...
and
Arkansas state park in
Smackover,
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...
, in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. The museum was formed in the 1980s to tell the history of the
petroleum industry
The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry or the oil patch, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The large ...
and later the
brine industry as key economic movements spurred by natural resources in
South Arkansas
South Arkansas lies within the southernmost portions of Arkansas Gulf Coastal Plain and Delta regions. It encompasses the lower 15 counties of the state.
History
In the 1920s, nationwide attention focused on South Arkansas when the Smackover ...
.
History
Prior to the 1921 discovery of oil in nearby
El Dorado, Smackover was part of the declining timber and cotton industries. With the discovery of oil in El Dorado on January 10, 1921, the area boomed with
geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althoug ...
s looking for more.
The search for oil was then directed north towards the small town of Smackover, near the
Ouachita River
The Ouachita River ( ) is a river that runs south and east through the U.S. states of Arkansas and Louisiana, joining the Tensas River to form the Black River near Jonesville, Louisiana. It is the 25th-longest river in the United State ...
fault line. On July 29, 1922, the Richardson Number 1 well on the land of Charles Richardson, four miles north of Smackover erupted with new-found oil. Within a year of this discovery, the sleepy town of 100 had boomed to over 25,000.
Though not a leader in oil production, the ten-county area is still producing oil today.
Features
The museum contains a main exhibition center, operating replicas of oil machinery, a re-created boom-era street scene in Smackover, and a collection/archive center.
See also
*
List of petroleum museums
This is a list of petroleum, gas, and related museums around the world.
Asia
* Oman Oil and Gas Exhibition Centre, Al-Qurum
* Petroleum Museum, Malaysia
* Taiwan Oil Field Exhibition Hall, Taiwan
* KOC Ahmed Al Jaber Oil and Gas Exhibition, Ku ...
References
External links
Arkansas Museum of Natural ResourcesArkansas State Parks
{{authority control
State parks of Arkansas
Industry museums in Arkansas
Museums in Union County, Arkansas
Petroleum museums
Museums established in 1986
1986 establishments in Arkansas
Smackover, Arkansas
Energy in Arkansas
Petroleum in Arkansas