Thomas Baker Slick Sr. (12 October 1883 – 16 August 1930) was born in
Shippenville,
Clarion County, Pennsylvania
Clarion County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 37,241. Its county seat is Clarion. The county was formed on March 11, 1839, from parts of Venango and Armstrong counties. Clarion Coun ...
to Johnson M. and Mary A. Baker Slick. He became notable in 1912 for discovering
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
's then-largest
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 presence ...
, the
Cushing Oil Field
The Cushing Oil Field, also known as the Cushing-Drumright Oil Field, is an oil field in northeastern Oklahoma, part of the Mid-Continent oil province. The by field includes southeastern Payne County, northwestern Creek County, and northeas ...
.
Early experience
In 1904, Alexander Massey, owner of Spurlock Petroleum Company, hired Tom Slick, who already had acquired a reputation as a good "lease man" to assist him in buying up oil leases. Massey already had a string of successes drilling in Kansas, finding either oil or gas in 25 consecutive wildcat wells. Massey promised to pay Slick a 25 percent share of the proceeds from every lease Slick could obtain. Massey and Slick then traveled to
Tryon, Oklahoma
Tryon ( iow, Ahéri Chína^iñe, ''meaning: "On-hill town little"'')(2010) Kansas Historical Society, Ioway-Otoe-Missouria Language Project, English to Ioway-Otoe-Missouria Dictionary, "Dictionary T (English to Baxoje)", "Tryon, Okla."/ref> is a to ...
to start drilling. Slick continued buying up leases, while Massey supervised the drilling.
["Oklahoma’s King of the Wildcatters." American Oil and Gas Historical Society.](_blank)
Accessed January 30, 2018.
Massey ran out of money by the time the well reached a depth of only . He also ran out of patience and decided to drill a well near Kendrick, Oklahoma. It also turned up dry. The relationship between Slick and Massey apparently soured, because the two parted ways. Tom moved to Chicago, where he was hired as a lease man by Charles B. Shaffer of the Shaffer & Smathers Company. The company sent him to Kentucky, western Canada, and eventually, back to Oklahoma. During this time, he drilled at least ten dry holes, and acquired the nickname of "Dry Hole Slick."
Turnaround
Returning to the Tryon area, where he had his first setback, Slick began acquiring new leases. A local newspaper, the ''Bristow Record'', reported that few people, "... had stuck to wildcatting longer than Slick and his associates..."
Slick moved his operation to
Cushing, Oklahoma
Cushing ( sac, Koshineki, iow, Amína P^óp^oye Chína, ''meaning: "Soft-seat town"'') is a city in Payne County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 7,826 at the time of the 2010 census, a decline of 6.5% since 8,371 in 2000. Cushing w ...
, about away. The ''Cushing Independent'' encouraged land-owning readers to deal with Slick. In January, 1912, The Shaffer and Slick group spudded in ("spudding" is an oil industry term meaning the beginning of actual drilling operations) its first well on the farm of Frank Wheeler.
Oklahoma's largest oil field up to about 1920 was discovered in 1912 by Pennsylvanian Tom Slick who thereafter became known as the "King of the
Wildcatter
A wildcatter is an individual who drills wildcat wells, which are exploration oil wells drilled in areas not known to be oil fields. Notable wildcatters include Glenn McCarthy, Thomas Baker Slick Sr., Mike Benedum, Joe Trees, Clem S. Clarke, ...
s". Determined to become a millionaire, Slick came to Oklahoma during the winter of 1911 to find "the big one". Although Slick initially found nothing but "dusters" (dry holes), perseverance and luck eventually brought him to the farm of Frank Wheeler, located approximately east of
Cushing, Oklahoma
Cushing ( sac, Koshineki, iow, Amína P^óp^oye Chína, ''meaning: "Soft-seat town"'') is a city in Payne County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 7,826 at the time of the 2010 census, a decline of 6.5% since 8,371 in 2000. Cushing w ...
, in what would become
Drumright, Oklahoma
Drumright is a city in Creek and Payne counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It began as an oil boom town. However, the population has declined as oil production has waned in the area. The population was 2,907 at the 2010 census, a figure alm ...
, where "the smell of oil sands was perfume to his nostrils". Wheeler had purchased his land, located in the midst of allotments forced upon reluctant
Creek Indians
The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language), are a group of related indigenous (Native American) peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands[Osage Nation
The Osage Nation ( ) ( Osage: 𐓁𐒻 𐓂𐒼𐒰𐓇𐒼𐒰͘ ('), "People of the Middle Waters") is a Midwestern Native American tribe of the Great Plains. The tribe developed in the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys around 700 BC along ...]
and the
Glenn Pool
The discovery of the Glenn Pool Oil Reserve in 1905 brought the first major oil pipelines into Oklahoma, and instigated the first large scale oil boom in the state. Located near what was—at the time—the small town of Tulsa, Oklahoma, the r ...
, and he readily agreed to lease his land for a dollar an acre. Slick obtained financial backing from bankers at Bristow and a
Tulsa
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...
attorney, and soon drilling was underway on the
Wheeler No. 1 well. The wary investors pulled out of the project, however, when the well reached a depth of 2,000 feet without results. Slick borrowed some money, traveled to
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, and eventually secured the backing of C. B. Shaffer, who had made his fortune in the Pennsylvania oil fields. Then returning to the Wheeler farm, Slick selected a more promising site and began drilling once again. On March 12, 1912, his dreams became reality as his drill bit struck a gigantic gas deposit in a thick stratum of oil-bearing sand. Crude oil spewed forty feet above the derrick. Eventually the well was deepened to between and and produced 400 barrels of oil per day (BPD). Within one month Wheeler was receiving $125.00 in royalties every day. Two years later the total royalties had doubled as other producers were brought in on Wheeler's land.
Slick hurriedly informed Shaffer and instructed him to send experienced lease traders. Meanwhile, he quickly capped the well and spread fresh dirt on the pools of oil spilled by the gusher, thereby hoping to keep the new find a secret. Slick also quietly made cash deposits to reserve all the horses and buggies in Cushing to hamper the efforts of competing lease bidders who were sure to descend on the area when news of the strike became widespread. Slick's efforts were successful for a few days, but on March 21, 1912, the ''Cushing Democrat'' proclaimed to the world that a "Splendid Oil Find" had taken place. The great rush to the area began. The Tryon Star wrote: “Our old friend Tom Slick the oilman has struck it rich…Slick has been plugging away for several years and has put down several dry holes...He deserves this success and here’s hoping that it will make Tom his millions.”
It soon turned out that Wheeler No. 1 was the first producing well in what would be called the Drumright-Cushing field, which would produce for the next 35 years. At its peak in 1917, the field produced 330,000 BPD of oil. This well was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 14, 1983. Although the natural well pressure in the well has long since dropped too low to support primary oil production, secondary recovery techniques have enabled the well to keep producing at lower rates. It was still producing as of March 17, 2012, when the city of Drumright celebrated its centennial.
[Day, Craig. "Drumright Oil Well Nears Its Centennial." News on 6. February 22, 2012.](_blank)
Accessed January 30, 2018.
Wheeler No. 1 not only made Frank Wheeler a very rich man, but it made a positive change in Tom Slick's fortunes. For the next 18 years his leases and wells paid off handsomely and consistently. He had plays in some of major domestic fields, including Pioneer, Tonkawa, Papoose, and Seminole. By 1929, he was called the largest independent oil operator in the United States with a net worth estimated between $35 million and $100 million.
Never again did anyone call him "Dry Hole Slick." His nickname had become "King of the Wildcatters."
Family
Tom married Berenice Frates, the eldest daughter of Joseph A. and Lula M. (née Buck) Frates. Tom's father-in-law was well known in the railroad business. Later the two men became partners in various transportation ventures. Their most notable successes were building
Nuyaka, Oklahoma
Nuyaka is a populated place in Okmulgee County, Oklahoma, Okmulgee County, Oklahoma, United States. It is approximately south-southwest of Beggs, Oklahoma, Beggs and is west of Okmulgee, Oklahoma, the city of Okmulgee off Oklahoma State Highway 5 ...
and
Slick, Oklahoma
Slick is a town in Creek County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 131 at the 2010 census, an 11.5 percent decline from the figure of 148 recorded in 2000.
History
Slick began as an oil boom town in 1920, and was named for oilman Thoma ...
, two boomtowns near
Okmulgee, Oklahoma
Okmulgee is a city in, and the county seat of, Okmulgee County, Oklahoma. The name is from the Mvskoke word ''okimulgee,'' which means "boiling waters".Bamburg, Maxine"Okmulgee,"''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''. Accessed June 16 ...
. Tom and Berenice had three children
Thomas Baker, Betty and Earl Frates.
Tom Jr went on to be a noted inventor and cryptozoologist.
Death
Thomas Baker Slick Sr. died of a stroke in Baltimore, Maryland in August 1930. He was 46 years old.
Slick's widow, Berenice, survived him and later married one of his business partners,
Charles F. Urschel
Charles Frederick Urschel (March 7, 1890 – September 26, 1970) was an American oil business tycoon and kidnap victim of George "Machine Gun" Kelly.
Urschel eventually helped solve the crime himself by carefully noting every piece of evidenc ...
. Urschel had previously married Tom's sister, Flored. After Flored died in 1931, Urschel married Tom's widow. Urschel became nationally known in 1933, when he and another wealthy business man were kidnapped at gunpoint and held for ransom by a gang led by
Machine Gun Kelly
George Kelly Barnes (July 18, 1895 – July 18, 1954), better known by his pseudonym "Machine Gun Kelly", was an American gangster from Memphis, Tennessee, active during the Prohibition era. His nickname came from his favorite weapon, a Thomps ...
.
Notes
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Slick, Thomas Baker Sr.
1883 births
1930 deaths
American businesspeople in the oil industry
Wildcatters
Petroleum in Oklahoma
People from Clarion County, Pennsylvania
People from Cushing, Oklahoma