It was this day, April 4, 1951, that a surface geologist, Thomas Witt Leach, discovered oil on a little farm south of Tioga, and subsequently launched the oil industry in North Dakota.

Thomas Leach was born in 1896 in La Crosse Wisconsin, and following service in World War I, attended the Missouri School of Mines. On a visit to North Dakota in 1928 the future oil man became convinced that large oil reserves were located beneath the Dakota prairie in what is now known as “Williston Basin.” Although Mr. Leach believed he knew where the oil was, retrieving it was another matter. The poor economy during the Great Depression slowed any efforts to drum up financial support for oil exploration in North Dakota, and Tom was further delayed by his service in the United States Army during World War II.

In August of 1950 Mr. Leach convinced the Amerada Petroleum Corporation to begin an exploration well on the farm of Clarence Iverson, south of Tioga, North Dakota. On January 4th the well produced a pint of oil, not much it may seem but a yet a small token of the abundance yet to come. Winter weather stopped the drilling for four agonizing months, but after the machinery had a chance to thaw, and the roads a chance to clear, on April 4th at around 9:30 pm, the well began to produce in earnest. A new industry was created on the North Dakota prairie, and the well named “Clarence Iverson #1,” was proclaimed the “first major producing well” in the State.

An incredible find, the oil of Williston Basin was one of the biggest oil discoveries since before the Second World War, and sparked a rush of oil activity in the State. Oil companies eager to stake their claim to North Dakota’s oil reserves, in less than two months, placed 30 of North Dakota’s 44.8 million acres under lease. Tom Leach, not to miss out on the opportunity he helped create, built his own oil company in 1952, North American Royalties, Inc., which in 1957 became the first North Dakota company to be listed on the American Stock Exchange.

Thomas Leach’s work opening North Dakota’s oil reserves to exploration resulted in such a large boost to North Dakota’s oil exploration, that upon his death in 1966 he was declared the “Father of North Dakota Oil.”

Written by Lane Sunwall

Sources
Bismarck Tribune
http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2005/06/11/news/local/nws02.txt
The Tom and Frances Leach Foundation
http://www.leachfoundation.org/bios.htm
Williston North Dakota Homepage
http://www.willistonnd.com/content.asp?resourceid=74&groupid=10

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