Art Wells
Involvement in the Oil Industry
Art worked in the fall and winter of 1946 as a roughneck with General
Petroleums from Calgary. Commonwealth Drilling and Regent Drilling came into
Lloydminster about the same time. In the winter of 1946 and the spring of 1947,
he worked in the Superior oilfield located near Blackfoot. As he recalls, about
15 wells were drilled. In the spring, water piped from nearby sloughs was used
in the drilling.
Art went farming in 1947 but was hailed out twice. Fortunately he got a call
from General Petroleums and went to work for them, northeast of Brooks. He did a
bit of everything: derrickhand, mechanic, welder, roughneck and trucker.
"If you could do it, you did it - you didn't have to have licenses in those
days".
In the 60's, Art bought the N.E. 25-48-28-W3 on which six wells had been
drilled. Although one of the wells on this quarter was the highest producing
well in the field at that time, they were all shut down except one. Later six
wells were drilled on his other land; three by Canadian Reserve and three by
Texaco (which had previously been Canadian Reserve). They had now found oil on
land they had left a number of years earlier.
Recollections
Art recalls in '46-'47 it cost around $20,000 to complete an oil well and
have it ready for production. At that time, roughnecks were paid $6.00 per day
for an eight hour shift.
Art has a share certificate for 25 shares in the Marren - Lloydminster Oil
and Gas Company. The share certificate belonged to his father-in-law Thomas
Hughes and was purchased on March 9,1927. Art hasn't been able to find out what
ever happened to the company. No one is sure if they ever drilled. He is talking
to Garry Erickson at Saskatchewan Energy and Mines. Art knows the location of
the planned drilling: LSD 16-24-48-28-W3. Art talked to Mrs. Ethel Kenefick,
Charlie Marren's sister, but she doesn't recall much of what happened.
Art knows that in 1935 a well was drilled on the same section that the Marren-Lloydminster
Company had planned to drill on. There was a wooden derrick and they drilled to
1763 feet and quit. Art recalls that the area was pretty much shut down after
this. Later it was discovered that had they drilled another 100 feet, they would
have found plenty of gas.
Around 1945 people went back and started to drill in this area. Andy Smith
(Bank Of Commerce manager), Andy Rogers and Russ Robertson were in on the
development of the wells on N.E. 25-48-28-W3, the land which George Davis later
purchased.
