The boom explodes: Big oil strikes bring money, jobs to region

THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA LINE SOUTH OF STRATTON, Nebraska -- Sparked by a series of significant oil strikes, one of the biggest oil booms in this region's history is bringing an outpouring of oil activity along the Kansas-Nebraska line south of Stratton, Nebraska.

Exceeded only by the Sleepy Hollow and Ackman Field discoveries of the late 1950s and early 1960s, the latest rush of petroleum activity got a big boost July 5, 2013, when Berexco hit a 400 barrel a day well on the ranch land of Rich and Ken Walter. Before and since, drilling crews from Berexco and Murfin have brought in a bunch of big producers on both sides of the state line, with the core of the prolific production centered in the Walter Brothers' Burnt Wood Canyon field.

"The Sleepy Hollow name became famous in the 1960s," said Bill Sydow, the executive director of the Nebraska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission. "Going forward, the Burnt Wood Canyon name will define this development."

Sydow, who has been at the oil and gas commission helm for 20 years, went on to say, "This reservoir is so good that every new well becomes competitive with the wells already in production." He went on to compare what is happening to a bunch of straws in a milkshake, with each sucking out large quantities of liquid.

Overlooked by oil developers in earlier years, the rough, rolling canyon land has emerged as a prime producing region as the result of advances in three dimensional seismic mapping technology.

"It's amazing the difference the 3-D seismographs are making," said Mike Carr, a petroleum engineer who now lives in Lincoln, but started his oil career with Pubco and Gemini in McCook.

Among the many who have benefitted from the increase in oil production are Doug Downing, Mike Sramek, Morrison Sutton, Bill and Judy Coe, Roger Hubl, Frank Tracy, Elmer Case, Richard Guernsey and Kenneth Frasier. Several of those with oil on their land have two, three or more wells producing substantial royalty checks.

"It has been a great blessing for this area," Rich Walter said.

"The thing that's really good for both Nebraska and Kansas is all the jobs that are being created," he said.

Peggy McDonald, a Stratton resident who is a member of the AmFirst Insurance Services team in McCook, confirmed what Walter said.

"There are lines of semis at the well sites, waiting in line to haul the tremendous volume of oil which is being produced.

And it's not just Hitchcock and Rawlins counties that are reaping the benefits. Mick Minnick of Brooks Construction LLC in Bartley is alone in the office most days, as her brothers Mike and Mark Brooks leave early and come home late to help prepare well sites in the now prime oil-producing area.

The same is true of Stewart Construction Inc. of Indianola, with Doug Stewart among the leading construction firms serving the oil production in the area south of Stratton and Trenton and north of McDonald, Beardsley and Blakeman.

The long lines of semis and the around-the-clock oil activity are just the tip of the iceberg. There will be considerably more developments in the weeks, months and years to come.

Giving a hint of possible future results, long-time oil observers in McCook remember the years of 1961 and 1962 in McCook, when more than 225 houses were built to accommodate the oil industry workers.