| By Bob Weaver
Pine Creek well being "fracked" last week
It is still an exciting venture to try and "hit the lode" in Sunny Cal, drilling for oil and
gas. While the heyday of drilling has long passed, except for future speculation on
deep well drilling, the county continues to have new ventures, some of them being
quite productive.
Jim Prusak and Donald Poe Gunn have just "drilled-in" on upper Pine Creek, down to
1,963 feet. Last week Schlumberger came to "frack" the well in hopes of creating
a good producer. "It was drilled into the Engine and Keener sands," said Prusak,
who got the drilling bug from his family.
"I've had the great fortune to work with some really great people here in the county,"
he said, recalling the late Delano Taylor, who worked in the business for many years.
Taylor had just passed away, losing his battle with cancer.
High-tech operators control frack operation
Workers watch the activity, waiting for results
"We've tried to stay on top of this one, and everyone has done their job," said
Prusak.
Calhoun has a lengthy oil and gas history, starting shortly after the Rathbone Well at
Burning Springs in 1859. The first developments were financed by outside
speculators. By the early 1900s county residents had caught on to the opportunity,
and began to invest or form their own outfits.
Numerous fields came to life from Yellow Creek to Richardson, and dozens in
between.
Visiting the long-gone Village of Richardson a few days ago, it was difficult to picture
the activity and commerce that once took place along the West Fork of the Little
Kanawha.
An empty field of memories at Richardson,
once a booming village in the early
1900s
The hotels, general stores, drug store, blacksmith shop, barber shop, doctor's office
and numerous houses have vanished. Also gone, the large Richardson Mill and
remnants of early drilling operations. The population likely exceeded 200 people
during the boom.
Many of the photographs of "booming" Richardson are under Photo of the Day on the
Hur Herald.
Site of the famous Richardson Mill,
with a few cut rocks across the West
Fork
The last old structure in Richardson, a barn dating back over 100
years
So many wells were being drilled after 1900 that a boiler house produced steam
which was fed by thousands of feet of pipe to steam engines powering the drilling
engines. The steam was also used to heat the hotel.
The deer and rabbits occupy the grassy fields, the only signs of life, except Doyle
Jones who is the only inhabitant of the village.
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