DUANE
Duane's take
The way I heard it, this comes straight from the official marker — so let me tell it right. Now, pull off to the side and look about seven hundred feet to the southwest, because that patch of ground has a story worth your time. Oil development in this part of Wichita County started back in 1919, out of shallow depths in what they called the KMA Field.
For a while, things hummed along. But wells don't last forever, and these didn't either. As the original wells went dry, the 1930s rolled in — and with them, the kind of national Depression that bleaches the courage right out of a man's pocketbook.
The oil industry needed new production, but new production means deeper drilling, and deeper drilling means capital nobody had. The Mangold family owned the land right here, and they did what they could — offered liberal terms to any driller willing to go deeper and find out what was really down there. Nobody bit.
Too much risk, too little money, too many geologic readings pointing the wrong direction. Negative readings, they said. Nothing down there.
Walk away. And for a while, everybody did. Then came George E.
Kadane — born 1881, died 1945 — a veteran operator, the kind of man who'd seen enough dry holes to know that sometimes the instruments are wrong and the nerve is right. He didn't come alone. His sons Edward, Jack, and Mike stood beside him.
Together they looked at those negative geologic readings and decided to drill anyway. On November 11, 1937, at a depth of thirty-eight hundred feet, they struck oil. Mangold Number One came in as a gusher.
Just like that, the KMA Field had itself an extension nobody thought possible, and this spot got marked on local maps with a name — Kadane Corner. Other operators rushed in. A new Wichita County boom was on.
Population climbed fast. New housing went up. New industries took root.
New jobs appeared where there'd been nothing but dry ground and doubt. Then in 1942, a test well on the Griffin Ranch came in even deeper — forty-three hundred feet. The field kept developing.
Final count: more than two thousand producing wells across seventy-five thousand acres. Over a forty-year period, that field yielded two hundred and fifty million barrels of oil. Two hundred and fifty million.
All because one veteran operator and his three sons looked at every reason not to drill — and drilled anyway.
What the marker says
(About 700 Feet to the Southwest) Oil development in this part of Wichita County began in 1919 from shallow depths in the KMA Field. As the original wells went dry, and a severe national Depression blighted the country in the 1930s, the oil industry sought new production. The Mangold family, owners of land at this site, offered liberal terms for deeper exploration, but at first found no driller willing to take the risk on the scant capital then available. Finally veteran operator George E. Kadane (1881-1945) and sons Edward, Jack, and Mike had the courage to drill in this area of negative geologic readings. On Nov. 11, 1937, they struck oil at a depth of 3800 feet, bringing in Mangold No. 1 as a gusher. The discovery effected an extension of the KMA Field. This spot was labeled "Kadane Corner" on local maps. Other operators rushed in, starting a new Wichita County boom. Along with a rapid rise in population came new housing construction, new industries, new jobs, and an era of financial growth. In 1942 a test well on the Griffin Ranch came in at 4300 feet. Final development of the field resulted in more than 2000 producing wells in an area of 75,000 acres. Over a 40-year period, the field has yielded 250 million barrels of oil.