Massey already had a string of successes drilling in Kansas, finding either oil or gas in 25 consecutive wildcat wells.
[2] Oklahoma's largest oil field up to about 1920 was discovered in 1912 by Pennsylvanian Tom Slick who thereafter became known as the "King of the Wildcatters".
Although Slick initially found nothing but "dusters" (dry holes), perseverance and luck eventually brought him to the farm of Frank Wheeler, located approximately 12 miles (19 km) east of Cushing, Oklahoma, in what would become Drumright, Oklahoma, where "the smell of oil sands was perfume to his nostrils".
Wheeler had purchased his land, located in the midst of allotments forced upon reluctant Creek Indians, for sixty-five cents an acre shortly before statehood in 1907.
[4] Wheeler had heard of the riches of the Osage Nation and the Glenn Pool, and he readily agreed to lease his land for a dollar an acre.
Slick obtained financial backing from bankers at Bristow and a Tulsa attorney, and soon drilling was underway on the Wheeler No.
Slick borrowed some money, traveled to Chicago, and eventually secured the backing of C. B. Shaffer, who had made his fortune in the Pennsylvania oil fields.
On March 12, 1912, his dreams became reality as his drill bit struck a gigantic gas deposit in a thick stratum of oil-bearing sand.
[2] Slick hurriedly informed Shaffer and instructed him to send experienced lease traders.
Meanwhile, he quickly capped the well and spread fresh dirt on the pools of oil spilled by the gusher, thereby hoping to keep the new find a secret.
Slick also quietly made cash deposits to reserve all the horses and buggies in Cushing to hamper the efforts of competing lease bidders who were sure to descend on the area when news of the strike became widespread.
Slick's efforts were successful for a few days, but on March 21, 1912, the Cushing Democrat proclaimed to the world that a "Splendid Oil Find" had taken place.
Urschel became nationally known in 1933, when he and another wealthy business man were kidnapped at gunpoint and held for ransom by a gang led by Machine Gun Kelly.