The First Oil Well in Oklahoma was drilled in 1885 in Atoka County, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory, though it was not completed until 1888.

[3] According to the NRHP submission, Dr. H. W. Faucett, a resident of New York, was one of the first businessmen to recognize the potential of oil as a fuel in Indian Territory.

Allen Wright, Governor of the Choctaw Nation in Indian Territory, dated December 12, 1883, proposing terms for exploiting this resource.

It would be impossible to interest capital in the work unless there was some agreement as to the extent of territory that could be had and the specified royalty; it would not do to wait until petroleum was found.

"[2][a] The authorizations (basically concessions) gave exclusive rights for producing, transporting and refining in both nations ... an larea of nearly 20,000 square miles (52,000 km2).

On several occasions when funds ran dangerously low, Dr. Wright supplied his own money to pay the workers and keep the well digging work going.

[3] Faucett's crew erected a drilling rig on Choctaw land near Clear Boggy Creek in late 1885.

Poor lines of communications with Faucett's backers in the East slowed the delivery of funds, further hampering progress.

Evidently, all other parties to the project felt they could not continue without him, so the Choctaw Oil Company capped the well, abandoned the site and went out of business.