Charles Francis Colcord - Oil Exploration

Oil Exploration

Colcord also became involved in oil exploration. After Dr. Fred Clinton and Dr. J.C.W. Bland drilled a successful well in 1901 north of Red Fork, 2,500 people were attracted to the area, including Colcord and Robert T. Galbreath who had been partners in a real estate venture. Colcord and Galbreath organized the Red Fork Oil and Gas Co. and drilled the first wells in the town limits of Red Fork. Colcord later drilled in Healdton, Loco and Duncan fields.

Then, on a hunting trip in 1905 with Galbreath and Frank Chesley, Colcord's two Kentucky wolfhounds chased after a wolf and disappeared. A search for the dogs brought them to a farm owned by a Creek Indian named Ida Glenn. While searching for the dogs with Galbreath and Chesley, Chesley discovered a spot where oil was seeping from some rocks. Along with John O. Mitchell, the men eventually secured the right to drill on the land. On November 22, 1905, a discovery well gushed oil, leading to the discovery of the Glenpool oil field, which became one of the world's largest known oil fields. Glenpool produced over 340 million barrels of oil over the next century and put Tulsa on the map, by 1907, as the Oil Capital of the World. Galbreath became known as the "Oil King of the Southwest" and was "rated the richest man in Oklahoma." With his share of the profits, Colcord invested $750,000 in the Colcord Building in 1912.