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In the great gamble of oil, one of the world's biggest winners is a chance-taker named Alfred Jacobsen. His rule for success is simple: "If you don't want to take risks, you can't make money. If you haven't the courage to lose, stay out of oil."
Jacobsen, a tall (6 ft. 1 in.), spare man with a lined, ascetic face, bright brown eyes and explosive energy, has the courage to take big risks, and when necessary, the courage to lose. But he wins far oftener than he loses. He wins because he hunts oil in the ground with the same passion and dedication that inspired Captain Ahab, an oil hunter of another day, in his pursuit of Moby Dick. By so dedicating himself, Alfred Jacobsen has made his Amerada Petroleum Corp. the most famed independent oil hunter in the oil industry. Amerada, at 185, is the seventh highest priced common stock on the New York Stock Exchange. Of all the 1,526 listed stocks, Amerada is the No. 1 favorite of the investment trusts.
Last week Hunter Jacobsen was busy, as usual, indulging his passion. In Oklahoma, he was drilling four wells; in California, three; in Louisiana, one; in New Mexico, nine; and in Canada, four. He was busiest of all in North Dakota. There, he was drilling 20 wells. For in North Dakota's Williston Basin, Jacobsen has made his biggest strike. He has found many a new oilfield in the past. But in North Dakota he found something far bigger. Says he: "The Williston Basin is not just one oilfield. It is an oil province."
The Gold-Dust Bowl. In that province last week, above the ocean flatness of North Dakota's wheat and cattle plains, flaming gas flares from 69 Amerada wells stabbed the night sky. The land that had been a dust bowl only 20 years ago was now an El Dorado to many farmers who had been on relief or working for WPA. Overnight, they had become wealthy. Last week the big opportunity had come for Farmer Lewis M. Osborn.
Working day & night, Amerada's drillers had driven a three-cone rotary rock-bit deeper & deeper into the earth of Osborn's farm. The rig's platform throbbed with the clanking rumble of a diesel engine spinning the drill. As the drill bit down into the earth, new lengths of 60-ft. pipe were threaded on to join the mile-and-a-half of pipe already whirling below ground in a single, continuous column. At 8,663 ft. the drilling was stopped, the drill pulled out. Hurriedly the hole was cased with seven-inch pipe and capped. Then, when all was ready, the cap was opened. With a great hiss, jets of water and drilling-mud shot out of the hole. For a few minutes there was just the steady hissing of moist gas, smelling like rotten eggs. Then came the oil—a greenish-yellow stream. Amerada had brought in its 70th Williston producer, and Farmer Osborn was on his way to wealth. By year's end Amerada will have 75 producers in the basin, in another year more than 150.