Bill Bishop.

• Author: Johnson, Kaylene
• Position: Geologist - Special Section: Alaska Business Hall of Fame

On a cold November day in 1956, a geologist for Richfield Oil Co. trudged through the snow into the lowlands of the Kenai Peninsula about 50 miles south of Anchorage. Stopping near a tall hemlock tree to take one more look, he dug his heel into the ground and said, "Drill here."

With those words, Bill Bishop started a flow of black gold that changed the face of Alaska forever. He had dug into the Swanson River field, destined to become the first commercially successful oil well in the state, with recoverable reserves of 218 million barrels of oil.

The boots Bishop wore on that momentous day are enshrined in the Anchorage Museum of History and Art. He chuckles at being considered a legend in the petroleum industry, and he says the stories are exaggerated. But the magnitude of his discovery at Swanson River is not.

His find sparked the Alaskan oil rush. Within two years, oil leases increased from just under 2 million acres to over 33 million acres. Almost 20 years later, a pipeline from Prudhoe Bay pulsed with crude from the largest oilfield in North America.

"He started the whole damn thing," says old-time friend John McMinama, who supplied Bishop's crews with clothing and supplies from his Army/Navy surplus store.

Since the humble beginning of the Swanson River field, Bishop has lead the industry with determination and innovation.

ARCTIC ADVENTURES

Back in those early days, difficult access to drill sites and the harsh arctic environment made discovering oil an overwhelming challenge. Even portable drills were only as portable as the roads were long. The two-man, hand-held augers had to be flown in by helicopter. Sometimes exploration activity was held together by a hope and a prayer.

"At lakes, we used hydrophones suspended by kids' balloons. The shot point, the place we detonate a charge to record sound waves from the ground, was near the edge of the lakes. The whole operation was supported by a helicopter. It was a Mickey Mouse arrangement, but it worked," Bishop remembers.

Later, Bishop threw toilet paper out of a Piper Super Club to mark the trail for a 23-mile road to the Swanson River drill site. His expense accounts, whichincluded the cost of mega-cases of toilet paper, arrived at the Richfield office in Los Angeles before Bishop did.

"By the time I returned to the home office, everyone seemed to know about the amount of toilet paper we use in Alaska," Bishop says, laughing.

Finally, on July 19, 1957, Bishop and his crew tested the...