Description
This small collection consists of a commemorative album celebrating the 100,000th Gun Perforating Job by the Lane-Wells Company
of Los Angeles on June 18, 1948 and additional printed ephemera, 1939-1954, created and collected by Walter T. Wells, co-founder
and Chairman of the Board of the Lane-Wells Company. Walter T. Wells studied electrical engineering at Iowa State, graduating
in 1910. He worked as an engineer in the Philippines and British Guiana (for the Demerara Bauxite Company), as well as in
Hopkinsville, Kentucky and Denver, before settling in Glendale, California in 1924 where he worked selling street lighting
equipment. He and Wilfed G. Lane co-founded the Lane-Wells Company in the early 1930s. The two men developed gun perforation
as a service for oil wells after purchasing a patent for the idea. The first trial of their gun, which shot holes into the
casings of wells that were no longer producing at original capacities, was performed on the Union Oil Company's La Merced
No. 17 well in the Montebello oil field in December of 1932. From this successful trial, Lane and Wells built a company that
provided the service across the United States and into Canada and Latin America. The company's main office was at 5610 Soto
Street in Los Angeles. The 100,000th gun perforation was perfomed on June 18, 1948 at the same well as the first--Union Oil's
La Merced No. 17. This was followed by a reception at the ballroom of the Biltmore Hotel.
Background
Walter T. Wells, co-founder of the Lane-Wells Company, was born in 1886 in Marathon, Iowa. He studied electrical engineering
at Iowa State, graduating in 1910. He worked as an engineer in the Philippines and British Guiana (for the Demerara Bauxite
Company), as well as in Hopkinsville, Kentucky and Denver, before settling in Glendale, California in 1924 where he worked
selling street lighting equipment. He died in 1964 in Santa Barbara.
Extent
1.5 Linear Feet
1 box
Restrictions
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Availability
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. Advance notice required for access.