Wild Mary Sudik's blowout (19583, Oklahoma Historical Society Photograph Collection, OHS).
WILD MARY SUDIK.
The Mary Sudik Number One was drilled by the Indian Territory Illuminating Oil company on the Vince and Mary Sudik farm, located about one-half mile southeast of the present intersection of Bryant Avenue and Interstate 240 in southeastern Oklahoma County. On March 26, 1930, when the well was brought in, the crew failed to mud the hole properly, and when they withdrew the pipe, the well blew out. Approximately 200 million cubic feet of gas and twenty thousand barrels of oil blew out of the well on a daily basis for eleven days. Gas pressure was so great that the wind carried oil as far south as Norman and northward to Nicoma Park. "Wild Mary Sudik," as the well became known, received national attention when Floyd Gibbons of NBC radio broadcast regular reports about the well. After two unsuccessful attempts to stop the runaway, Wild Mary was capped on April 6, 1930. Oklahoma City authorities subsequently passed two ordinances, one for safety regulations and another to regulate spacing of wells in the eastern part of the city.
The following (as per The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition) is the preferred citation for articles: Glendeen R. Unsell, “Wild Mary Sudik,” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=WI008.
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