Downloadable Content
Download audio
Other
Jones, Robert (audio interview #1 of 1)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This single, one hour interview was conducted in Jones office adjacent to the Midway Fishing Tool warehouse. He was patient in explaining the origin of fishing tools and talking about the many ways they can be made and used to an interview who had little technical knowledge. 11/4/1981
- Date
- 2020-12-17
- Resource Type
- Creator
- Campus
- Keywords
- Handle
- Language
- Notes
- *** File: perjones1.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:14-2:24)... Introduction Midway Fishing Tools started in Taft, California in 1909 with three partners, John Greer, B. Yukon and Jones' father, Elmore D. Jones. No one remembers where the idea to start the business came from. The partners decided to incorporate in 1910 so they could raise more capital and protect themselves. After all, oil well owners only call for fishing tools when their wells are in trouble. (2:24-4:53)... When oil wells are being drilled or they are producing oil, many things can go wrong down in the hole. There could be shaking, corrosion, mechanical difficulties and structures can shift. Parts can wear out during production. In earlier days, many wells weren't straight, so pumping could lead to friction and strain. The idea of "fishing" came from using "fish" as a verb. Much of the work that is done with fishing tools involves trying to retrieve material that falls down the well. There are a variety of tools that have been developed for this purpose. (4:53-5:27)... Fishing is done in several ways. Things that fall down the oil well can be picked up. Things that are stuck down the hole can be washed over until they are freed. Strings of pipe in the oil well can break into pieces; it is a real challenge to get all of the pieces out. (5:27-8:36)... In the beginning of the oil business, large companies had well equipped "tool rooms" and representatives of smaller companies borrowed from them. Some of those large companies encouraged the company founders to go into business renting fishing tools to smaller companies. His father realized he could might be successful in this business. (8:36-12:29)... Jones father was born in California and grew up on a ranch with cows and horses. He learned about machines run by steam on the ranch. When he was older, he went to school in San Francisco to learn more about steam engineering and from there, he found a job with Union Oil Company shipping oil out of the country. That's when his father found out he had "a feel" for the oil business. (11:51-18:52)... It was during the oil boom in Taft that his father and his partners got the idea to start a fishing tool renting business. The company moved from Taft to Long Beach in 1925. The company later expanded to Brea but then closed that branch and consolidated their equipment in Long Beach. They also opened a branch at Bakersfield and opened their own machine shops so they could make and fix tools themselves. The company opened its next branch in Ventura in 1951. From there they expanded to Sacramento. After that, the company bought the assets of another tool company called Baash-Ross and added some of that company's branches in Santa Rosa and Santa Maria. Later they opened another branch in Roosevelt, Utah and they opened a branch in Brawley to serve the geothermal wells drilled in the Imperial Valley. (18:52-21:35)... Midway Fishing Tools has become even more involved in serving drillers of geothermal wells. Some of the tools they evolved have been patented. They opened a branch at Woodland but then moved it to Bakersfield. The largest geothermal potential in the world is located near geysers north of San Francisco. (21:35-24:13)... The company also began to manufacture fishing tools both to rent and to sell to other companies. They have been using some of the tools they originated so long that the patents have run out. Patents only last 17 years, so some of their tools can be made by anyone. Midway only makes tools on which it hold patents. (24:13-28:12)... Jones was born in Taft but grew up in Long Beach. Long Beach became the headquarters for their business as one oil deposit after another was discovered in southern California. When he was growing up, Jones lived in Belmont Shore and graduated from Wilson before he went to Long Beach City College. After that he went to work in the family company. He started in Bakersfield where he went to learn the business. (28:13-30:11)... Jones enjoyed living in Bakersfield, but when his father died, he returned to Long Beach as general manager of the company. The rhythm of nature is more pronounced in Bakersfield. Distances are longer and the evenings are lovely. Many people in the oil business retire there. (30:11-31:48)... Sometime clients come to their offices to pick up fishing tools and sometimes the company delivers them. Jones' father was a real pioneer in some concepts of creating and using fishing tools. *** File: perjones2.mp3 (0:02-3:30)... Often representatives of Midway Fishing Tools go out to the sites of wells that are having problems and offer advice to the drillers or pumpers. They suggest which tools might be used to addressed the problems they find. They also rent other kinds of tools used at oil well sites. The American Petroleum Institute sets standards for many of these tools. (3:30-9:30)... There are many kinds of fishing tools. There are sockets or overshots that drop down the oil well and go over the things that the well owners want to pull out of the hole. Some other fishing tools use the principal of the wedge to pull things out of oil wells. They use slips. rappels, springs and baskets to try to pull things out of oil well holes. If the tools don't work, it's easy to release a wedge and get the tools out of the hole. (9:30-12:52)... Midway Fishing Tool has patents of different kinds of fishing tools. The most basic fishing tools use something to grab an obstruction down an oil well. His father helped pioneer the "washing over" process. It was used when the well casings got stuck in the sand down the hole. (12:52-15:09)... His father started working with wells that were drilled with cable tools. Even after rotary drilling was widely used, some drillers used cable to finish drilling through the oil sand. (15:09-16:16)... Some water wells are still dug with cable tools. At the time of the interview, the company still sometimes rented cable tools. When Jones started to learn the business, he learned to splice wire line used with cable tools, but he couldn't do it anymore. (16:16-18:15)... At the time of the interview, the company had a new building and they were consolidating their facilities in one place. They were developing better inventory control procedures and have more space for storage and developing new tools. The new facility has allowed the company to improve its efficiency. (18:15-22:01)... Scotty was Jones uncle and he stayed on the company's board of directors all of his life. He, Jones' father and Charles Munn invented a cutting and perforating tool to punch holes in oil well casing. (22:01-23:45)... At the time of the interview, the company had good young employees. They even have a woman working for them as a machinist in one of their northern branches. The company tries to hire good people and then out them through training programs. (23:45-26:46)... During the Depression, the company was fortunate not to have much debt. There was less work but they didn't have to fire any employees. They did, however, cut the hours many of them worked, but they always had some work. (26:46-30:46)... The company had little damage from the 1933 earthquake. Tools fell down but their building sustained no structural damage. Engineers say that steel buildings do well in quakes. Later they had a fire that started in a brand new electrical unit and it destroyed many of the company's records back to 1909 . The fire didn't distort the building and it was easy to fix. End of tape
- SUBJECT BIO - Robert Jones was the son of one of the founders of Midway Fishing Tools, a company that was a pioneer in supplying fishing tools and advice about the best way to use them, to people both drilling and servicing oil wells. Jones grew up in the oil business and, at the time of the interview, was head of the company. The company was started in Taft but soon opened branches near other oil fields and moved its headquarters to Long Beach. In this single interview, Jones talks about the history of the business that he has learned from his company's founders and early employees. He also talks about tools that Midway developed, patented and manufactured to sell to others. And he reflects on changes that he has seen in the business. During the Depression, he noted, when revenues were low, employees worked fewer hours so that none would have to be laid off. Jones interview was part of a project to study the impact of the discovery of oil on the development of Long Beach. TOPICS - oil industry; Midway Fishing Tools; Taft, California; Bakersfield, California; and family;oil industry; Midway Fishing Tools; cable tool drilling; family; Elmore Jones; Depression; and 1933 Long Beach earthquake;
- Rights Note
- This repository item may be used for classroom presentations, unpublished papers, and other educational, research, or scholarly use. Other uses, especially publication in any form, such as in dissertations, theses, articles, or web pages are not permitted without the express written permission of the individual collection's copyright holder(s). Please contact the CSULB Library Administration should you require permission to publish or distribute any content from this collection or if you need additional information or assistance in using these materials: https://www.csulb.edu/university-library/form/questionssuggestions-the-digital-repository-group
| Thumbnail | Title | Date Uploaded | Visibility | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
0797098971036364-perjones1.mp3 | 2023-10-19 | Public | Download |