According to the American Oil & Gas Historical Society, on August 25, 1922, the Midwest Refining Company began drilling a well on the western edge of the Navajo reservation in San Juan County in New Mexico. Oil is discovered within a month - the state's first commercially successful oil well - producing 375 barrels a day from the San Juan Basin. Midwest will drill 11 more wells to establish the Hogback oilfield as a major producer. Two years later, a pipeline to Farmington is completed and oil is shipped by rail to Salt Lake City, Utah, for refining.
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