My First 50 Years in the Oil Patch

Kay Waller's memoir of her 50 years in the oil business tells of her hometown of Glendive, Montana, turning into a boomtown almost overnight with the arrival of the first drilling rig in 1951. In the early '60s, as a young woman working in the petroleum industry, Waller encountered situations that would make today's politically correct workforce cringe - or maybe make them jealous of all the fun she and her coworkers had. Waller was on the leading edge of the microfiche revolution, responsible for getting huge volumes of well logs and drilling data filmed during the 1970s. Finally, she tells of her work over the last 22 years, which has resulted in the Denver Earth Resources Library, arguably the finest of its kind in the country. The stories are told with a light touch and a sense of fun, although Waller also shares some of the difficulty of being both a career person and a single mother. This is a light and enjoyable read that offers a glimpse into a unique period in the U.S. oil and gas industry.