By John David Furlow

Mr. Furlow graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2009 with a B.A. in History.  He expects to receive his J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law in May 2012.

Evolving Technology: From the first boardwalk well to the Deepwater Horizon

By the end of the 1800s, the “Wild West” had been settled, railroads tied the Atlantic to the Pacific, and the United States had transformed from an agrarian backwater to the pride of the industrialized world. It was the age of laissez-faire capitalism, industrial tycoons, and unprecedented technological innovation. With the country’s rapid rise in industrialization, petroleum became a necessary commodity for the burgeoning American economy. The success of early petroleum wells showed investors and entrepreneurs that petroleum extraction could be commercially viable.

Taking advantage of the booming demand for petroleum, the first offshore oil rig made its debut in 1896 thanks to an unknown but inventive entrepreneur named H.L. Williams. His relatively simple design placed a unidirectional pile driver drill at the end of a wooden platform that extended 300 feet out into the Pacific. Resembling a boardwalk, the platform stood in just 35 feet of water. Its pipes reached a depth of 455 feet below the seabed. The concept was simple and it caught on quickly. View full article »