Well No. 2-6 in the Midway Field was drilled near an area of small 40 and 50 barrel wells and blew in over the derrick top on November 27th, 1909, producing 2,000 barrels a day and starting one of the greatest oil booms California ever experienced. The Morning Echo of Bakersfield wrote on February 28th, 1911, that for a long time it held the rank of the best producer on the whole west side, and before its glory began to wane, other celebrities in the gusher line began to crowd the North Midway stage. Well 2-6 had been located as a wildcat on June 1, 1909, by Fred C. Ripley, then assistant manager of oil properties for Santa Fe Railway coast lines and later manager of its successor, the Chanslor-Canfield Midway Oil Company, with which he was associated from 1904 to 1947.