History

We have a long history in the oil and gas business. James H. Luther brought his family and his machine tool business to Olean, New York in 1881 to provide products for the growing ‘Petroleum Industry’. The company patented and manufactured many products including oil well pumps and gas regulators.

In 1951 Olean N.Y. partners James H. Luther 2nd and Ben Marcus started investing in North Dakota leases and mineral rights. Luther and Marcus bought 56,000 acres of North Dakota leases from William J. Steckman. Gaddis Bass of Texas secured mineral rights for the group in North Dakota and Saskatchewan. Using the techology of the time, wells were drilled and most came up dry. Today we retain thousands of acres of mineral rights and manage leasing with oil companies.