Max Ball was one of the foremost figures in the oil industry during the first half of the 20th century. His astute business acumen, diplomatic skills and legal expertise positioned him as a vital intermediary between the petroleum sector and the federal government – a critical responsibility, especially during World War II.
He also played a pivotal role in shaping the early development of geoscience associations. Ball’s membership in AAPG began in 1919, just two years after its establishment. He rose to the presidency in 1923, leaving an indelible mark on the organization. Ball spearheaded several initiatives during his tenure that significantly influenced AAPG’s future. These include:
- Establishment of the original code of ethics
- Implementation of a structured investment plan for AAPG’s funds
- Incorporation of the original constitution and bylaws, adopted in Ball’s home state of Colorado, providing AAPG with legal standing and ensuring its long-term viability
Early Life
Max Waite Ball was born on Sept. 9, 1885, in Henry County, Ill., to a farming family. His father also worked as a teacher during the winter months and his mother was a former educator. Tragedy struck at the tender age of seven when Ball lost his father. Subsequently, Ball’s mother relocated him and his invalid sister to Manitou Springs, Colo., nestled in the foothills beneath Pike’s Peak. It was in this new environment that Ball’s passion for geology flourished, nurtured by the guidance of his high school instructor, Mr. Wheat. Together, they explored the geological wonders of the Colorado Front Range, igniting Ball’s lifelong fascination with the unique strata of the region.
During his school years, Ball supported himself and, to the best of his ability, his family. At the age of 12 he became a burro guide for the trail up Pikes Peak. Upon his graduation from high school, Ball enrolled in the Colorado School of Mines, and during his college years he “mucked and trammed in the mines of Idaho Springs and Central City.” Ball received an engineer of mines degree in 1906.
U.S. Geological Survey
Ball began his professional career as a field assistant with the U.S. Geological Survey under the tutelage of A.C. Veatch. One of his first jobs was with a mapping party led by Veatch to the coalfields near Rawlins, Wyo. Ball’s natural skill in handling horse teams was a great benefit to the field crew and he soon went on to lead his own mapping parties in the Little Snake River coalfields of southern Wyoming and northern Colorado.
In 1910 at the age of 25, Ball was selected to chair the USGS’s Oil Section Land Classification Board, overseeing the Survey’s efforts in mineral resource conservation. While Ball was familiar with geological principles, his new responsibilities involved grappling with the legal intricacies of land ownership. This spurred him to enroll at the National Law School in Washington D.C. (now George Washington University) to pursue a law degree. Graduating in 1914, he gained admission to the bar of the District of Columbia and soon was admitted to practice before the US Supreme Court. His legal analysis, “The Placer Law as Applied to Petroleum,” earned recognition from Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane.
Despite his legal training and proficiency, Ball always regarded himself primarily as a geologist, stating, “I tote an LL.B. and an LL.M.,” but “my profession is geology.” Ball spent the following years in Washington, transitioning in 1916 from the USGS to the Bureau of Mines, where he served as a law officer and mining engineer specializing in petroleum.
Roxana Oil
In 1917, Ball left government service to join the private sector. Alongside his wife Amalia (Molly), a childhood acquaintance from Trinidad, Colo., whom he had married in 1915, Ball relocated to Cheyenne, Wyo. There he established an office for Roxana Petroleum, a new corporation formed by Royal Dutch Shell to explore for oil in the United States. Notably, Roxana was a trailblazer in the petroleum industry by being the first to employ female geologists, a decision driven by the shortage of male workers due to World War I.
Assuming the roles of general manager and chief geologist, Ball made significant hires for the Cheyenne office, including two female geologists, Vera Lund and Marian Ream. Over time, the office expanded to accommodate a staff of 24, comprising five geologists, five assistant geologists and two draftsmen/office geologists. The Ball residence evolved into a hub for social activities among Roxana employees, hosting gatherings and summer volleyball matches in Max and Molly’s backyard.
Roxana’s focus, like many exploration companies at this time, was the search for anticlines. Roxana geologists mapped and identified several surface structures in Wyoming and Colorado using plane tables, telescopic alidades and stadia rods, the same mapping techniques Ball had used as a young geologist with the USGS. Despite diligent efforts, Roxana’s exploration yielded three dry holes. Ultimately, Roxana’s Wyoming branch merged with Shell’s operations in California, undergoing a rebranding as Matador Petroleum.
In 1921 Ball left Matador to pursue new business ventures. He formed the Western Pipeline Company, initiating the construction of an 8-inch pipeline from Wyoming’s Salt Creek field to Casper to transport oil as a common carrier. This was a most strategic decision as it opened transportation markets for the public and for smaller Salt Creek field producers, breaking the dominance of privately-owned local pipelines.
In 1922 Ball started an exploration and production firm called Argo Oil Company. He later spearheaded the management of three additional businesses: the Glenrock Oil Company, the Marine Oil Company and the Royalty and Producers Corporation. Ball became locally known as a “man of mystery” for discreetly forming this string of successful companies.
RMAG Founder
Upon Ball’s departure from Matador, his family relocated to Denver. There in December 1921, he and six other prominent geologists met at the Albany Hotel to discuss the organization of a geologic association. On Jan. 26, 1922, 50 geologists, all charter members, gathered for the first meeting of a new organization called the Rocky Mountain Association of Petroleum Geologists (later changed to Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists). Ball was elected president of this pioneering association and they agreed that luncheons would be held on the first and third Thursdays of each month with members and guests presenting papers on interesting and diverse geological subjects.
Just a few months later in March of 1922, the annual gathering of AAPG was held in Oklahoma City. Ball was elected vice president and he invited AAPG members to a groundbreaking “regional” meeting for October of the same year in Denver, hosted by the newly established RMAPG. The three-day meeting sparked tremendous enthusiasm and drew geologists from across the United States and Canada. Sixty-three papers were presented covering the petroleum geology of the Rockies as well as the geology of California, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Alberta, Mexico and Romania. Historical records from RMAG state that “Intense interest was manifested and sustained through all sessions,” with attendance exceeding the expectations of even the most optimistic conference planners. An article from the Midwest Refining Company’s publication, “Midwest Review,” stated that “The big success of the meeting was largely due to the energetic efforts of Mr. Max Ball.”
Seeking Challenges in the Canada Tar Sands
In 1930, following a decade of building successful business ventures in the Rockies, Ball embarked on the most challenging endeavor of his career: moving to Edmonton, Alberta, to attempt the exploitation and commercialization of the Athabasca tar sands. Despite its longstanding recognition as a vast resource, previous attempts to economically extract hydrocarbons from the sandstone matrix had proven unsuccessful.
However, Max Ball was a man of conviction and courage. As Wallace Pratt articulated in Ball’s memorial, “Max was possessed of a passionate desire to serve by raising the economic level of his fellow man. He was an optimist, confident of his own ability to achieve. He was courageous and he believed in the efficacy of courageous action.” In fact, Ball carried a notebook inscribed with the words of Sophocles: “Fortune never helps the man whose courage fails.”
Partnering with J.W. McClave, a petroleum engineer also from Denver, and with Basil O. Jones, a trusted friend and petroleum business investor, Ball established the Abasand Oil Ltd corporation. Abasand secured leases from the Canadian government within the federal reserve along the Horse River, near the frontier town of Fort McMurray, where thick deposits of high-grade oil sands were situated close to the surface. McClave pioneered a process for separating sand and tar, while Ball focused on raising funds. In 1936, the company completed construction of a plant, marking only the second commercial-scale mining and extraction operation in the tar sands.
Soon after startup, the Abasand operation experienced technical problems. Not only were there excessive amounts of sand in the separated oil, but the deposit itself presented challenges in mining due to its high pyrite and flint content, which were abrasive and damaging to the quarrying machinery. Eventually, explosives were used to fragment and loosen the sand in the quarry. Finally in the late 1930s, the plant successfully produced quantities of gasoline, diesel and fuel oil, providing much needed fuel for riverboats on the Mackenzie River during the ice-free season and to local miners, trappers and fishermen.
Despite these accomplishments, operations were sporadic and generally unprofitable. Disaster struck in November 1941 when a fire ravaged about half of the installation. The plant was rebuilt, but soon thereafter, with the start of World War II, the Canadian government took over the operation to supply oil for the war effort.
Ball is recognized as one of the pioneers in the development of the Alberta tar sands, but his career did not end there. Before long, Ball was on his way back to Washington, D.C.
Government Service and World War II
Amid the nation’s wartime efforts, Ball responded to the call of public duty in 1943, assuming the position of special assistant to Ralph K. Davies, deputy petroleum administrator for war. This role posed formidable logistical challenges, involving the transportation of vast quantities of fuel to military outposts worldwide. It required adeptly balancing the often-conflicting perspectives of industry and government officials, as well as high-ranking military personnel.
Ball’s remarkable diplomatic talents were particularly evident during this period. Through his affability, patience, persistence and pragmatism, he adeptly mediated between disparate viewpoints, earning trust from both industry figures and lawmakers. His pivotal role in fostering harmonious government-industry relations was so significant that upon the war’s conclusion and the dissolution of the Petroleum Administration for War, no one was willing to let him go. He was swiftly promoted to director of the Oil and Gas Division within the Department of the Interior under President Harry S. Truman.
Petroleum Industry Legacy
During the long winter nights of his Canada years, Ball began writing a comprehensive “handbook” on the petroleum industry. Entitled “This Fascinating Oil Business,” the book was published in 1940 and became a must-read for those new to the oil industry as well as experienced explorers and producers. Ball described the business from both the upstream and downstream side with a writing style that seemed effortless, transforming complex geological, engineering and legal concepts into easily understandable prose. Within the next decade, it became a requisite textbook for industry training schools conducted by leading American oil companies.
Ball wrote numerous papers published in the AAPG Bulletin and led the committee responsible for producing the 1950 volume titled, “Future Petroleum Provinces of North America.” This publication, spanning almost 400 pages, incorporated contributions from 49 geological societies and individual geologists. Serving as a pivotal follow-up to the initial volume edited by A.I. Levorson 10 years earlier, it introduced new sections absent in the first edition, such as assessments of hydrocarbon potential on the continental shelf and the significance of reefs as reservoirs. It is one of Ball’s most significant contributions to petroleum geology.
Ball began the final chapter of his career in 1948 when he left his post with the Department of the Interior and returned to private practice, providing both legal and geological consulting services to the petroleum industry. He became a sought-after international petroleum consultant, assisting several countries in the assessment of petroleum reserves and crafting regulations for their management. During these years, his consulting firm played a pioneering role in the development of subsurface reservoirs for natural gas storage.
He was preparing for a business trip to Turkey when Ball died suddenly from a heart attack on Aug. 28, 1954, just two weeks before his 69th birthday. Although the petroleum industry lost a leader that day, Max Ball’s legacy lives on in AAPG, RMAG and the many other organizations which continue to benefit from his leadership and wise counsel even a century later.
Acknowledgements
A special thanks to Robbie Gries, author of “Anomalies, Pioneering Women in Petroleum Geology: 1917-2017,” for sharing insights on Roxana Oil.