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All-American recalls first field experience in Alaska 1953 Phillips geologist Charles Darling ran in hip boots to train for upcoming basketball season; wins Olympic medal in 1956 Jen Ransom PNA Staff Writer
When geologist Charles Darling was first deciding which company to work for in the mid-1950s, it wasn’t the lure of high pay or top-of-the-line equipment that made him chose Phillips Petroleum Co.
“Phillips had a basketball team,” Darling told PNA in a recent interview. “I was an all-American in college, and I wanted to keep playing.”
But basketball or no basketball, Darling was itching to get some real field experience. A recent newlywed, Darling was thinking that he would end up doing something in the Rocky Mountains.
But in May 1953, Darling was part of Phillips’ first geologic surface exploration party to come to Alaska to look at the geological makeup of the Katalla-Yakataga region, which is about 50 miles east of Cordova. Gets merit badge in geology Darling was first introduced to geology in junior high, as a Boy Scout in Montana. He received a merit badge in geology and the interest sparked. He attended the University of Iowa, where the 6’ 8” geologist-in-the-making played basketball. Fresh out of college, Darling says that the time he spent studying the geology in the Katalla region was the only time in his 29 years with Phillips that he had to actually use the complex geology he studied in college.
“You had to establish sea-level first,” he said. “It was the only time I had to map an area so overturned.”
The exploration party, lead by geologist Phil O’Rourke, spent five months confirming the results of earlier mapping done by the U.S. Geophysical Survey in the Katalla-Yakataga region.
The group found a number of oil seeps that the USGS had not mapped, and Darling estimates that some of the seeps were leaking about a barrel of oil a day.
The Sullivan Anticline, where Phillips’ partner Kerr Industries first drilled, was heavily overturned, Darling said: “It was so complex we couldn’t establish where the reservoir rocks were.” An unfriendly welcome in Cordova The rocks weren’t the only complex situation the geologists faced during their stay in Alaska.
When the group first arrived in Cordova, weather held them there for almost two weeks before they could fly out to base camp. The group had never spent much time on the coast, so they wandered around the docks and beaches daily. Darling remembers the people were very unfriendly at first.
What Darling and the other geologists didn’t realize was that their daily harbor excursions were creating a stir. It wasn’t until a local bartender established that the visitors were geologists, not fish and wildlife game wardens, that the town opened up and welcomed them.
“It was okay to be a geologist,” Darling said, recalling how people invited him into their homes. “But they sure didn’t want anyone from fish and wildlife snooping around.”
Once the geologists finally made it to base camp, they conducted field research daily, as long as the helicopter could fly out. The area is known for its damp weather and overcast days.
“We had raingear,” he recalled when asked about the weather conditions. “There was a ridge about three miles away from camp. It was at least three weeks before we could even see it from camp.”
But rain or shine, most days were spent out in the field. Darling and his fellow geologists quickly figured out that the no-see-ums flew right through the mesh head nets issued to them by Phillips. New netting had to be sent special delivery. But Darling also made another bug discovery, one which he kept to himself.
“I learned early on that the gnats tended to gather around the highest object,” he said. “I squatted down every time we grouped together.” An Olympic athlete But Darling had more on his mind that how to get away from the bugs.
The exploration party was planning on staying until possibly October, and basketball season would have already started by the time he returned home. Worried that he might not be ready to play, Darling had to figure out a workout routine in the field.
“I had to keep in shape,” he said. “So I ended up running on down the beach in knee-high hip boots. I ran two miles a day.”
Darling’s dedication to basketball not only lead him to play on Phillips team, he also played on the U.S. Olympic team, and won a gold medal in 1956.
As for the basketball season of the fall of 1953?
“I came back to Bartlesville and had a full-court scrimmage the day after we got back,” he said. “Running in sand kept me in good shape.”
Darling is now retired from Phillips and resides in Colorado. He is one of several geologists who is helping Petroleum News • Alaska document Phillips’ early history in Alaska.
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