Published: August 18, 2007 11:51 pm         

Astrobleme museum, the state’s Centennial get center stage at Ames Day

AMES — Sediment about 9,000 feet deep covers an eight-mile wide crater in the earth, making it invisible from the land or air.

But visitors Saturday got a treat from the sky. A T-1 training jet from Vance Air Force Base flew right over Main Street following the ribbon cutting for Ames Astrobleme Museum.

The astrobleme — a large scar on the earth caused by a meteor — created what would become fertile ground for oil and natural gas producers today.

Near the center of the astrobleme now sits Ames. The town is postured on one of only six such oil-producing craters in the entire country.

The museum dedication was just one of a number of activities during Ames Day 2007. Ames Day is an annual fundraising event for Ames Volunteer Fire Department.

“What can be better than a train, people gathering for a parade and the smell of barbecue?” said Bob Blackburn, executive director of Oklahoma Historical Society.

Hundreds turned out for Saturday morning’s celebration, which included a parade, veterans memorial dedication of a T-37 and a variety other activities.

Visitors and residents celebrated the opening of the museum, which details a meteor the size of a football striking into the earth more than 450 million years ago, which scientists believe occurred at the site of this rural Major County town.

Blackburn was one of several dignitaries speaking during the museum dedication. Bert Mackie, who grew up in Ames and initiated crater publicity discussion with Harold Hamm, introduced those who made the museum possible. Mackie said he hopes people from around the country will see the history and significance of the crater.

Hamm, an Enid oil businessman and CEO of Continental Resources, was the primary supporter and developer of the museum. Hamm’s geologists found something unusual about the site in the early 1990s, and he decided to drill deeper than the average well in the area — about 10,000 feet — and struck oil.

Initial production from the first well was 200 barrels a day. Cumulative production figures through the end of 2006 show production in the Ames crater area approaching 11 million barrels. Since 1991, there have been 60 wells completed in the crater, some producing more than a million barrels. Gross production has exceeded $120 million.

The side note to that business venture was the discovery of the meteor crater.

Hamm talked Saturday morning about the impact of the crater on the oil and gas industry. He said the museum was a tribute to the significance and economic influence.

The museum — a small, open-ended A-frame structure — features several image panels on both the north and south walls of the structure. The panels detail the formation and discovery as a significant geological and economic resource. On the center of the south wall, a flat-screen television shows video of geological graphics and an introduction by Hamm.

“We’re proud of it, and I think you’re going to be proud of it,” Hamm said.

After the museum dedication, children and adults lined Main Street for the Ames Day parade. The hour-long parade featured antique tractors, clowns, Boy Scouts, antique cars, bicycles, motorcycles, horses and draft horses, and church and youth groups. About 50 head of Longhorn cattle served as the parade’s finale.

The 95th Army Reserve Band played patriotic favorites.

A couple of 1937 Ames school graduates, who married just in the past two decades, enjoyed the parade, food and other festivities with family.

Leo Grace, who formerly lived north of Ames, attends Ames Day every year.

“The parade was nice,” he said over a hamburger served by volunteers raising money for the fire department. “The weather is great.”

Temperatures remained mild Saturday morning, and raindrops sprinkled on but didn’t hamper events.

Grace’s wife, Willa Mae, said she enjoyed the parade, the band and the company of her husband’s cousins.

“I always like the parade,” she said.

Visitors also were treated to train rides from Ames to the Cimarron River.

Organizers billed this year’s Ames Day as “expanded” in celebration of the state’s Centennial. The last time organizers planned an expanded event was in 2001 for the town’s 100th birthday.