Louis Grow Huntley
Johnson & Huntley (1912-1915)
Johnson, Huntley & Somers (1915-1922)
Huntley & Huntley, Inc. (1922-1940's)
Louis Grow (L.G.) Huntley was born on July 22, 1885 in Greenville, Michigan. At age ten, the Huntley family relocated to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where L.G. attended the Pittsburgh public schools, graduating in 1898. Deciding not to enroll in college immediately after graduation, he began working at the local steel mill. Not intending to abandon his academics, L.G. had several private tutors over a seven year period. With seven years of hard labor behind him, L.G. enrolled at Carnegie Institute of Technology, School of Applied Science, in 1905. He was in the first graduating class to receive a Bachelor of Science in Mines and Metallurgy. Upon graduation in 1908, L.G. was employed by the Panama Railroad as a surveyor. Continuing his international work, he subsequently traveled to Ecuador, hiring on as an Assistant Engineer for the South American Development Company at the Porto Belo Mines. The following year, L.G. remained in Ecuador, but began working for the Guayaquil and Quito Railroad as an Assistant Engineer, conducting prospecting and surveying mining work. In 1911, he returned to the United States and began working with the United States Bureau of Mines as an Assistant Petroleum Engineer. There he focused his work in the mid-continent fields of oil production. Throughout 1912, L.G. performed similar work for the Canadian Department of Mines, but took time away from the field to marry Gladys Guy on September 12th.
In 1912, L.G. joined Roswell H. Johnson, to form the consulting oil geological firm, Johnson & Huntley. Three years after starting the consulting firm, L.G. joined the science graduate degree program at the University of Pittsburgh. L.G. focused his studies in geology of oil and gas, receiving a master's degree in science in 1922. Along with his studies, he began teaching at Pitt in 1916, as a lecturer on foreign oil fields and continued various field consulting assignments until he completed his degree.
Johnson & Huntley focused their work in petroleum geologic and engineering consulting. From 1913 to 1921, Johnson & Huntley took many jobs in Tampico, Mexico from various clients. Their primary client however, was M.L. Benedum, a fellow Pittsburgh native and one of the greatest wildcatters of this era. Benedum proved to be a significant client for the next forty years. In 1915, Ransom Evarts Somers joined Johnson & Huntley to form the firm, Johnson, Huntley & Somers. In addition to his role as a principal of the consulting firm, L.G. served as President of The Island Oil & Transport Corporation, from 1918 to 1919. As president, L.G. oversaw drilling, producing, transporting and selling oil in the Mexican oil fields. In 1922, Johnson and Somers both decided to leave the company and move on to other opportunities. Overseeing the change, L.G. brought his brother Stirling Huntley to the firm, thus forming Huntley & Huntley, Inc, as we are still known today.
L.G.'s stellar professional career included many international projects, taking him to various parts of the world, such as: Columbia, Venezuela, Guatemala, Peru, Cuba and Mexico, just to mention a few. Not only did L.G. focus his career on foreign oil and gas, he also conducted exploration and the location of wells in most basins in the continental United States. L.G. retired to McAllen, Texas in the 1940's, but continued to contribute to various projects for Huntley & Huntley. L.G. passed away on June 11, 1970 in McAllen, Texas. He was survived by his wife Gladys and his two children, Gladys (b. 1913) and Louis Guy (b. 1917).
Throughout his career, L.G. was involved with the following firms and/or societies: President and Director of Huntley Oil Corporation, Director of Mudge Oil Company, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, American Society of Economic Geologists, Engineering Society of Western Pennsylvania and the American Association of Advancing Sciences.
