Wight, John, 1889-1986

John F. Wight, along with his brother Edwin A. Wight homesteaded in Powder River County, Montana in 1917 and shortly thereafter began developing oil fields in Montana and Wyoming with the Capital Gas Corporation. He was president of the Mondakota Gas Company of Billings, Montana and in 1927 organized Midwest Holding Company, which performed petroleum exploration and drilling in Montana and Wyoming. Wight also held interest in the Atlantic-Pacific Oil Company and owned the Soap Creek Refinery of Soap Creek, Montana and the Shelby Oil Refinery of Shelby, Montana.

Wight also forced the federal government to enforce the Common Carrier Right of Way Act of 1920, whereby pipeline companies must carry gas from the fields of independent producers. He filed suit in 1929 for Mondakota to use the interstate gas transmission of the Montana-Dakota Utilities Company (MDUC). The Federal Power Commission made its final ruling in favor of Mondakota in 1949.

John Wight was born in Dover, Arkansas, on December 13, 1889, to Eugenia (Arnold) and John Fitch Wight. His father emigrated from the Isle of Wight and was part of the California gold rush. He then moved on to South Dakota's Black Hills, but settled into ranching and farming instead of mining. Eugenia, widowed from her first marriage with a son, Frank, married him in 1888.

Wight's father died when he was six, and the family moved to Rapid City, where his mother married Marshall Coons. He attended school in Rapid City, South Dakota, but quit at age eleven to work in a sawmill. When he was fifteen, he began to work in construction and began to mine with his brother, Edwin. At age seventeen, he started a real estate and insurance office in Rapid City with his half-brother Frank, which was quite successful; the completion of the Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Seattle Railroad to Rapid City had started a land rush. Wight read law to become a land attorney and was appointed U.S. Commissioner for the U.S. Land Office. He spent time in St. George, British Columbia, and Alaska looking at land suitable for speculation, but returned to Oregon. He speculated on land near Medford, Oregon; Spokane, Washington; and near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. He closed his Rapid City office and moved to Spokane, where he owned a number of buildings. He also bought the opera house in Oakdale, Washington, a sawmill at Mica Peak, Washington, and a drug store in Cheney, Washington. He maintained some interests in South Dakota and Montana. After losing most of his assets, he homesteaded in the Miles City, Montana, area in 1909 and in Powder River Country, Montana, in 1917. He moved to Miles City in 1921.

In 1919 he and his brother Edwin entered the oil exploration and production business in eastern Montana with the Capital Gas Corporation. He drafted and promoted the Oil and Gas Leasing and Right-of-Way Act, which Congress passed in 1920 and made oil pipes that crossed federal land common carriers. He formed the Atlantic Pacific Oil Company, then the Capital Gas Corporation, which bought most of the Atlantic Pacific's assets. The Capital Gas Corporation went bankrupt in 1943. He was president of the Mondakota Gas Company of Billings, which he organized in 1942, and in 1927 organized the Midwest Holding Company, which performed petroleum exploration and drilling in Montana and Wyoming. Wight also held interest in the Atlantic-Pacific Oil Company, the Cedar Creek Field, and owned the Soap Creek Refinery of Soap Creek, Montana, and the Shelby Oil Refinery of Shelby, Montana. He later reorganized the Shelby Refinery as the Sun Oil Company. In 1949 Oil Reporter named him Oilman of the Year. His daughter Marvel Lowrance joined him in the business.

Wight forced the federal government to enforce the Common Carrier Right of Way Act of 1920, in which pipeline companies must carry gas from the fields of independent producers. He filed suit in 1929 for Mondakota to use the interstate gas transmission lines of the Montana-Dakota Utilities Company (MDUC). The Federal Power Commission made its final ruling in favor of Mondakota in 1949. He was, in general, very involved with federal legislation concerning the oil and gas industry, and with numerous lawsuits in defense of his assets.

He married Susan Goeres in 1909; they divorced in the early 1940s, and he married Theora Hoffman in 1949. He and Susan had four daughters: Patricia (Kane), Mildred (Beadle), Aileen (Baxter) and Marvel (Lowrance). From 1962 on, he and his wife lived in Billings, Montana, where he maintained his offices. He died September 2, 1986, in Billings.