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.

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