Inventor induction
Palermo native who helped revolutionize gold mining to be inducted in National Mining Hall of FameBy ELOISE OGDEN, Regional Editor eogden@minotdailynews.com
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A native of Palmero who helped revolutionize gold-deposit exploration will be inducted into the National Mining Hall of Fame in Leadville, Colo.
Lew Eklund, 76, was born and grew up on a farm 11 miles south of Palermo in Austin Township, Mountrail County. He founded the Eklund Drilling Co., in Carlin in northeastern Nevada.
Eklund Drilling Co. Inc., which Eklund founded in 1960, is considered a leading exploration drilling company reputed to be the biggest of its kind in the western United States.
The company now employs 232 people and has a fleet of 30 drill rigs, said Eklund in an interview Friday. The company serves most of the western U.S., emphasizing on Nevada. It restricts its activities to gold exploration and relevant services such as drilling for dewatering wells and drilling monitoring wells.
Lew Eklund is from a farm family of five boys and two girls. When he was 18, he was working as a "jug hustler" on a seismic oil exploration crew. "We were based in Stanley, then worked all directions," he said.
By the time Eklund was 28, he bought his first seismograph rig.
Eklund and the former JoAnn Huus, who grew up at Plaza, were married in 1953. They left North Dakota for the first time in 1954. "We were following oil and uranium at that time, then back in North Dakota in 1956 for awhile still with oil," he said.
Eklund also did drilling work for the construction of the Garrison Dam.
The Hall of Fame nomination letter for Eklund said as his company, Eklund Drilling, grew in size and stature, Eklund never lost sight of what was most important to him as a member of the mining industry the welfare of the industry itself. Eklund acknowledged that was true.
In the mid-1960s, Eklund and his brother, Mike, designed the world-renowned Gardner Denver 15W drill rig. Lew Eklund then went on to design the Cyclo Blower, an idea, he said, that increased the output of an air compressor by about 20 percent.
He also designed various sampling devices that helped to revolutionize the mining industry by allowing mining companies to effectively sample microscopic gold.
"The gold at Carlin was the first microscopic gold ever mined in the world. We were the first rotary drilling contractor to drill it," Eklund said.
Eklund then tackled the impact that exploratory drilling had on the environment. His concept and help with the design resulted in what became the famous MPD 1000 Track Rig built by Drill Systems, Inc., a Canadian company and done in 1980. He said the rig is the standard of today's industry and recognized by government regulatory agencies as the answer to environmental concerns on both sides of the debate.
A few years later he also designed the Explorer 1500 rig built by Drill Systems. This system is a step farther in the environmental concerns because it does very little damage to the environment and moves faster than the track rig from location to location, Eklund said.
All along, Eklund's primary interest has been to help the mining industry. "The mining world has been good to me. I want to leave the woodpile a little bigger than I found it," he said.
Eklund's designs and inventions have saved his colleagues time, labor and money. Helping his colleagues has been its own reward. Eklund never patented his many designs and inventions, and never received royalties from them.
"What is unique and remarkable about this very exemplary American is that he wanted to do it this way. He has wanted to share his knowledge, not hoard it. He has wanted others to benefit, not just himself. He has been true to his American values and to himself," the nomination letter said.
Eklund's son, Lance, and daughter-in-law JoAnne purchased Eklund Drilling Co. from Lew and JoAnn Eklund in 1988. The company now is based in Elko, Nev., about 22 miles from Carlin.
When Lew Eklund recently received a phone call that he had been selected for induction in the National Mining Hall of Fame, he said, "I was very surprised and very honored. It's the National Hall of Fame. Wow... I'm proud and grateful and humbled."
Lew and JoAnn Eklund plan to attend the induction ceremony at the National Mining Hall of Fame Sept. 13 at the Charles F. Barber Pavilion of the Museum Convention Center in Leadville, Colo.
