The story behind the greatest oil discovery success of last century and the building of the Trans Alaska pipeline. This book details and celebrates a colossal oil exploration feat and a world-class engineering and construction project. Discovery at Prudhoe Bay - is the story behind the greatest North American oil discovery success ever the Prudhoe Bay discovery in Alaska and the building of the Trans Alaska pipeline. Author and geologist John Sweet was a district explorationist with the company that made the discovery, and his book details and celebrates the colossal oil exploration feat and world-class engineering and construction project. Sweet's writings offer a first-person account of oil exploration work in interior Alaska and the inherent difficulties involved, including freezing cold temperatures, permafrost and unusual geography. The book also gives insight into the operations of large oil companies and the resourceful ways that they worked, often together, to ascertain the existence of the huge oil reserves. Sweet's narrative also establishes the area's historical and geological background. The book begins with a look at the topography and geology of the region, and discusses the early geologic studies that were done, particularly the surveys done by the USGS in the early part of the twentieth century. It examines the explorations of hermit explorer Dr. Leffingwell, who became an icon in the history of geologic studies of Arctic Alaska. Chapter three looks at the first oil activity in the region, which occurred in 1915 to 1921, surrounding the investigation of oil seepages in the area. Chapter four examines the activities in the mid 1920s, during which time the Bureau of Engineering in the U.S. Navy invited the United States Geological Survey to begin to explore and document the geography and geology of the recently established Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4. The next significant activity occurred around 1944, when World War II and the need for fuel for ships became the catalyst for an unprecedented effort to evaluate the petroleum potential of Naval Petroleum Reserve Number 4. Chapter six goes into when the Richfield oil company discovered the Swanson River Oil Field on the Kenai Peninsula in 1957. Chapters seven, eight and nine look at the various oil companies who were doing exploration into the region, following the Swanson discovery. Chapter ten further focuses on oil exploration. Chapter eleven goes into ARCO's decision of whether to dril