Woman's Intuition – Martin Yates was part of the partnership that was responsible for the Illinois #3. The oil sand, or “pay,” was drilled on April 9, 1924, after two unsuccessful attempts. Geologist V. H. McNutt, after the two failures, would not specify a third site. The decision was passed on to Martin, who chose to seek a woman’s intuition. He asked his wife Mary to choose the site and she did. The rest is history. Since 1924, southeast New Mexico has produced approximately 3.9 billion barrels of oil and 20.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas out of tens of thousands of wells.