The George N. Mitchell Drilling Company had humble beginnings in 1939 when five Mitchell brothers first began to service the oil fields in Seminole, Oklahoma, mainly for the Sinclair Oil Company. During the oil boom of the 1940’s in the Illinois Basin, George N. Mitchell’s father, Thomas, and his four brothers, migrated to Carmi, Illinois to form Mitchell Brothers Drilling and Trucking Companies.

Drilling activity began to slow down in the Basin in the 1950’s and 1960’s, and the Mitchell Brothers’ partnership dissolved. The drilling side of the company, with its one rotary rig, continued under the ownership of Thomas A. Mitchell Drilling. Upon his death, the company was inherited by his widow, two sons and a daughter.

One of Thomas’ sons, George N. Mitchell, held the drilling company together during the lean times of the 1960’s. Through his perseverance and total dedication, the George N. Mitchell Drilling Company not only survived the hard times, but grew the company from a single-rig operation into one of the largest drilling contracting businesses in the Illinois Basin. George N. Mitchell Drilling now employs over 85 people, and operates a fleet of ten modern drilling and completion rigs capable of drilling vertical wells from 3,000 to 8,000 feet. Recent expansion into Horizontal Drilling promises increased growth in new directions.