The men of Webster Well gather together during Ben Rolenc’s wedding. Pictured, from left, are Jim Minarick, Mike Virka Sr., Mike Virka Jr., Rolenc, Ian Virka and Nick Virka.

Webster Well marks milestone anniversary

by Jason Futch
Published 9/16/26

Fifty years after flying to California and picking up his first piece of equipment that would usher in Webster Well, founder Jim Minarick is reflecting on a half-century of providing well services to North Bend and the surrounding communities.

“I really had some good customers over the years,” Minarick said. “I look back on 50 years and think, ‘Man, it goes by in a hurry.’”

A University of Nebraska- Lincoln graduate who studied agronomy and agricultural economics, Minarick got his start in the well-service business while he was still in college, spending his summers working for Gaughen Well.

He enjoyed the work so much that during his senior year, he decided he wanted to purchase the business and build on what he had learned. The owner, however, chose to take the business in a different direction, leaving Minarick disappointed.

Years later, he would use the experience to teach his own children an important lesson.

“Sometimes disappointment turns out in your favor,” he said.

In Minarick’s case, it certainly did.

In September of 1976, while on a trip to Arizona with some of his Delta Tau Delta fraternity brothers, Minarick made the decision to fly to San Jose, California, to purchase a drilling rig. Soon after, his brother Ted, who was to be married on Sept. 18, joined him and helped haul the rig to North Bend.

While the equipment was an important investment in what would become Webster Well, Minarick said the company’s beginnings would not have been possible without the confidence of another Delta Tau Delta brother: Tom Wolf, then-president of Platte Valley Bank.

“He took more of a chance than he should have on me,” Minarick said. “Without Platte Valley Bank and Tom Wolf, I wouldn’t have done this.”

When Webster Well was established, Minarick’s first employee was his cousin, Matt Emanuel. Another early employee, Harold Elijah, also became an important part of the operation, and Minarick credits him with teaching him much of what he knows about well drilling.

In 1979, Minarick married his wife, Ann, who would eventually become an important part of the business herself, handling the books and overseeing the front office.

That same year, the fertilizer company that purchased Gaughen Well decided to leave the well business and sold its assets to Minarick, purchasing them for a third of what he would have originally paid for it had Gaughen Well sold to him originally. From there, the business continued to strengthen and grow.

As part of that growth, in 1987 Minarick hired Mike Virka, which he considers one of his “most successful moves.”

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