About Golden Driller
The Golden Driller does not simply stand outside Tulsa’s Expo Square. At 76 feet tall and 43,500 pounds, he dominates it. The giant oil worker plants one boot beside the building and rests his right hand against an actual oil derrick as if both are ordinary pieces of equipment scaled to his body.
The monument traces its history to the International Petroleum Exposition. An earlier version was erected for the 1953 event and returned for the 1959 exposition. The permanent Golden Driller became a Tulsa landmark in 1966 and was designated Oklahoma’s state monument in 1979.
Up close, the proportions become difficult to judge because familiar human features have been enlarged to architectural scale. A boot becomes a structure. A hand grips part of a derrick. Visitors who look tiny beside the statue provide the easiest measurement of how absurdly large the figure really is.
The Golden Driller is outdoors at Expo Square and can normally be viewed from public areas. Event activity and access around the fairgrounds can vary, so visitors should check current information before making a special trip. Oklahoma has plenty of oil history, but few places express it with a seventy-six-foot person.