VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. -- A Central Floridian believes part of the answer to escalating oil prices may lie right under our feet. His DeLand-based company has spent more than $250,000 betting there are millions of barrels of black gold buried more than a mile below Volusia County lands.

And it wouldn’t be the first time large oil deposits have been found in the Sunshine State.

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It's been pumped from the ground near Pensacola and rigs have sucked it up from the very edge of the Everglades, so when people tell Frank Ford he's crazy to look for oil in Florida he has an answer.

"Oil is where you find it," said Ford.

With sons, and daughters, and in-laws, Ford runs Volaco Oil, and has pinpointed possible oil reserves in places most people see as empty Volusia County woods.

“Sometimes you have to put a lot of holes in the ground before you get any reward," said Ford.

The DeLand family has put plenty of holes in the ground. Generations of Fords have made a living off coal and oil and gas in at least nine mineral rich states. In the late 1960's, they spent more than a quarter of a million dollars on extensive seismic mapping of Central Florida. They already hold two drilling permits for locations near Edgewater, and they're looking to get more. (See all drilling permits)

"We're gearing up, basically, as much as anything," said Ford.

Their optimism however, hasn't convinced everyone.

"If that wildcatter asked me to invest in his wildcat operation, I wouldn't do it," said Jim Hayman who is a professional geologist.

James Hayman has spent his life as a geologist in the oil business and one piece of earth that never showed much potential for oil, was Central Florida.

“You probably wouldn't find anything, but it's not impossible," said Hayman.

History backs up Hayman. State maps show dry wells scattered across Central Florida and most never produced more than a whiff of petroleum. But oil well archives from 1926 show there was some successful drilling here. The Kissimmee Oil Company maintained a well near Lake Toho from 1914 to 1917, and wells were also drilled in Ocala and Melbourne.

Florida's best chance at cashing in may be off-shore. Executives from coastal petroleum told us they believe there could be 10-12 large reserves in gulf waters in the Apalachicola area.

"There's been so much scientific data gathered. It's not just on a whim," said Lisa Ford Williams, Frank Ford’s daughter.

The Ford family admits, it's also far from a sure thing, but after a lifetime of waiting and wondering, studying and spending, they're ready to see what's really in the ground.

"We want the answer. It is, or it isn't,” said Ford.