THE HISTORY OF THE EAST TEXAS OIL FIELD
http://www.texasranger.org/E-Books/History_of_the_East_Texas_Oil_Field_(Silvey).pdf
This was the Master Thesis of Lucile Beard written in 1938, when the discovery of the field was still relatively current but the production had grown immense. Martial law was declared, overruled and the politics and economics became quite a mess.
Wildcatter were looking, not the majors. The proof is that the Majors were caught with their pants down. My Dad drilled some hundred wells as a contractor for Shell oil. He told me the geologists had had hunches, but that could not get a hearing in Tulsa. Even in those days, the Majors had the same divide between the bookkeepers and the men in the field that caused the BP disaster in the Gulf. As for the “politics,” it was a matter of getting to some engineer in Austin and crossed his palm with silver. Ironically, the only honest officials were some on the Federal Tender board. People were insulted when they wouldn’t take bribes.
Wildcatter were looking, not the majors. The proof is that the Majors were caught with their pants down. My Dad drilled some hundred wells as a contractor for Shell oil. He told me the geologists had had hunches, but that could not get a hearing in Tulsa. Even in those days, the Majors had the same divide between the bookkeepers and the men in the field that caused the BP disaster in the Gulf. As for the “politics,” it was a matter of getting to some engineer in Austin and crossed his palm with silver. Ironically, the only honest officials were some on the Federal Tender board. People were insulted when they wouldn’t take bribes.