Oil in the Deep South: a history of the oil business in Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida : 1859-1945

567 Pages·1993·4.56 MB·English

by  Dudley J. Hughes

Oil in the Deep South : A History of the Oil
title: Business in Mississippi, Alabama, and
Florida, 1859-1945
author: Hughes, Dudley J.
publisher: University Press of Mississippi
isbn10 | asin: 0878056157
print isbn13: 9780878056156
ebook isbn13: 9780585210490
language: English
Petroleum industry and trade--Mississippi--
History, Petroleum industry and trade--
subject
Alabama--History, Petroleum industry and
trade--Florida--History.
publication date: 1993
lcc: HD9567.M7H84 1993eb
ddc: 338.2/7282/0975
Petroleum industry and trade--Mississippi--
History, Petroleum industry and trade--
subject:
Alabama--History, Petroleum industry and
trade--Florida--History.
Page iii
Oil in the Deep South
A History of the Oil Business in Mississippi, Alabama,
and Florida, 18591945
Dudley J. Hughes
Published for the Mississippi Geological Society
Page iv
A special thank you to Carroll Brinson
for his contributions to this book
and the encouragement he gave to the author.
Copyright Ó 1993 by the University Press of Mississippi
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
96 95 94 93 4 3 2
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability
of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the
Council on Library Resources.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hughes, Dudley J.
Oil in the Deep South: a history of the oil business in Mississippi, Alabama,
and Florida: 18591945 / Dudley J. Hughes.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-87805-615-7 (alk. paper)
1. Petroleum industry and tradeMississippiHistory.
2. Petroleum industry and tradeAlabamaHistory. 3. Petroleum
industry and tradeFloridaHistory. I. Title.
HD9567.M7H84 1993
338.2'7282'0975dc20 92-37759
CIP
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication data available
Page v
CONTENTS
Preface vii
Introduction xiii
I. The Development of Petroleum in the Southeastern 1
States to 1925
1. The Birth of the Oil Business, 18591925 3
2. Early Developments in Alabama through 1925 14
3. Oil Drilling in Mississippi through 1925 22
4. Oil Drilling in Florida through 1925 28
5. The Ancient Basins 30
6. The Exploration Teams 32
II. The 19261938 Era 35
7. The Landowners 37
8. Amory Gas Field 39
9. The Oil People Arrive 46
10. The First Seismograph in Mississippi 51
11. Early Oil Plays in Mississippi 53
12. Natural Gas in the Southeastern States 58
13. The Jackson Gas Field 64
14. Conservation and Tax Laws 86
15. Capturing the Gas Markets 89
16. Developments in the 1930s 99
17. The Oil Fraternity of the 1930s 105
18. Other Interesting Events of the 1930s 118
19. Alabama, 19261938 120
20. Florida, 19261938 127
21. The Stage Is Set 134
Page vi
22. Other Significant Events Affecting the Oil 138
Business, 19261938
III. The 19391941 Era 141
23. Mississippi, 19391941 143
24. Tinsley Field 148
25. The Dixie Geological Service 161
26. Two More Discoveries in Mississippi 162
27. The Oil Fraternity Expands 166
28. Other Exploration Activities in Mississippi 174
29. Alabama, 19391941 176
30. Florida, 19391941 179
31. Preparations for War 181
IV. The Boom of the War Years, 19421945 185
32. The United States Enters World War II 187
33. Mississippi, 19421945 189
34. Drilling Resumes 193
35. Drilling Trends in Mississippi 196
36. The Fabulous New Discoveries 199
37. Near Misses 221
38. The Oil Fraternity of the War Years 225
39. Mississippi's Wartime Success 232
40. Alabama, 19421945 235
41. Florida, 19421945 238
42. The Southeastern States at the Close of 1945 244
References 249
Index 255
Page vii
PREFACE
The discovery of oil in Pennsylvania in 1859 spawned an industry that
was to change civilization. The industry spread quickly from
Pennsylvania to other states, then to other countries. Similar to early
gold rushes, drilling for oil so excited the imagination that a virtual
army rushed from one boom site to the next in the early years.
Soon after the turn of the century, oil booms developed in Kansas,
Oklahoma, California, and Texas. In 1900 at Beaumont, Texas, the
discovery well for Spindletop surpassed all previous records, gushing
100,000 barrels per day and focusing attention on the coastal areas of
the Gulf of Mexico. Oil was found in Louisiana in 1902 and in
Arkansas in 1921. Natural gas, which in earlier years was a waste to
be flared, was harnessed by pipelines to become a major fuel in the
twentieth century. This gave rise to a whole new industry and made
possible an even higher standard of living.
By the end of the 1930s, the industry over its 75 years had developed
systematic methods of exploring for oil and gas and a myriad of
geologists and geophysicists were studying the subsurface to locate
new places to drill. But in this advanced stage of the industry, no oil
had been found in the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico east of the
Mississippi River. While the neighboring states of Texas, Louisiana,
and Arkansas had become prolific producers with thousands of wells
yielding millions of barrels of oil annually, only a few isolated gas
fields had been found in Mississippi and northern Alabama. These
small gas fields did not inspire much interest. The real profits lay in
oil.
Many experts were pessimistic about the probability of any significant
oil finds being made in the southeastern states. (One prominent
geologist is quoted as saying, "I'll drink all the oil found east of the
Mississippi River.") This all changed in 1939 with the discovery of oil
in Mississippi at Tinsley. Experience had shown that fields of 100
million barrels were very rare and