USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume IV > Part 46
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As a young civil engineer but few men in the South have a more serviceable reputation than Mr. Gordon, his services being constantly in demand, and as a locating engineer he was considered one of the best. Coming to Texas to make surveys for a proposed railroad be- tween Thurber and Dublin, he became ac- quainted with the late Col. R. D. Hunter. then the president of the Texas and Pacific Coal Company, who upon the completion of the railroad survey to Dublin offered Mr. Gor- don the position of mining engineer in the Thurber mines, which position he held until mining operations reached such proportions that it became necessary for him to pass this duty on to others, his title in the meantime being superintendent and general manager. The experiences which Mr. Gordon had while serving the coal company under Colonel Hun- ter would make an interesting page : suffice to
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say that for ten years or more they kept the mines on the "open shop" basis despite every effort made by the United Mine Workers of America to organize their employes, and from an output of fifty tons of coal daily the pro- duction grew until it reached fully three thou- sand tons daily.
When Colonel Hunter retired as president of the coal company and was succeeded by Mr. Edgar L.ยบ Marston, who had been vice president since the organization of the com- pany, Mr. Gordon became vice president and general manager.
With his long service as mining engineer, and being a civil engineer by training, and with his knowledge of geology and his fond- ness for nature, he soon became thoroughly acquainted with the coal deposits not only at Thurber but throughout the entire state of Texas. It is said that, so far as refers to the Thurber coal vein, show him a ledge of rock in any section of the coal basin and he can tell within a few feet the exact depth from the surface to the coal at that point. With this thorough knowledge of his country it is not surprising that Mr. Gordon could see "Anticlines and Sinclines domes" and attrac- tive "structure" where the trained geologists from their brief examination of the country could find no evidence of oil or gas forma- tions. This explains why the discovery of oil and gas in Stephens, Eastland and Palo Pinto counties was made by Mr. Gordon and his coal company and not by the older oil companies backed by their trained corps of geologists.
In 1912 the coal company began prospecting for oil and gas, this work being in charge of Mr. Gordon, who had succeeded in getting President Marston's approval, and his ap- proval and co-operation were given Mr. Gor- don despite the adverse reports made by trained geologists who had been employed by the coal company to examine the country. So confident was Mr. Gordon that his theories were correct that even before oil was discov- ered he leased many thousands of acres of land which by the time the field was proven to be underlaid with oil reached a total of over 300,000 acres, thereby giving his company the control of the great Eastland-Stephens County field.
The first test to prove the existence of a deep oil sand was made on the Nan Walker farm near Ranger, where in August, 1917, a ten million foot gas flow was encountered at a depth of about 3,150 feet. The gas pres- sure was so great that further drilling was VOL. IV-16
impossible. Some months later the well "blew in" and became a valuable oil producer.
In October, 1917, the coal company com- pleted a well on the J. H. McCleskey farm, one mile southwest of Ranger. This well came in as a gusher, making 1,600 barrels high gravity oil daily and was the discovery well, which started the rush to Ranger and brought about the development of one of the greatest oil fields in the country. Mr. Gordon and Mr. Marston have been the guiding stars in the development of the Thurber coal and the Ranger oil fields. They possess vision, courage, determination and the knowledge which have enabled them to go ahead with a direct provision that has broadened their oper- ations from a small beginning into a great enterprise. They have built the town of Thur- ber, which is a model town and an ideal place of residence. Mr. Gordon's home is in Thur- ber, he has resided here for the past thirty years, and has seen the town grow from a few miners' hovels to an up-to-date village with electric lights, running water, telephone and sewerage systems.
In 1903 Mr. Gordon married Miss Fay Kearby, the younger daughter of the late Jerome C. Kearby, of Dallas. They have one surviving child, a son ten years of age.
CLIFFORD ORLANDO FRITZ at the age of thirty-five has compressed into a brief career a successful experience as a railroad man, banker and oil operator, and in 1920 resigned his active connection with business affairs to take up the important work and duties of the position of recorder of Maskat Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Wichita Falls.
Mr. Fritz was born at Exeter, Fillmore County, Nebraska, in 1886, a son of F. O. and Carrie Belle (Waite) Fritz. His parents were natives of Ohio. Reared and educated at Exeter, he was still a schoolboy in age and experience when he started to learn railroad- ing in the station service. He made his qual- ifications recognized, served as local agent at several places for the Frisco Railway, and was on duty with that company in Oklahoma about ten years. His last work as a railroad man was done in Enid, Oklahoma. He re- signed and became vice president of the Okla- homa State Bank of Enid, but gave up bank- ing to come to Wichita Falls in 1918 and en- gage in the oil business. For about two years Mr. Fritz was actively associated with the important oil interests headed by J. I. Staley of Wichita Falls. He still retains a
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financial connection with this group, but for nearly a year has acknowledged the dominant call upon his time and energies to the duties of his place as recorder of Maskat Temple.
This Temple of the Mystic Shrine was insti- tuted at Wichita Falls August 31, 1920, by special dispensation of the Imperial Council of the order at the annual meeting in June, 1920, at Portland. Oregon. The new Shrine at Wichita Falls came into the full stature of success and dignity almost before the formal ceremonies of its inception. It was instituted with great ceremony conducted by Imperial Potentate Ellis L. Garretson, and the occa- sion was one of the big social and fraternal events of the year. The Temple now has nearly twelve hundred members, and to a large degree the initial success devolved upon Mr. Fritz as recorder.
Mr. Fritz is otherwise prominent in the Ma- sonic Order, is affiliated with Wichita Falls Lodge No. 635, A. F. and A. M., Wichita Falls Chapter No. 202, R. A. M., Wichita Falls Commandery No. 59, K. T., Oklahoma Con- sistory No. 1 at Guthrie, and he is also a K. C. C. H., preparatory for the thirty-third degree of Scottish Rite.
Mr. Fritz married Miss Willie T. Dekle, a native of Houston, Texas. They have one daughter. Genevieve.
BEN E. SMITH, one of the successful mer- chants and business men of Wichita Falls, is a native Texan. and has had a long and thor- ough experience. beginning as a boy in the drug business. For many years he was con- nected with a well known chain of drug stores in Fort Worth, and allied himself with the citizenship and business interests of Wichita Falls about two years ago.
Mr. Smith was born at Mount Vernon, Franklin County, Texas, in 1874, a son of Jeff S. and Mat (Perchman) Smith. His father, a native of Tennessee, and now deceased, was a resident of Mount Vernon, Texas, for half a century, was a highly respected citizen, and for many years was the leading druggist.
Ben E. Smith grew up and received his early education in the schools of Mount Ver- non, and learned the profession of pharmacy in his father's store. He then took other posi- tions, and for fifteen years was in the drug business at Fort Worth. Most of this time he was manager of one of the largest retail drug businesses in the city. He built up a large clientele for his business and acquired an extensive friendship in Fort Worth.
On coming to Wichita Falls in February, 1919, he entered the drug business in partner- ship with R. E. Barr, under the firm name of the Barr-Smith Drug Company. October 1, 1920, he bought his partner's interest, and has since been sole owner and manager of Smith's Drug Store, one of the most popular and liber- ally patronized establishments in the down- town district.
Mr. Smith is also a member of the Chamber of Commerce. He married Miss Josephine Morris, and their four children are Ruby, Ben- nie. Jeff and Virginia.
MILTON J. and SYDNEY A. GAINES. The Gaines Motor Sales Company is one of the leading automobile organizations with home at Wichita Falls, and in less than two years has had a remarkable record of business and growth. The members of the firm are two ex-service men, one of whom was in the famous Rainbow Division. The brothers came to Wichita Falls from Dallas, where before the war they were in the newspaper business.
The Gaines family have long been one of historic prominence in Texas. R. G. Gaines, father of the Gaines brothers, at Wichita Falls, was a former resident of Waco, and for a number of years past has been engaged in the cotton business at Dallas. He is a na- tive Texan. R. G. Gaines married Etta Apple. The business interests of R. G. Gaines as a representative of the American Cotton Com- pany required his residence for several years in New York City, and it was in the eastern metropolis that both Milton J. and Sydney A. Gaines were born, though from childhood they grew up in Dallas and acquired their education there. The brothers were connected with the circulation department of the Dallas "Times Herald" when they left civil life to go into the army. Milton J. Gaines on July 4, 1917, at Dallas, volunteered, was trained at Camp Bowie, near Fort Worth, but was soon sent to Camp Mills, and in October, 1917, went over- seas with the Rainbow or 42d Division as a member of Company A. 117th Supply Train. He was overseas nineteen months, and was in many of the activities that distinguished the Rainbow Division as an immortal unit in the American Expeditionary Forces. His first ac- tive fighting was at Chateau Thierry, and he was also in the Argonne and St. Mihiel cam- paigns.
Sydney .A. Gaines enlisted as a buck private at Dallas in August, 1917, along with young Mayor Wozencraft and a number of other
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prominent young Dallas men. He was a mem- ber of Company B, 144th Infantry, in the 36th Division. He was first trained at Camp Bowie, but later was sent to the Officers Training School at Camp Pike, Little Rock, Arkansas. His special abilities caused his assignment to duty for many months as an instructor in the various phases of the small arms service in the Non-Commissioned Officers Training School -bayonetting, rifle and revolver shooting, grenade throwing, etc. He was kept at this work until discharged with a highly honorable record on December 26, 1918.
In July, 1919, the Gaines brothers combined their enterprise-having no capital to combine -leased an unpretentious shop building on lower Ohio Street in Wichita Falls, and or- ganized the Gaines Motor Sales Company, Milton becoming president and Sydney secre- tary and treasurer. They were aggressive salesmen, and it is said that they sold two Republic trucks the second day they were in business. Their chief success has been in the handling of Republic trucks, though they are also local distributors for the Gardner auto- mobile, Bearings Service distributors, and handle a complete line of accessories, includ- ing Continental and Buda engine parts. Both were practical automobile men so far as the mechanics of automobile construction and op- eration are concerned, and in the early months they handled most of the mechanical details of the business in addition to their work as salesmen. In August, 1920, they moved their business to a new home in the new Kemp and Culbertson Building on Ohio Street, where they have floor space 50x100 feet. an attrac- tive sales and service station, and a shop equipment representing features seldom found outside the largest machine shops and fac- tories. The Gaines brothers have not only been successful business men but are among the most popular of Wichita Falls' younger citizenship.
WILLIAM JASPER MONTRIEF. The last thirty vears of his life William Jasper Montrief lived in North Texas, and enjoyed a place of prom- inence among the citizens of this section as an ex-Confederate veteran, a business man, and frequently as a leader in civic affairs. The honored name and reputation he made is con- tinued by his sons, who are still represented in the citizenship of Texas.
The late Mr. Montrief was born in Frank- lin County, Virginia. November 5, 1839, son of Isaac and Frances ( Prunty ) Montrief.
His grandfather was a native of Scotland and was the only member of his famliy to come to America. He became a South Carolina planter, and his son Isaac was born in that state. Left an orphan at an early age, he moved to Virginia and spent his active life as a planter in Franklin County, where he married Frances Prunty, a native of that county. Her father, Jesse Prunty, was born in Ireland and was one of three brothers who came to Virginia and identified themselves with the planting and agricultural interests of the state. Isaac Montrief was an old-line whig in politics. He and Frances Prunty had five children: James, who served in a Vir- ginia regiment during the Civil war ; Thomas. also a Virginia soldier ; William Jasper; Mrs. Louise Oldham Prunty ; and John F., an engi- neer in Missouri.
William Jasper Montrief was reared in Vir- ginia. His early education was acquired in a log school house, but the standards of the school were very high and he was well in- structed. Early in 1861, a young man then a little past his majority, he enlisted in the Con- federate service. Soon afterward he fell ill with typhoid fever, and on leaving the hos- pital was given a total disability discharge. The following spring, however, he joined the cavalry under Captain William Flood, whose death occurred only a few years ago in Fort Worth. The company was organized as Com- pany C of the Tenth Virginia Cavalry. under Fitzhugh Lee. William Montrief, as a ser- geant, took part in many minor engagements and in the greater conflicts of the Seven Days battle, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Wilderness and Gettysburg. He was all through the siege at Richmond, most of the time being on de- tached duty as courier for General Robert E. Lee, General Samuel Jackson and Colonel Davis. He was particularly well fitted for this line of work, and was frequently chosen when any special duty was required. While a courier he was never captured. though he had several narrow escapes. While doing scout duty between the lines he was captured January 28, 1865, by Warren's Corps and was sent to Washington, D. C .. before Lee's sur- render. At Washington he took the oath of allegiance and was released.
Following the war he engaged in teaching school at Richmond Kentucky, but in 1867 removed to Missouri and bought a farm near C'entralia in Boone County. He pursued the routine work of a practical farmer there for twenty years. While in Missouri he married
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Miss Penelope Hendrick, a native of Boone County. From the farm the family moved to Sturgeon, Missouri, where Mr. Montrief was mayor and for one term was marshal of the Court of Common Pleas.
Mr. Montrief identified himself with the citizenship of Fort Worth in 1887, and for about five years was well known in the live- stock commission business. In 1892 he re- moved to El Reno. Oklahoma, but finally returned to Texas and made his home at Bridgeport with his oldest son Virgil Mon- trief. His wife died there in 1911. His death occurred seven years later, on February 19, 1918, while he was visiting his sons in Fort Worth. The honored old soldier was laid to rest in Bridgeport February 20, 1918.
While at El Reno, Oklahoma, he was elected and re-elected three times a member of the City Council. He was also an active official of the Christian Church there, and he and his wife were very dutiful in their religious obli- gations. While at Fort Worth he was iden- tified with R. E. Lee Camp No. 148 of the Confederate Veterans.
Of the seven sons of his marriage three are now living: Virgil, B. E. and Oldham.
BUELLE EVERETTE MONTRIEF was the foun- der of a Fort Worth business now known as Montrief & Montrief, mechanical engi- neers and contractors, a firm representing expert facilities for handling every problem connected with plumbing, heating and ventila- tion, with a service extending to the smallest householder and to the largest hotel and office building.
B. E. Montrief has spent a large part of his life in Fort Worth. He was born at Sturgeon. Missouri, January 16, 1880, a son of William Jasper and Penelope (Hendrick) Montrief. His father died in February, 1918, and his mother in March, 1911. William J. Montrief was born in Virginia, served as a Confederate soldier under General Hood in the Virginia Cavalry, and also as a scout under General Fitzhugh Lee. Of his family of seven sons the three still living are: J. V. Montrief, of Bridgeport, Texas, and B. E. and J. O. Mon- trief, comprising the firm of Montrief & Mon- trief of Fort Worth.
B. E. Montrief acquired his early education in the common schools of Fort Worth and also at El Reno, Oklahoma. His life was spent in the home circle until he was twenty- three, and in the meantime he had acquired a knowledge of the plumbing and steam heating
trade, and when he left home it was to pursue the routine of a journeyman. He has been located permanently at Fort Worth since 1906. and for several years he continued working at his trade, until his experience and modest capital justified him in starting a business of his own. He handled a number of contracts in plumbing and heating, and did an increas- ing business under his own name until June, 1919, when he formed a co-partnership with his brother, J. O. Montrief. The firm has that splendid satisfaction derived from seeing a business started with little capital grow from year to year until the volume of business has enabled them to build their own building at 307 West Thirteenth Street. where the offices are on the second floor and the shop on the ground floor, 25x175 feet. As contractors they furnish employment to a number of skilled mechanics.
Mr. Montrief is a democrat, and while working for the good of his party and good government has never sought office of any kind. He is a member of the Christian Church and in Masonry is a member of Lodge No. 148 A. F. and A. M., Worth Commandery, Knights Templar, belongs to the Scottish Rite Consistory No. 2 at Dallas, thirty-second de- gree, and to Moslah Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Fort Worth, and is also affiliated with Queen City Lodge, Knights of Pythias. He is a member of the Rotary Club, Lions Club, Glen Garden Club and Chamber of Commerce, all bodies represented with the best citizenship and business interests of Fort Worth.
On September 7, 1907, Mr. Montrief mar- ried Miss Mabel Johnston, of Monmouth, Illi- nois, daughter of Tom and Addie Johnston. She was educated in the common schools of her native city. Mrs. Montrief is a member of the Christian Church. They have one daugh- ter, Merry Louise Montrief. born July 31. 1916.
J. OLDHAM MONTRIEF, member of the firm of Montrief & Montrief. contracting engi- neers of Fort Worth. is a native of Missouri, born in Sturgeon. February 12, 1885. He is a son of William Jasper and Penelope (Hend- rick) Montrief, of whom a separate sketch is published in this work.
J. O. Montrief came to Texas with his par- ents in 1887, and for the several succeeding years resided in Fort Worth, attending the public schools and enjoying the advantages afforded by the rapidly growing business and
B&. Montant
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educational center. In 1892 he removed with his parents to El Reno, Oklahoma, where in due course of time, he began his apprentice- ship in the plumbing and steam fitting work, laying the foundation for the success which has since come to him in that particular field of activity.
Returning to Fort Worth in 1906, Mr. Mon- trief has since been actively engaged in his profession, forming at different periods vari- ous partnerships and associations which have culminated in the present association with his brother, under the firm name of Montrief & Montrief.
On July 14, 1906, Mr. Montrief married Miss Myrtle Lillian Artman, who was born in Wellington, Kansas, but at the time of her marriage was a resident of Oklahoma. Mr. and Mrs. Montrief have two sons, Richard Oldham and Alfred Eugene.
J. O. Montrief is one of the representative business men of a younger generation whose optimism and energy have been potent factors in making Fort Worth a modern business metropolis, and is a member of the Rotary Club and the Lions Club, and also holds mem- bership in the Glen Garden Country Club. In the time honored Masonic Fraternity he is a member of Julian Field Lodge No. 908, Worth Commandery No. 19, Knights Templar, and of Moslah Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.
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JULIAN MONTGOMERY. Only those in close and responsible touch with the situation have clear conception of the intricate and varied problems arising from the growth of a com- munity of ten thousand to more than fifty thousand within the brief period of half a dozen years. This applies to only one city in Texas, Wichita Falls. Many of these prob- lems necessarily await solution at the hands of private initiative and private enterprise. A large bulk of them, however, can find ade- quate solution only through co-operative ef- forts and planning. Wichita Falls has in fact done some splendid work in city planning in recent years, and in that connection has em- ployed one of the greatest experts in America. George. Kessler. Bankers, capitalists and citizens in general have combined their re- sources and co-operated so far as possible. They have been instrumental in securing pop- ular consent and placing the resources of the community behind such plans, but the carry- ing out and execution demands a specialist, an engineer thoroughly versed by education
and training in all the technical details of the program.
Wichita Falls was fortunate in the summer of 1920 in securing for the position of city engineer Julian Montgomery, who has been handling engineering problems involved in municipal and state improvements for the past eight or nine years.
Mr. Montgomery is a native of North Texas, having been born at Whitewright in Grayson County in 1889. His parents are B. S. and Rachel (Montgomery) Montgomery. This is an old time family of Grayson County, and his father is still living at Whitewright. In his native town Julian Montgomery grad- uated from high school and also from Grayson College, with the Bachelor of Science degree. In 1912, on finishing the civil engineering course, he received the C. E. degree from the University of Texas. During 1912-13 he was construction engineer during the construction of the sewerage system of Austin. From 1913 to 1915 he was Research Fellow in the University of Illinois, and at the conclusion of his post graduate studies received the Master of Science degree.
Returning to Texas, he was during the sum- mer of 1915 in charge of the surveying of the county road system of Grayson County. In the fall of that year and during the first half of 1916 he was engineer in charge of design and construction for the city of Sherman. During the remainder of 1916 he was con- struction engineer for the city of Austin. In the first half of 1917 his duties were those of sanitary engineer for the city of Austin, and from then until the spring of 1918 he was chief office engineer for the State Highway Department at Austin.
Accepting the call of patriotism, he volun- teered in the spring of 1918 and entered the Fourth Officers Training Camp at Camp Mc- Arthur, Waco. He was transferred to Camp Pike, Arkansas, graduated in the Infantry School as second lieutenant, and was assigned to duty at Camp Pike and later was trans- ferred to the Engineers at Camp Humphrey. Virginia, at which point he was located when the armistice was signed. After returning to Texas Mr. Montgomery was from January to April, 1919, division engineer for the State Highway Department in charge of South Texas. From April, 1919, to May 31, 1920, he was county engineer of Rockwall County, Texas, and on June 1, 1920, upon appoint- ment by Mayor Walter D. Cline, took up his
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present duties as city engineer of Wichita Falls.
Mr. Montgomery is a member of the Ameri- can Society of Civil Engineers, is a member of the honorary engineering fraternity based on scholarship, the Tau Beta Pi, also of the Delta Kappa Epsilon college fraternity, and is a thirty-second degree Mason, a Shriner, and a Rotarian. He is a member of the Pres- byterian Church. Mr. Montgomery married Miss Annie Dickson, of Whitewright.
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