The encyclopedia of Texas, V.1, Part 16

Author: Davis, Ellis Arthur, ed; Grobe, Edwin H., ed
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Dallas, Texas Development Bureau
Number of Pages: 1204

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Since the oil boom subsided, the city of Ranger has settled down to a steady but continuous progress. It is the commercial center for a vast area of West Texas and the unlimited quantity of natural gas here assures the city of Ranger a prominent and permanent place among the leading cities of West Texas.

The big permanent building period began im- mediately after the fire and a transformation, almost as if by magic, has taken place in a little less than two years. More than twenty five, two, three- four and six-story brick buildings costing from $50,000 to $350,000 have been erected in the business district. They are buildings modern and substantial. Bonds were voted by the citizens and one of the largest paving contracts ever let in Texas, covering sixty- seven blocks in the business district, was let and work started late in 1919. By the end of 1920, forty blocks of this contract had been completed with the prospect that the entire contract will be completed by the middle of 1921.

RANGER CRE &DISTRIBU

The Principal Business Street of Ranger on a Busy Day Ranger has Modern Office Buildings and Several Miles of Paved Streets.

CORSICANA By CORSICANA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

C® ORSICANA, located in the center of what is said to be the greatest oil field yet discovered in the mid-continent, offers an exceptionally 'ne opportunity for unprecedented growth at this The oil developments south, north, east and vest, which extend for distance of thirty miles in . & h of these directions, can be conveniently reached ". m this center, and therefore, this city is fast wyoming the recognized headquarters point of this . Initory. With many locations and drilling wells " Navarro County, and with practically all of the #xe mid-continent companies represented in the .M. many pools are expected to be discovered.

This city, with thirty-one manufacturing plants, twenty-five wholesale houses, and seventy-five dis- "ict agencies, offers an excellent opportunity for . mmercial and industrial development, for the wason that it is a recognized shipping point, being vated on the main line of the Southern Pacific, worth and south, Cotton Belt, east and west, T. & i. V., north and south, and a branch line of the to:ton Belt to Hillsboro, in addition to hourly in- :erurban service north, both freight and passenger; and being on the main highways, north and south, " east and west, through the south.

The annual factory output of Corsicana is $15,- ** 1,000; goods sold at wholesale, $25,000,000; and 4 payroll from all sources of $4,780,000. These to- rether with the fifty oil companies located in this city make it an important commercial, industrial, agricultural and oil center. Bank deposits, Decem- ber call, 1921, show an increase of $307,000 over simi-

Boaone of the Corsicana Chamber of Commerce, the Livest Business Organization of the City

"ar call 1920, and is within one hundred thousand 'Mars of the peak of general financial circum- Farces, which was December, 1919. Postal receipts :. 1921 were $52,000.

It might be interesting to review a little of the oil 'velopment history of this section of the state. !: may be recalled that it was at Nacogdoches that

the first oil drilling experiment in Texas was made in 1889. Geologists had previously indicated oil deposits in that section. Those who put up the money and those that did the drilling of the first Texas oil well were untrained men, but were willing

A View Looking Down Beacon Street on a Busy Day in Corsicana

to take a chance. Of course, the people ridiculed this experiment.

The next step in the history of oil development in Texas was in 1895, at the time Corsicana was suffering from an insufficient water supply. The local citizens organized a water developing project, the capital of the company being $30,000, and their only desire being to develop artesian water for the city's use.

H. F. Johnston, of Corsicana, was at that time a successful artesian well driller. Jack Davidson, a practical well driller from Pennsylvania, was em- ployed to do the actual drilling. The well was spudded in on the outskirts of the town, and at a depth of 950 feet oil was struck. Davidson having had considerable experience in the drilling of oil wells in Pennsylvania, recognized the oil indications and possibilities and reported the same to Ralph Beaton and the other stockholders. The citizens of Corsicana were disappointed in the find, for they believed that the oil would injure the quality of the desired artesian water. The directors of the com- pany ordered the driller to go deeper.

Ralph Beaton, Henry Damon and Jack Davidson became interested in the oil find and began plans to develop the field. They secured leases covering ten thousand acres in the neighborhood. Mr. Beaton then began a search for a practical oil man to assist in the development. Some time later he succeeded in interesting Colonel Guffey of Pennsylvania. At that time Guffey was one of the big oil men of Pennsylvania. Colonel Guffey and John Galey, his field man and business associate, visited Corsicana and made an examination of the oil indications here. It is now recalled that Guffey was not impressed with the prospects, but Galey stated at that time, twenty-seven years ago, that he believed he was standing within fifty miles of a great oil pool. Ar- rangements were made whereby Guffey and Galey agreed to test the field on a fifty-fifty basis, Beaton and his associates agreeing to secure an additional block of acreage. The land owners leased their farms then for one-tenth royalty. The first well drilled produced two and one-half barrels per day,

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

the second one was dry and the third produced twenty-two barrels per day.

It is interesting to note that the last well is still producing. At that time there were no refineries in Texas, nor were there any means by which oil products could be handled, so this oil was sold for fuel purposes to factories in Dallas, Waxahachie, Tyler and other places.

Some time later, Messrs. Guffey and Galey made an offer to Beaton and his associates to buy or sell the entire Corsicana field for $30,000. Ralph Beaton, Henry Damon, H. W. White, S. W. Johnson, Aaron Ferguson and Fred Fleming bought the Guffey- Galey, interest. J. S. Cullinan, Pennsylvania oil man, was then interested in a plan of developing these fields. Beaton and his associates agreed to sell him five hundred thousand (500,000) barrels of oil at fifty cents (50c) per barrel, under the condition that he would erect the refinery at Corsicana. This re- finery was the first oil refinery built west of the Mississippi River, and was an outstanding factor in the oil development in Texas.

The local men interested in the Corsicana fields, later sold their interests to the company whose properties were later secured by the Magnolia Petroleum Company. The Magnolia and the Texas

Navarro County Court House at Corsicana, the County Seat

Company were the outgrowth of the Corsicana ope- rations, and J. S. Cullinan was the leading spirit in these two organizations.

The recent growth of Corsicana in the oil activities has been very large. The census of 1920 gave Corsicana a population of 11,356. The city now claims a population of approximately 20,000 people. The business activities, public utilities, educational facilities, etc., have increased pro rata with the growth of population.

With the coming of people, additional hotel facili- ties and cafes have been established and are doing a flourishing business. The transfer facilities have also been provided by additional trains from Dallas and the oil fields and automobile service with a large number of cars has greatly increased. There are twenty-four steam trains and thirty interurban trains between Corsicana and Dallas.

Corsicana has been a great freight exchange center, as the result of the growing service to and from the oil fields. Manufacturing plants have been crowded with work and additional ones built. The annual factory output is estimated over $15,000,- 000.00, while the wholesale business is estimated

over $25,000,000.00 annually and the payroll of the city is estimated between four and five millions dol- lars.

Although the oil industry is one of the latest assets to Corsicanas business and progress, the city has had a conservative and substantial growth and is

The Y. M. C. A. of Corsicana has a Splendid Building and is Liberally Supported by the Business Men of the City assured a permanent future as an agriculture and commercial center.

Corsicana is the County Seat of Navarro County. The County was created from Robinson County in 1846 and was named for Col. Jose Navarro, then a member of the State Senate. In 1849 a large section of the County was cut off, out of which the Counties of Ellis and Tarrant were formed, reducing Navarro County to its present size. Before the sub-division, the County Seat was located at Forrest Store, twenty-five miles Northwest of Corsicana on Chambers Creek and what is now Ellis County.

The city of Corsicana was laid out in 1849 and is one of the oldest cities in the State of Texas. The Chamber of Commerce is one of the liveliest organi- zations of the city and has done much in advancing the interest of the town. Its membership includes virtually all of the progressive business men of the city.

One notable fact about the growth and progress of Corsicana is that the city has not become the victim of confusion like most nearly all boom oil fields, but instead has had a sane and conservative growth. The city being the largest place in the vicinity of the Central Texas oil fields, it has not only become the commercial shipping center for this district, but a residence of a large number of oil men who have either rented or built homes and

The Carnegie Public Library would be a Credit to any City Many Times the Size of Corsienna

commute to and from the oil fields daily. The city has a splendid library, fine schools and a splendid Young Men's Christian Association Building and other advantages which tend to make Corsicana an attractive place in which to live.

MEXIA, THE CENTRAL TEXAS OIL CITY By MEXIA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

M EXIA, is situated in Central Texas, seventy- five miles South of Dallas on the Southern Pacific and T. B. V. Railroads. It is the jobbing center for Central Texas Oil Fields. More than thirty large supply houses and Tank Companies, with big warehouse facilities are located here. Four State Highways enter the city from different direc- tions. The city is amply supplied with schools, churches and public utilities, including electric lights, sewerage, telephone, telegraph, express company, etc., and are being extended to keep pace with the un- paralleled growth of the city. There are three banks brimming over with deposits to take care of the financial situation and ample hotel facilities to house the permanent residents as well as taking care of the transients.

The average rainfall in Mexia is about thirty inches, mien temperature, sixty five degrees, eleva- tion five hundred feet. The city has a Commission form of Government. It also has municipal water works, sewerage system, Public Library, City Hall, Chamber of Commerce, five Newspapers and Periodi- cals, First Class Hospital as well as an Emergency Hospital, and is rapidly increasing, the office facili- ties being a number of modern brick office buildings.

The City has an enterprising and progressive popu- lation to join together in the promotion of every activity for the welfare and upbuilding of a modern city

Mexia has made good as an oil city. In the fall of 1921, when the newspapers all over the United States began publishing stories of 25,000-barrel gushers at Mexia, railway agents began to sell tickets to the new center of excitement and the established population of 3,482 grew almost over night to nearly 35,000. Conservative estimates today place the number of people at that figure.

Emerging from the first effects of being over- whelmed, the city is now working out a develop- ment of civic improvements and public service insti- tutions to care for its new citizens. Included in the public works are several miles of street paving; a $250,000 high school building to supplement the four schools already established; a federal post office building; an extremely new and adequate water and sewerage system; a sanitary organization police and law enforcing body second to none, as well as many other radical changes in the right direction.

The oil field two miles west of the city is produc- ing around 100,000 barrels of high grade crude oil every day. Pay rolls due to this development bring approximately $400,000 a week to the city. Seven

pipe lines will carry the oil away. A number of refineries are now building. More than fifty wildcat test wells are going down in the county to prove up additional territory in addition to the twenty square miles already in the producing column.

Thirty-two lumber yards and more than thirty supply houses and tank companies supply drilling operations covering an area of several counties in

Mexia's Depot. The Crowds of Automobiles and People are Indicative of the Busy Condition of this Thriving Oil Center

central east Texas. Four large wholesale grocery con- cerns operate in Mexia, owning fine brick buildings. Every large oil company on the continent is in- terested in Mexia. Since the beginning of develop- ments, Mexia has built several nice hotels, one three story $100,000 hostelry now being owned by J. K. Hughes, one of the biggest independent operators in the field.

Mexia is situated on three railroads, one being a trunk line, the Southern Pacific. Two state high- ways.cross Mexia, the county having just completed a two million dollar road building program when oil was discovered at Mexia. The county is one of the leading agriculture and stock raising counties in the State. Mexia being a well developed market for all kinds of products.

"Make Mexia a Better Place in Which to Live," has been the slogan of the Chamber of Commerce since it began to function as the representative com- mercial organization of the new oil field city over a year ago. All the citizens are working and planning. The various civic bodies and city government is united in this move and real results can be seen at Mexia, where the citizenship is building a clean oil city.

Mexia has many attractions to commend itself for a city in which to permanently reside. Civic and municipal improvements are rapidly making it a more desirable place for a home.

A Group of Oil Welly just West of Mexia in an Areu of Derricks Nine Miles in Length

HISTORY OF MEXIA By D. LEON HARP

M EXIA, the newest and most productive oil center of Texas has during the years of 1921 and 1922 commanded wider attention and more activity than any other oil field of the South- west. During this period, it has been the mecca for oil investors from all parts of the United States and nearly all of the large companies have secured valuable holdings and much fervent activity has been done in the bringing in of new producers.

The city of Mexia, which claimed less than five thousand people in 1920, has in less than two years become a metropolitan oil center with upwards of twenty-five thousand inhabitants. The oil production has increased to a volume of approximately two hun- dred thousand barrels per day. The many deep tests with favorable showing, promise to make this sec- tion one of the richest oil communities in the world.

Mexia is situated in Central East Texas, eighty miles south of Dailas, on the Southern Pacific and T. & B. V. Railroads, and therefore is a logical job- bing center for the Central Texas oil fields, more than thirty supply houses and tank companies being located here with warehouse facilities. Two hun- dred and fifty oil and gas companies have offices here, since the discovery of the Mexia oil fields and the tremendous growth of the city. Every effort is being made by the up to date citizenship to meet the urgent demand for office buildings, residences, schools, public utilities and other conveniences of a modern municipality.

At this writing there are $60,000.00 available for street paving. The bank deposits on September 1st, 1921, were $2,500,000.00 while on January 1st, 1922, they were $7,500,000.00. The record of the growth and development in Mexia, probably has never been surpassed by any oil field in the world.

A brief review of the oil discovery, and a few facts leading up to it, make an interesting chapter in the history of the Texas Oil Development. A few years ago the Mexia business men and land owners were determined to have an oil test made in this vicinity. They secured leases on several thousand

The Majestic, Mesia's New $100,000.00 Hotel. Owned by J. K. Hughes and Jesse Mclendon

acres of land contiguous to the city and made propo- sitions to experienced oil drillers to drill a test well.

John Sheppard, a successful oil driller and pro- ducer of Oklahoma, accepted their proposition, which was a share in the findings, the driller being re- quired to put up a $5,000.00 forfeit that he would

drill to a depth of 2500 feet. Mr. Sheppard had man. difficulties to overcome, and became discourag ... time and again. It was under these circumstances and at this time, that Colonel Humphreys of Denver Colorado, became interested in the Sheppard dri !. ing contract. A short time later, he assumed th. entire contract, Sheppard returning to Oklahoma

Mexia. the Central Texas Oil Center, as Seen from the Pullman Car

The drilling of the well was resumed until the 2,500 feet was reached, and the $5,000.00 forfeit money was given to Colonel Humphreys. However, the driller on the job had about lost confidence in the hole aird wired the Colonel in Denver for instructions. Every message was answered by the order, "Go deeper." On November 15th, 1920, the test well produced oil and today, there are hundreds of derricks through- out the field almost in sight of the original well, and hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent in the development of the field. Thousands of people have been made rich by the great discovery, and its effects are felt throughout this whole section of Central Texas. Many of the citizens who have been fortunate in accumulating wealth, are investing it in Mexia and environs.

In order to take care of this great flow of crude oil, many pipe lines had to be constructed. There will be seven large pipe lines owned by the leading companies to take care of the oil, among which will be the Humphreys Line to the Gulf of Mexico.

In conclusion, it might be said that Mexia is not staking its future on a single industry. If all of the oil wells should suddenly go dry, Mexia nevertheless would have a bright future. In this section of the State, the sandy land and the gumbo meet which affords a diversity of products difficult to equal. The city is a market place for everything grown on : farm. About $35,000.00 in poultry products are marketed here annually, while 20,000 bales of cotton are shipped from here. The farmers and stock raisers who built the town, are not being forgotten in the sudden rush for wealth in oil. Efforts an being made by the city officials to see that as much of the growth of the city as possible is made perma- nent. In view of the improvement campaign mapped out by the Chamber of Commerce, and the city government, Mexia will advance rapidly and become one of the leading cities of Central Texas.

WACO, BUILT IN A PARK By WACO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

W ACO, the sixth city in population in Texas, is situated in the "heart of Texas," and is often called "the city with a soul." Many years ago a tribe of Indians roaming the great southwest came upon a spot so ideally beautiful that they established a village. In time these In- hans departed to their final Happy Hunting Ground, and they left a site for one of the most picturesque ties in Texas. Waco is surrounded on two sides by green covered hills and on the other two sides nich rolling plains and the Brazos River, spanned by five great bridges, that ripples toward the Gulf «! Mexico in the shape of a great half-moon.

Located geographically nearer the center of the great Empire of Texas than any other city, Waco tas made for itself a place which no other city in Texas can fill and in consequence entertains an- sually many business and other assemblages.

Over fifty thousand people make Waco their home. Eleven railroads and one interurban assure all the . onveniences of transportation and travel. Two in- :rrurban railroads are now almost ready for con- ·truction.

Waco has many elegant homes, and miles of beautiful residence streets well paved and lined with thousands of pretty shade trees. The Bosque River, a small stream, flows into the larger Brazos just outside the city and furnishes many "old swimming tules" and fishing places, and the hundreds of miles of McLennan County's paved highway (probably the most famous good roads in Texas), make the beautiful scenery of the surrounding country easily accessible to the city.

Commercially, Waco has many reasons to be ¡ roud. Located in the very heart of the great cotton ; reducing area of Texas, the greatest cotton state .n the world, many of the industries of the city are naturally akin to cotton and its products. Dur- rg the cotton season hundreds of thousands of bales .{ cotton are marketed in and through Waco; cotton Ans dot the county; in the city is an immense cotton compress for making export bales, and cotton oil wills which manufacture the by-products of the Itton seed.

Through the untiring efforts of J. M. Penland, president of the Waco Drug Company, E. W. Marshall of the E. W. Marshall Insurance Company, W. G. Lacy, president of the Citizens National Bank; W. W. Woodson, vice-president of the First National Bank, J. B. Earle, president of the Texas Independent Telephone Company, and other promi- nent business men, the Waco Chamber of Commerce has been made one of the most thoroughly organ- ized and active Chambers of Commerce in the South- west. During the past four years through the ef- forts of these men, Waco has developed its indus- tries and wholesale houses and stands ready to wel- come more. A million dollar cotton mill and a hun- dred and fifty thousand dollar cordage and twine are now in force for construction, all fire proof, mod- ern buildings. These mills will begin operating in January, 1920.

The agricultural interests of the section are by no means confined to cotton, practically all of the crops common to the southern and central part of the country can be and are grown in Texas. Stock raising is becoming yearly a more important in- dustry here. There are within a few miles of Waco several of the largest fine stock farms in the state. Prominent among them are the famous Goodman Valley Farm with registered Hereford cattle, Shropshire sheep, etc., and Wild Ayre Stock Farm, owned by J. W. Mann. The county and city have a Chamber of Agriculture under the auspices of the Chamber of Commerce, and with a licensed federal grain inspector, a licensed cotton classer, cattle in- spector and several county agricultural and demon- stration agents, the agricultural interests are being handled by e.ficient men.

A large part of the city's business includes many wholesale houses, the geographical location and ex- cellent transportation facilities making Waco an ad- vantageous location for jobbing houses. Wholesale grocery houses, dry goods, hardware, candy and many other lines do a large business out of Waco.

Waco is headquarters for a large number of cor- porations in various lines of business, covering the Central Texas territory, and is also the home of a

A View of the Prosperous Cay at Waco. Taken from an Airship in Flight Over the City

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

number of manufacturing estab- lishments. Window sash and doors, tents and awnings, candies, pickles, rubber tires, overalls and numerous other articles are made here, including the bottling of a high grade ginger ale and other soft drinks of a nationwide popu- larity. The city is the home of several life insurance companies; the Amicable Life building is one of the prominent "skyscrapers" of the South.

The city has an abundance of splendid, healthful artesian water, which is an item of importance in the Southwest. The climate is dry and healthful, and mild in winter; snow or severe weather is infre- quent; the summers, while long, are tempered by the refreshing "Gulf breeze" which rises regularly in the early evening and makes the summer nights pleasant and rest- ful.

Waco's chief claim to distinc- tion as a center of Christian culture lies in 'the fact that this is the home of Baylor University. Bay- lor is the oldest school for higher education in Texas, having been chartered when Texas was still a Republic. Throughout her seventy- four years' romantic history she has stood for four-square against all vagaries of political and ethical teaching. While progressing with the time and adopting the new whenever the new proved to ! have merit, she has main- tained her poise, and today no higher standards of moral or intellectual thinking are held anywhere than at Bay- lor. Green and awkward boys and girls enter Baylor aimlessly, and after four years of the atmosphere of culture and refinment and altruistic ideals to be found there they go out as purposeful, well-balanced, determined men and women.

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The encyclopedia of Texas, V.1, Part 16

Author: Davis, Ellis Arthur, ed; Grobe, Edwin H., ed Publication date: 1922 Publisher: Dallas, Texas Development Bureau Number of Pages: 1204

Author: Davis, Ellis Arthur, ed; Grobe, Edwin H., ed
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Dallas, Texas Development Bureau
Number of Pages: 1204