Cary "Slim" Harrison Interview

PIONEERS IN TEXAS OIL TOPIC: Beaumont, Spindletop, Sour Lake, Brazoria County, Humble, Goose Creek, Saratoga, Kountze, Batson NAME: Cary "Slim" Harrison INTERVIEWER: W. A. Owens PLACE: Harrison home, Houston, Texas TAPE NO: 125 DATE: July 29, 1953 RESTRICTIONS: None

Owens - This is an interview with Mr. Harrison at his home in Houston. What is your full name, sir?

Harrison- Cary.

O.- Cary Harrison.

H.- Yes. O.- How many people call you Cary?

H. - Nobody.

O.- What do they call you?

H.- Slim.

O. - Where'd you get that nickname?

H.- I don't know. Got it at Spindletop.

O.- At Spindletop?

H.- Yes.

O.- Practically all the roughnecks there had nicknames, I understand.

H.- Yes. O.- So yours was Slim.

H.- It stuck to me.

O.- How tall were you in those days?

H. - I was about six feet.

O.- About six feet,

H. - Yes. O. - And slender as you are now. Well, where were you born?

H.- Mississippi.

O.- What place in Mississippi?

H.- Out on a farm.

O.- On a farm. In what county, near what towns?

H.- Desoto County.

O.- Desoto County.

H.- Yes. O.- And where were your parents from?

H.- Well, they were from, one was from, my mother was from Shelby County in Tennessee and my father was from Desoto County.

O.- Yes. Well, when did you come to Texas?

H. - Right after the 1900 storm.

O.- The 1900 storm. Well, you had all your, did I ask you when you were born? I didn't. What was your birth date?

H.- April the 6th, '68.

O.- April the 6th, 1868. And you came to Texas in 1900 right after the Galveston storm.

H. - Yes.

O. - Well, you had had a number of years in Mississippi. You had all of your education there. How much education did you have?

H.- Memphis.

O.- Beg your pardon?

H.- In Memphis, Tennessee.

O.- Oh, you had it in Memphis, Tennessee. You moved to Memphis from Mississippi. How old were you when you moved to Memphis?

H.- Oh God, I don't know.

O.- Yes. Well, how much education would you say that you had at that

H. - Well, I went through high school and went one year at Tyler, College.

O.- In Memphis?

H.- Memphis.

O.- Yes. And then you-- Unidentified Voice- A little into this thing.

O.- Yes, a little louder so it'll be, oh, what were you, what kind of work did you do before you came to Texas?

H.- Bookkeeper.

O. - A bookkeeper.

H.- Yes.

O.- And how did you happen to decide to come to Texas?

H.- I don't know, just on the spur of the moment.

O.- Well, had you heard about the opportunities here or something of this sort, or--

H.- Oh, yes. Yes.

O.- Where did you settle when you came? H.- I went to Galveston.

O.- Yes. How long did you stay in Galveston, then?

H.- I was there about a year. Yes.

O.- And then you went to Beaumont from there.

H.- Yes.

O.- How did you happen to go to Beaumont?

H.- Well, I heard there was lots of work over there -

O.- Yes.

H.- --like all roughnecks.

O.- Well, what kind of work had you been doing in Galveston?

H.- I was shipping clerk.

O.- Shipping clerk there and you went over to Beaumont. Will you tell me about that first trip over to Beaumont?

H.- Well, I stayed there.

O.- How did you go?

H.- I'll swear, I don't know. I think I come up to Houston and then, chances are I walked.

O.- Chances are you walked to Beaumont.

H.- Yes.

O.- Well, do you remember when, exactly what date you got to Beaumont?

H.- No sir.

O.- But the oil field was already started then?

H. - Yes.

O.- How many wells do you suppose were out at Spindletop when you got there?

H.- Oh, there was several wells.

O.- Yes.

H.- I don't know how many. I expect fifteen or twenty.

O.- Fifteen or twenty. Well, now, you went to work immediately?

H.- Yes.

O.- For whom?

H.- Well, the first well I worked, worked on, was, old man Sheldon was the driller and Niehaus.

O.- Niehaus. And what was your work on that well?

H.- Roughneck.

O.- What did you actually do as a roughneck on it?

H.- Anything they told me to do.

O.- How much did they pay you?

H.- I think it was three dollars a day.

O.- Where did you live at that time?

H.- Just on the floor of the derrick.

O.- You slept on the floor of the derrick?

H.- Yes.

O.- No tent?

H.- No.

O.- No cot?

H.- No. Just wherever you fell down.

O. - Yes. How did you keep the mosquitoes off?

H.- Well, there wasn't many mosquitoes around the oil field.

O.- There were not?

H.- No.

O.- Why not?

H.- I guess the oil kept them off.

O.- Well, where'd you get your meals?

H.- Restaurant.

O.- Over on Spindletop?

H.- Spindletop.

O.- Yes. Do you remember what restaurant it was?

H.- No, I do not.

O.- Yes. Well, how long did you actually work at Spindletop?

H.- I worked there about a year.

O.- Yes. And do you remember any of the other companies you worked for or the wells you worked on?

H.- Yes, I worked for Lucas Well Drilling Company.

O.- Yes, old Captain Lucas.

H. - There were several, no, Lucas never--

O.- Another Lucas.

H.- Eisenhower and Conklin.

O.- Yes.

H.- They had a little company over there called the Lucas Well Drilling Company.

O.- Yes.

H.- And I worked for them.

O.- Still a roughneck.

H.- Yes.

O.- Yes.

H.- Finally old man Eisenhower put me to drilling, hold the brake while he'd gone off to get him a drink I guess.

O.- Well, how did you make out as a driller?

H.- Oh, I done alright. All he had to do was just wiggle it a little. Didn't know anything about it.

O.- Yes. Well, did you have any, did you get hurt any time when you were working there or--

H.- Nope. I didn't get hurt on the rig. I got drunk and got in a fight and got cut up pretty bad.

O.- Well, would you tell me the story of that?

H.- Oh, I don't know it. It's been so long ago. I got scars, another one there--

O.- I can see them on your hand.

H.- --that finger cut off, stiff, and got on my arms two or three stripes

and in my side.

O. - Who were you fighting with?

H.- Another roughneck.

O.- Do you remember what you were fighting about?

H.- Nope.

O.- Well, where--

H.- About a drink, I guess.

O. - Where'd this fight take place?

H. - In a saloon.

O.- In a saloon there? H.- Yes.

O.- Do you remember which saloon it was?

H.- No, I don't remember.

O.- Yes. Well, what did the, where'd they take you to a doctor?

H.- I swear, I don't know.

O.- Do you think they took you into Beaumont?

H.- I think, I think this occurred at Spindle-, at Sour Lake I had the fight.

O.- Oh, this happened at Sour Lake.

H.- Yes.

O.- Yes, That was later on.

H.- Yes.

O.- Sour Lake was rougher I understand, too.

H.- It was pretty rough.

O.- Well, who were some of the other people that you knew at Spindletop that you--

H.- Oh, I, God-durn, I knew old Pinkinstein(?), and Bass, and, oh, I

don't know. I can't remember who, I know so many of them.

O.- Yes. That's been a long time back, too.

H. - It's been a long time back.

O. - Well, did you see Governor Hogg out there?

H.- No.

O. - Didn't see him.

H.- Never did see him.

O. - Yes. Well, did you know the Sharps out at Spindletop?

H. - Yes . Yes.

O.- Yes.

H.- Walter and Jim.

O. - Yes. What could you tell me about them?

H.- Well, they're mighty fine people. Always considered that.

O.- Did you work with them any?

H.- No, I didn't work at Spindletop with them. I worked for thems I think at Sour Lake.

O.- When did you go over to Sour Lake?

H.- Well, I don't--

O.- Just when the boom opened there?

H.- Yes, when it first opened up.

O.- And who were you working for over there?

H.- I swear, I don't know.

O. - Were you on the "shoestring" area?

H.- Yes, I was down in the shoestring. I worked for old man E. P. Simms; no, that was at Humble.

O.- Yes. Well, did you have any bad experiences down at shoestring Did you get gassed or anything of the sort there?

H.- Oh, yes, we'd get gassed once in a while.

O.- Yes.

H.- Didn't amount to much.

O.- I mean gassed from gas, not from liquor.

H.-Well, we'd kill that with liquor.

O.- Were you a bachelor at that time?

H. - Yes, sir.

O.- Yes. Well, where were you living in Sour Lake?

H.- Anywhere night caught me.

O.- Still sleeping out?

H.- Yes.

O.- Well, that was pretty rugged living, then.

H.- No, It wasn't. We got along pretty good.

O.- Yes.

H.- Didn't miss many meals.

O.- Well, where'd you get your meals there?

H.- Oh, any place.

O.- Restaurant, boarding houses?

H.- Restaurant, boarding houses.

O.- Oh, did you see anybody get killed in fights at Sour Lake?

H.- No, I didn't see anybody get killed.

O.- Yes. There were some that got killed, I understand.

H.- Oh, yes. Then I went to, I quit the oilfield and went to, down Brazoria County, and that was my downfall,

O.- Why? Oh! That's where you met Mrs. Harrison.

H.- I was down there at, by the, where the sulphur company is--

O.- Yes.

H.- --for old E. P. Simms.

O.- Yes.

H.- And finished up, oh, I drilled one well and finished another one and when the old man left there, why, he said, "Now, I want you just to stay here and watch this. If you stay here till I return why I'll take care of you ."

O.- Yes.

H.- So I stayed down there four years. Didn't do anything. Fish and hunt--

O.- Yes.

H.- --and drink good whiskey. And that's where I met my wife.

O.- Yes.

H.- And then after, I came up here and they moved up here shortly after that.

O.- The Simms people did?

H.- No.

O.- Oh? Oh, your wife's--

H. - My wife's folks. They lived over there next door.

O.- Is that right?

H.- Yes. That's why we were married.

O.- Yes. What year were you married?

H.- 1920.

O.- 1920.

H.- No, 1916.

O.- 1916.

H.- Yes.

O.- Yes. Alright. Well, you stayed down at, in Brazoria for four

years. Then what work did you do after that?

H.- Well, I was out at Humble. I believe I, we were, went from there down to, I swear, I don't know where I went.

O.- You were at Humble. Were you at Goose Creek any?

H.- Yes, I was down in Goose Creek.

O.- Yes.

H.- And that was after I got married.

O.- Yes sir.

H.- I went down to Goose Creek.

O.- You lived down there, then?

H.- Lived down there. Built me a house down there on the Ashbel Smith and just, my wife came down there and stayed a few months and then old man Simms wanted me to go somewhere else.

O.- Yes.

H.- And I was up in town there and I went in the bank to get some money one morning, the Union National Bank, that was George Hamlin (?), was my standby.

If I'd go broke why I could borrow a piece of money from him,and old man Simms, old man Hughes come in.

He said, "What've you been doing?" "Well, I ain't doing anything now," which was a lie. I had a job.

"Well," he says, "come out to the plant. I want to see you." Well, in two or three days I went out there and when Mr. Hughes come I was there.

He says, "I want you to go to work for me." I said, "I've got a job, Bo." "Well," he said, "I don't care if you have got one, you got another one now."

He says, "You're working for me now." He says, "What're you getting?" I told him. He says, "I'll just up that fifty dollars." He says, "You come in here and report in the morning." And I've been with them ever since.

O.- What year was that?

H.- Huh? 1920.

O.- 1920.

H. - Yes.

O.- What work did you start doing with them?

H.- Well, I just, I worked around the plant there a little bit trying to familiarize myself with the bits and then he come in one morning and he said, "I want you to get out and rustle around these oil fields."

O.- Yes.

H.- So they bought me a new car and put me out on the road and I've been there ever since.

O.- And you worked in all the oil fields with the bit.

H.- Yes.

O.- Yes. Where did you first know Mr. Hughes?

H.- Oh, I don't know. I think at Sour Lake.

O.- Yes. Well, you called him "Bo." Why did you call him that? Was that a nickname of his or--

H.- No, that's what we call everybody nearly, Bo.

O.- Why?

H.- I don't know. Just, just a nickname.

O.- Yes. Well, who invented the Hughes bit?

H.- Why, I suppose he did. I don't know.

O.- You never heard the discussion of who Invented it?

H.- No.

O.- He never talked about that? H. - No. I know he, he's the one that put me to work.

O.- Yes.

H.- And he didn't have but a, just a small shop out there then.

O.- Yes.

H.- There was three of us that was working for the Hughes Tool Company now. The only three that's left.

O.- Is that right?

H.- Yes.

O.- From 1920. Were the other two old timers; were they roughnecks also?

H.- No, no.

O.- I see . H.- No, they were in the office.

O. - Yes.

H.- Johnson was secretary and, out there at the plant now, and Gus Meyer is one of the, one of the boys out there.

O.- Yes. Did you, when you were drilling at Spindletop what kind of tools were you using?

H.- Just old drag bits.

O.- Yes.

H.- Fish-tail bits. Hit on a rock, why we'd have a what's called a diamond point bit.

O.- Yes.

H.- Grind that down a little while.

O.- Did you ever hear an expression "dickey bird" around in the oil field?

H.- Oh, I've heard so durn many of them, I don't remember.

O.- Well, did you ever hear anything about a man named Gib Morgan, an old field worker? Lots of stories about him.

H.- No, I don't believe I did. I don't remember. I might have.

O.- Yes. Or do you remember any Paul Bunyan stories than you've heard?

H.- Oh, good God. So many of those that you can't think of them.

O.- Can you think of any of them.

H.- No, I don't, I don't think, believe, oh, if they'd ask a fellow to do something, why, he said he couldn't do it, well you'd, Goddam it, go get Paul Bunyan to do it.

Lots of cussing, lots of drinking, es-pecially after the rig shut down.

O.- After the rig shut down. What do you mean? Before the--

H. - Not while it was working.

O.- Yes.

H.- After the rig shut down, somebody else, the night driller'd come on and get it, why, then you'd go up town to a saloon.

O.- Yes. You were not in Saratoga or Batson, then?

H.- Yes, I went to Saratoga. I put down the second, oh, I was, I was working on the second well that produced any oil in Saratoga.

O.- Is that right?

H.- Yes.

O.- Where'd you stay at Saratoga?

H.- I stayed with Miss Mattie Jordan(?).

O.- Is that right?

H.- Owned a boarding house.

O.- Yes. Can you describe what that was like?

H. - What?

O.- That, her boarding house.

H.- Oh, it was a, it was a great big old--

O.- Two story--

H.- --two story residence-- O. - Yes .

H.- --and she had it and had a dining room there and boarded--

O.- Yes.

H. - --a few of us roughnecks.

O.- Yes. How many do you suppose she had staying there?

H.- Oh, I think there was four or five, I guess.

O.- Have you seen her lately?

H.- No, I haven't seen Miss Mattie in several years. I don't know whether I'd know her if I was to see her or not,

O.- Yes. I saw her last Saturday.

H.- You did?

O.- Yes. They call the boarding house the Vines Hotel now.

H.- The Vines Hotel.

O.- Yes. Somewhere back about 1910 someone gave her a piece of ivy--

H.- Piece of ivy?

O.- --and she set it out against the wall there at the corner next to the street, next to the road, and It covers the whole building now and the vines hang down. You have to push them aside to go onto the porch or into the doorways so they call it the Vines Hotel.

H.- I'd like to see Miss Mattie. O.- Yes. She married a man named Evans, or Evins, after that. He had a saloon there called the Turf Bar.

H. - Wasn't any saloons there when I was there. It was only two rigs. Ben Hooks had a rig--

O.- Yes.

H.- --and, let's see, Ben Hooks had a rig and W. E. Brice and Ron

Mollett (?) had one. I was working on that one and his brother had another one. There's about three or four rigs there when I was there.

O.- Yes. Not many people had come in.

H.- Yes. It was way off. There wasn't any railroad then.

O.- Yes. It wasn't a very rough town when you were there, then?

H.- Oh, now. It was nice and decent.

O.- It was. Well, did you go from Saratoga to Batson, or the other way around?

H.- Well, I, no lie, I'll be durned if I, we'd go to Kountze--

O.- Yes.

H.- --go out to Kountze on the train and then get a hack from Kountze out to Saratoga.

O.- Yes. And then, where'd you stay when you were working in Batson?

H. - I swear I don't remember. Stayed in a saloon most of the time.

O.- Do you remember the names of any of the saloons then?

H.- Jourdan brothers had a saloon there. I don't know, I don't remem-ber the names of them.

O.- Did you have any more fights after you left Sour Lake?

H.- Oh, had a little fight once in a while, didn't amount to much. All roughnecks have fights.

O.- Well, do you remember any particular ones that you had?

H.- No, I never had any. Then finally I wound up with old man Simms.

O.- Yes, from there. Well, did you carry a gun in those days?

H. - No.

O.- Did many of the roughnecks carry guns?

H. - Yes, I suppose they did. I don't know.

O.- Yes.

H.- I never heard, never was much of a gambling man.

O. - Yes .

H.- Oh, I'd sit down and play poker with a bunch of the boys and shoot dice with the boys, but as far as doing any gambling I was, I never had any use for them.

O. - Yes .

H.- And I thought I was beat before I went in there.

O.- But I understand there were a lot of gambling houses at Batson.

H. - Well -

O.- Sour Lake.

H.- It was, but there wasn't many there when I was there. I was there in the early days, and they sent me from Batson over to Saratoga and then we finally got out to Humble.

O.- Yes. Well, what was it like at Humble?

H.- Well, that was pretty rowdy out there when it first opened up.

O.- Is that right?

H.- Yes. Several saloons, Crosby House had a bar out there. I did all my drinking at the Crosby House Bar.

O.- Was that a pretty nice one?

H.- Yes. Yes, it was the nicest one there.

O.- Yes. You drank chiefly whiskey, did you?

H.- Practically always, yes.

O.- How much were you paying for it?

H.- Fifteen cents a drink. Two for a quarter.

O.- So you would take two at a time for the bargain, I guess.

H.- Oh, you could buy it for a dollar a quart.

O.- Yes. Was there any bootleg whiskey in there In those days?

H.- Oh, yes. They'd make them out there in the, back in the woods.

O.- The big thicket?

H. - Yes, big thicket.

O.- Did you get back into the big thicket much?

H.- No, no.

O.- Were you in Batson when the Rangers came?

H.- No, no, I wasn't there. Then I come over to Humble and we lived pretty good out there.

O.- Did you have a house there?

H.- Well, no. I, at first went over I had to stay at a boarding house for a few days and then you'd get some place to go.

O.- Yes.

H.- Then the, I was out to Humble, why old man Simms had a lease out there, had a boarding house, he had a boarding house out there.

O.- Yes.

H.- Had a woman running the boarding house out there and we boarded there. Old lady York. Then after I quit the oil field I went into Hughes Tool Company and I've been with them ever, they've been with me ever since.

O.- Oh, yes, thirty-three years with them. H.- Thirty-three and I haven't lost a day-- Is that right?

H.- --in pay.

O. - Yes. Well -

H.- No, they've been mighty nice to me. Old man Hughes was always nice to me.

O.- Yes. Did you know Johnny Wynn at Sour Lake?

H.- Yes, yes. Johnny--

O.- What is your opinion of him as a mechanic?

H. - --Johnny was a good mechanic. Yes sir, he was a good one. Let's see, I saw Johnny here a year or two ago somewheres at some celebration. But I didn't, I didn't recognize him.

O.- Is that right?

H.- They told me that was Johnny Wynn . No, he was out at Sour Lake, I believe it was. Did he, don't he live at Sour Lake now?

O.- I think he lives at Beaumont now.

H.- Beaumont? O.- Yes.

H.- Well, that might have been Beaumont.

O.- Well, have you ever heard that he invented a rock bit?

H.- Well, you hear anything. I don't, I never saw one of them.

O.- Yes.

H.- The only rock bit I ever used was a Hughes bit and then I have run a Reed Bit.

O. - Yes.

H.- But-- O.- When did you first use a Hughes bit?

H.- That was down at Goose Greek, I believe.

O.- Do you remember what well you were working on there?

H.- No, I worked for old man Simms. I worked down there for him for two or three years.

O.- Yes. Well, did you see them when they were trying out the Hughes bit down there?

H.- No, wouldn't let anybody around.

O.- Is that right?

H.- Yes.

O.- But you were using it on a rig yourself, or were you just, you watched them use it?

H.- No, they, I didn't see the first bit. I wasn't around that at all.

O.- Yes.

H.- But I used a lots of them down there.

O.- Yes, later on, after they got the - H.- Yes, later on. After they got the--

O.- --working. Well, what can you tell me about Ashbel Smith's opera-tions down there?

H.- Well, the Ashbel Smith, I was with Mr., old man Simms had the lease.

O.- Do you remember any of the details of the lease?

H.- No, no.

O.- Did you know-- H.- I lived at old lady Wright's house down there.

O.- Anna Allen Wright's house?

H.- Yes.

O. - I see .

H.- Anna Allen Weight's house.

O.- At the house looking out over the bay there.

H.- Yes.

O.- Is that right. H. - She give me, she boarded me.

O. - Yes. What did you pay for board there?

H.- I swear, I don't know. I think about twenty dollars.

O.- Twenty dollars a month. Was she also running the little boat across, little ferry across at that time, or not?

H.- No, no she wasn't running a, one of her boys got a boat--

O. - Yes.

H.- --and he started a running across there.

O.- Yes.

H.- The ferry boat used to run there and go up Goose Creek.

O.- Yes.

H.- To Duke's Landing.

O.- Yes. Do you remember, was that George who did that or one of the other boys?

H.- No, George was a kid.

O.- Yes.

H.- Allen was the oldest one, then Hannah, then Perkins; then there was another one In there. I don't, I forgot his name.

O.- Yes.

H.- And then Georgie. O.- Yes.

H.- George was the youngest one.

O.- Yes.

H.- But old lady Wright, she's just like a mother to me.

O.- Is that right?

H.- Yes sir. They'd better get out of the way if they'd see me coming because that old woman would, didn't make no difference who it was, she'd bawl them out if they got in my way.

O.- Is that right? H.- Yes, she was my friend.

O.- Yes. I met her in the fall of 1939. I went out to her house one day to visit her and--

H. - She still lived on that -

O.- She still lived in the same house but she had built a bathroom on the front porch. They had boxed up a little section on the front porch and put a bathroom there.

H.- [laughter]

O.- They didn't have any plumbing facilities when you were there at all, did they?

H.- No.

O.- And I remember that she had on a black dress, a long black dress.

H.- Long sleeves.

O.- Long sleeves, yes. -Did she dress that way when you were there?

H.- That's right.

O.- Yes.

H.- Anna's, Anna's dead too, ain't she?

O.- Yes.

H.- How are those boys? Any of them, they living?

O.- Some of them are living. Allan, Perkins, and Georgie are I believe. I don't know, I'm pretty sure the three are. I don't know about any of the others.

H.-Well, there's another one in there.

O.- Yes. Two of them live at Cedar Bayou, one at the old home place. He bought a house right next to her house there.

H.- Hmm. O.- Did you know the Gilliards there?

H.- Oh yes. Old man John, Mrs. Gilliard. Knew them by sight. You

never could get close enough to them to speak to them.

O. - Yes. Do you remember any of the stories about him?

H.- Oh, good God, I couldn't, I couldn't think of them. He was a pret ty good old man. I guess there's lots of them told lies on him just be talking.

O.- Yes.

H.- He was a funny old man, though. By God, he wouldn't let you run a line from his sister's lease over across that line. You had a steam line, God damn, you had to, had to put another boiler over there.

You couldn't run that steam from his, from his side over to her side,

O. - Why?

H. - Well, that, hell, afraid they was using oil from his well to fire up that boiler and wasn't helping her out none over there. That was a funny outfit.

Old man Dukes, he lived right up from, on top of, right behind our well house. That's way over on Goose Creek, you know. I lived at old lady Wright's and then they finally got me down on the Ashbel Smith's land down there.

I was drilling a well down there when I quit.

O.- Why did you quit?

H. - What?

O.- Why did you quit? H.- Why?

O.- Yes.

H.- Oh, I just got tired.

O.- Yes.

H.- My wife didn't like it much.

O.- She didn't like the oilfields?

H.- No, so we come up here and I went to work for old man Hughes.

O.- Well, your last work as a roughneck then, was at Goose Greek?

H. - Yes .

O. - And on the Ashbel Smith lease.

H.- I was drilling down there on-

O.- Yes. H.- --for old man Simms.

O.- Yes. Well, how tough did it get in Goose Creek down there?

H.- What?

O.- How tough was living in Goose Creek? Did they have the same sort of roughness they had at some of the other places?

H.- Well, no. I, I lived pretty good at Goose Creek. See, I never was up in the Creek, I never was up town.

O.- Yes.

H.- I was always down there on the bayfront.

O.- Yes. But there was a lot of rough living?

H.- Oh yes. Lots of rough living in every oil field around there, in South Texas. Lots of fighting and lots of drinking.

O.- Yes .

H.- I drank an awful lot of whiskey in my life. But then I don't, I don't know, I'm eighty-five years old now.

O.- Eighty-five now, pretty hardy.

H.- Well, I, well, I haven't drank any for about two years.

O.- Yes.

H.- Oh, I take a little drink once in a while. I haven't drank any beer in about six or seven years.

O.- What was the toughest place of all that you hit?

H.- I expect Sour Lake was. I was over at Jennings a while; that was pretty nice. Sour Lake was pretty tough. Had to fight there if you got anything.

O.- Yes. Were you ever robbed in the oil fields?

H.- I didn't, held up and robbed?

O. - Yes.

H.- No, no sir, I never had enough when I left the saloon. They all knew I was broke and wasn't any use in going after me. Barney Doren, he had the best saloon out there.

O.- What was his name?

H.- Barney Doren.

O.- Barney Doren.

H.- Yes. Jack Hunter was the bartender. Finally old Jack quit and come to, down to Alaska when I put him to work down there.

O.- As a roughneck?

H.- Yes. And he died. His wife lived down there. She died here a few years ago and they telephoned me and I went down there to go to the funeral.

O.- Do you remember any characters among these saloon keepers out there

H.- Old man Ben Herrin, he was, he was a pretty good character. Pretty good straight old man, too. Wouldn't take no foolishness off of nobody Barney Doren, then there's lot of saloons around, I don't know of.

O.- Yes.

H.- I used to go in Crosby House. Barney Doren run that.

O.- Yes.

H.- That was a pretty decent place.

O.- Yes.

H.- Goose Creek, Humble, they all, they just followed the oil fields around.

O.- Yes. Boomers?

H.- Yes.

O.- Where did most of the people come from that you talked to?

H.- Oh, all over the United States.

O.- Yes. There were all kinds among them.

H.- All kinds.

O.- Well, now you had one year of college. You were the exception, were you now? Weren't you much better educated than most of the people around?

H.- No, I don't know, there were a lot of college boys that come down there to learn the business.

O.- Is that right?

H.- Yes.

O.- I'd understood that most of them were just grade school.

H.- Oh, well, most of them was, but there was lots of college boys that-

O. - Yes. H.- --come in there. They'd come in and tell you that they want somebody, see and tell you about them, say, come around say, and give them a job.

O.- Yes.

H.- Help them out.

O.- Yes. Do you remember any of those?

H.- No, I don't remember. There were so damn many of them that--

O.- Yes.

H.- And since I, after I went to work for the Hughes Tool Company, why

I just never payed any any more attention to them.

O.- Yes. Were there any preachers among the roughnecks, or not?

H.- If they did they didn't show up. I don't, I don't know of any preachers. It's too hard a life for them.

O.- Yes. What kind of songs did they sing around the rigs?

H.- Oh, I, dirty four hour songs.

O.- Is that right?

H.- Yes.

O.- They had no real oil field songs?

H.- No.

O.- Did you ever hear anybody sing about working in the oil fields?

H.- Oh, we, here on place and then a different in another place--

O. - Yes .

H.- --never were the same thing.

O. - But It was never a Song about the oil fields?

H.- No. I don't remember any. I wasn't a song singer, wasn't a, wasn't a musician myself.

O.- Yes.

H.- I didn't, didn't satisfy me.

O.- Yes. Do you remember any of the nicknames of the roughnecks you worked with?

H.- Oh, good God knows. Smokey and Doodle-bug and I don't know. There's so d--, there's, nearly everybody around there had a nickname.

O.- Yes. How did they get those nicknames?

H.- I don't know. Somebody'd come along and they'd do something and maybe make a mistake or something like that and then they'd all go to jumping him then. They'd call him some kind of a nickname.

O.- Yes. Did you ever go out trying to locate oil?

H.- No.

O.- Left that to the others.

H.- Yes, it was all we could tend to was the rigs. I knew Lee Blaffer well. Lee and I were good friends; so was Bill Parish.

O.- Is that right? How did you first know them?

H.- They were working for Woody S. Simms.

O. - Is that right?

H.- Yes. O.- Working out on the rigs with you?

H.- No, no. No, no. I worked on the rig but they were in the office.

O.- Oh, I see. H. - They used to come around. That's the way I met them.

O.- Yes. How many families went from one place to another? Following the boom?

H.- Oh, ye gods, well, when a, when a company sat down it might be three or four thousand people down there at this camp and they'll open up another camp over here, why--

O.- They'd all go.

H.- --they'd all go. Wouldn't go at one time but they'd gradually go.

O.- Yes. Well, did most of the saloon keepers and gamblers just follow the boom?

H.- Yes.

O.- Well, what about the lewd women? Same thing there?

H.- Yes. O.- Do you remember the names of any of the characters among them?

H.- Oh, good God, no.

O.- I understand that at Batson it was pretty rugged.

H. - Oh, it was.

O.- Some of them were chained to trees and so. Did you see that?

H.- Yes. Batson was a hard place to get to.

O.- Yes.

H. - Had to go to Sour Lake. Go to Sour Lake on the train and then you had to horse and buggy. Go to Saratoga on the train and took a horse and buggy across over there.

O.- Yes.

H.- Go to Liberty, well, it was horse and buggy. You could get in anywhere but you had a good long drive ahead of you.

O.- Yes. Bad roads.

H.- No. There wasn't any roads. Nearly always carried an axe in your buggy. You'd have to get out and cut a sapling to go around them. Mud holes or something like that.

O.- Yes. Did you build any corduroy roads to get around?

H.- No sir. Let the roughnecks do that.

O.- Yes. But were there many corduroy roads over that area?

H.- Oh, yes. Yes. You'd get a bad place, maybe two or three hundred yards, they'd have to corduroy that where barely the teams could get through it to haul the rigs in.

O.- Yes.

H.- They'd cut down saplings and lay across there and come across. Had to do that to get your rig in.

O.- Yes.

H.- Wasn't any roads or any of it.

O.- Did you ever skin mules in the oil fields?

H.- No, no. I worked on a rig all the time.

O.- Of course, the mule skinner was a very important part of it.

H.- You're mighty right. I had some mighty good friends that were mule skinners. Joe Hughes was one of them. You know him?

O.- No, I don't.

H.- He's, lives here in town.

O.- Is that right?

H.- Yes. He had a bunch of mules, skinners.

O.- Was he at Batson?

H.- Yes.

O.- Well -

H.- I don't think Joe's doing anything anything now. He got pretty wealthy and he's getting old.

O.- Yes.

H.- Health's bad.

O.- Do you remember any of the lingo applied to the mules when they -

H.- Oh, you couldn't put that in print.

O.- You couldn't? Was all of it bad?

H.- Yes. Mighty little bit of a roughneck you could put in print.

O.- Even around the rigs?

H.- Yes.

O.- How do you account for that?

H.- Oh, they were all good friends and they'd call each other anything they wanted to, but you let some outsider come around and try it, why, you'd have the whole crew to work.

O.- Yes. So a bad name was just an affectionate term?

H.- Yes.

O.- Did you ever see any big fires? Fight any big fires?

H.- Fires?

O.- Yes sir.

H.- Yes sir. O. - Can you tell me about some of those?

H.- Well, we had a big fire at Batson. I can't tell, don't remember much about It. Been so doggone long ago. Then we had a big fire at Spindletop,

O.- Yes, Were you there when they had the big one in Spindletop?

H,- No, I was at Jennings, Louisiana,

O. - Did anybody get hurt at the one in Batson that you know about?

H.- No, I don't think they did,

O.- You worked with the Sharps at Batson, I believe you said, didn't you?

H.- No, at Batson?

O.- Well, where did you work With them? Sour Lake?

H.- Yes, I was working for Sharp at Sour Lake.

O.- Yes, Can you tell something about them as bosses?

H.- Well, they never was around,

O.- They were not?

H.- No. They had superintendents to handle all that. Pretty nice people.

O.- Do you remember any particular stories about either one of them?

H.- No, I don't know no stories.

O. - Mr. Harrison, can you tell me something about the 0'Neil family?

H. - Oh, I, I worked for, I worked for John, but I never had any dealings with his mother and sisters. I worked for Hank, his brother, but they

were all pretty good people. They pretty tough, pretty rough; I don't know anything that's wrong with them.

O.- Where did they live?

H.- Well, they, they lived at Sour Lake; then they lived here in Houston They're at Sour Lake. Then they went to Beaumont, then finally John, I believe, John came here. I don't know where his wife went to.

O.- Yes.

H.- I've never seen her since John died.

O.- Well, did they run a boarding house?

H.- Yes, His mother did. She run a boarding house over at Sour Lake.

O. - Yes. Can you tell me anything about that boarding house?

H.- Well, she had a good boarding house.

O.- Yes.

H.- Yes, there wasn't nothing wrong with it.

O.- As I talk to you I can recognize that you had a little more training than most of the people had in the oil field.

H.- Well, I expect I did have.

O.- You went to Tyler College, you told me.

H.- Yes, I went to Tyler.

O.- And who was the principal of that college?

H.- Lyon G. Tyler.

O.- Was he any relation to the president?

H.- I don't know. I think that they were related some.

O.- Yes. Then you went to another college.

H.- I went to the Christian Brothers College.

O.- How long were you there?

H.- I was there three years.

O.- So actually you had a college degree or the equivalent?

H.- Yes.

O.- Well, certainly not a great many of the roughnecks had college degrees.

H.- No.

O.- Well, can you tell me anything about your life in Mississippi that made your background different?

H.- No, no, I was nothing but a kid there. I never, didn't do anything. Then I moved to Memphis. My father moved to Memphis. We lived in Memphis.

O.- Yes.

H.- And he died and my mother died and I come off to Texas.

O.- Yes. Well, if you had it to do over again, would you go to the work in the oil fields again?

H.- Yes sir.

O.- Why?

H.- Well, I like it and there's a - I wouldn't have been so damn crazy to spend all my money like I used to. All we, all, all the roughneck gets from his money is something to drink and something to eat, a few clothes to wear.

O.- Yes.

H.- Didn't matter a damn whether he had any clothes or not.

O.- What kind of clothes did you buy, chiefly?

H.- Overalls. Oh, I always kept a good suit of clothes to wear if you wanted to go out somewhere.

O.- Yes. But you worked in overalls all the time?

H.- Yes.

O.- Wash them yourself?

H.- Make someone, make the firemen wash them.

O.- Make the firemen, huh?

H. - Yes, I was driller.

O.- Oh.

H.- Got to be a driller pretty soon and I made, I was boss of the rig.

O. - So you made the fireman wash them. How did he wash them?

H.- Put them in blowoff, in a barrel or something out there, and run an open cockpit on the boiler and blow steam into them.

O.- Yes. That really cleaned them.

H.- It'd clean them.

O.- Yes. The other clothes you took to the tailor in Beaumont or-

H.- Yes.

O.- Did you go to any dances in the oil fields?

H.- I never danced. Oh, It was just a drunk and a bunch of whores--

O.- Yes. [laughter]

H.- --practically all that was going to the oil field dances.

O.- Yes. Well, sir, we're just about to the end of the tape. Thank you very much for this interview.

H.- Well, I'm glad I could help you out. Hope you get something out of it.

O.- Thank you. I'm sure we will, [End of Tape]