Allen W. Hamill Interview - Allen W. Hamill Interview [part 3 of 4]

PIONEERS IN TEXAS OIL Topic: Spindle top, the Lucas Gusher. Name: Hamill, Allen W. Interviewer: Owens, William A. Place: Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tape No.: 85 Date: Sept. 2, 1952 Restrictions: None regarding educational and historical use by the University of Texas. O.- Mr. Hamill, I'd like for you to tell me your operations after the Lucas Gusher was capped.

H.- Well, as soon as-- after we got the Lucas Gusher safely capped and under control, no danger from fire or anything, by covering it up with a mound of dirt,

why, we went right ahead to move our equipment to other locations Mr. Galey had made on the Gladys City tract.

And also put in additional drilling equipment as fast as it could be obtained.

It was very scarce in those days. The manufacture of rotary material, rotaries and draw works especially, was very limited.

But we kept going and drilling well after well for the J. M.-- for Guffey and Galey until they went into the J. M. Guffey Petroleum Company and followed right on from there.

Of course, we had many experience. Each well seemed to be different.

We had gas blowouts and I was overcome with gas and was carried out and laid out for quite a little while before they brought me to.

And Brother Curt had quite a few experiences of having his men gassed and being tangled up in some of those big fires that burnt up material and men with gas. A lot of men lost their lives there from what we called being gassed, this sulphur gas.

And we continued our contract work there. We built up to where we had seven rotaries running, most we had there on Spindletop at one time.

And stayed in the contracting business. Drilled at Sour Lake, Batson, Humble, and I afterwards went to Shreveport and drilled on the Mooringsport field up there for the J. M. Guffey Petroleum Company.

O.- Then you- practically all your drilling was with Guffey?

H.- Yes. Well. we had other wildcats, of course. [When] They-- they caught up with their work, why-- why, we accumulated our equipment, why, we could sneak out once in a while and get a side contract.

O.- I'd like to go back to Spindletop field again. Were there any more exciting wells that you had there, particularly exciting ones?

H.- Well, I think maybe the most exciting one that I was there to be in on was the one that blew out- where I was gassed and they carried me out limp and threw old sandy water on me.

And when I came to, I thought I heard a Victrola playing. I remember that very distinctly. But each well was a problem, you see. Have fishing jobs and different difficulties on each one.

O.- Were you a bachelor all the time you were at Spindletop?

H.- Well, you might say so. I-- yes, you might say that I was. I married in the spring of 1910.

O.- Yes, sir. Well, where did you meet your wife?

H.- She was- she was a native Beaumonter.

O.- What was her maiden name?

H.- Evelyn Edwards.

O.- And she knew the oil fields as well as you did by that time, I suppose.

H.- Well, no, she'd been away to school a whole lot and the-the women of Beaumont didn't seem to pay so much attention to the Spindletop boom there.

In fact, all the time we was drilling the old Lucas well, we boys felt kinda badly that none of the girls ever showed up out there. When we was on wildcats out on other places, why, the whole country 'd turn out and come to see us, especially on Sundays, such as that.

O.- Yes, sir.

H.- But Beaumont girls didn't think much of us. Took-- it was almost nine years before I could convince one of them that maybe an oil man wasn't such a bad one to live with.

O.- Well, while you were there as a bachelor, did you live on the field?

H.- No, after we got going and had so much to do- shopwork and one thing and another, why, I moved to town, lived in town at the hotel or room. Lived with my- after- first time there, why, when Jim moved there, why, I lived with Jim. He had an extra room and we were right there not too far from Spindletop, in the south edge of town.

O.- Well, could you give me a description of what happened to Spindletop from the day the gusher came in until it was a city itself?

H.- Well, you might say it was just one mad rush. As soon as -- well, right away that,-- probably that day, I don't know, or the next day, why, trades were made and the Ingals tract was closed up and the Adams tract was closed up pretty soon, and

deals were made to get wells started as fast as they could get material in, you say, but all this corsumpipe could come in from Corsicana, small pipe. Probably had some in New Orleans and Houston. But the bulk of the material had to come from back East around Pittsburg. Course, the rotary material- the rotary material came from Aurora, Illinois, where the American Wellworks had a small plant that made rotaries and then, at that time, of course, why, the American Well and Prospecting Company was getting in and organized so they could carry on, on quite a scale. But every available little old rotary in the whole United States was picked up and shipped in.

But wells were drilled just as fast as they could get material and get men. They'd put on men as drillers there that had only worked on a well for just a little time, you see. No experience hardly at all. But they managed to get them down by some hook or crook.

O.- Well, what about the building of houses and stores and saloons at Spindletop?

H.- Well, that-- that came on very rapidly. It had- on the McFaddin tract there, he must have leased that out, gave them rights or maybe they got it from Guffey and Galey.

I don't know, but they built saloons on the McFaddin tract, had grocery stores out there and, of course, all gambling joints, too.

And then they had the little Gladys City shacks over there and then those tents strung around in every direction where families lived in, just anything to- to get by with.

Congestion was great. Soon the rains began to come and we had one heck of a time getting our material moved. Had mules and oxens [sic] there dragging the boilers and things just by main force across the field. It was just congestion and more congestion.

O.- What about law and order?

H.- Well, I don't know there was much of that. Of course, there wasn't so much unruly stuff out on Spindletop because we were all working out there, but Beaumont was so close, you see, and they had all kinds of vices in there, you see, saloons and what-have-you, you see.

And Beaumont was a mighty tough place for a good while. It was nothing uncommon to pick up a paper or hear of- well, maybe a fellow was picked up in this alley last night or a couple of fellows were picked up out of the river, and it was lot of murders, just a lot of them. And a lot of them never were solved.

O.- Were there a great number of unidentified people killed?

H. - Well, I don't know about the identity. I think most of them were traced, though. We had probably- there was a lot of people came in there to speculate and had money on them, supposedly, you see.

Money was brought in there in bills and large quantity, you see.

Nothing uncommon to hear of a pretty big deal being paid off in cash, so I suppose some of these people that were murdered were considered to have a bankroll on them and they was [sic] just rolled. Had a lot of saloons. Saloon on practically every corner, almost, or quite a few saloons.

O.- Can you tell me about some of the people that you worked with who continued in the oil business there?

H. - Well, yes. You take, for instance, Walter and Jim Sharp.

I first knew Walter and Jim in Corsicana when they were contracting. Of course, when the boom came on, why, they like other contractors moved to Beaumont as fast as they could get there.

During the congestion, why, in order to get our moving done, why, Sharp Brothers went in with Hamill Brothers and we bought teams and equipment heavy enough to move oilfield boilers and all heavy equipment that was shipped in to take care of the oil condition.

And I- during that partnership, I got very well acquainted with Walter Sharp and I- oh - I learned quite of his- quite a few of his admirable qualities. I feel if Walter had been permitted to live ten years longer, he'd- would have headed the list In Who's Who in the oil men of his day.

O.- On what do you base that opinion?

H.-Well, my contact with him. He seemed to be very alert to business and such a personality that people liked him.

O.- How would you describe him at that time?

H.- Well, Walter was a men, I would say, probably 6'2" or 3, red headed, wasn't- wasn't fat. He was just a well proportioned man.

O.-What about his habits?

H.-Well, I think Walter's habits was very good as far as I -- any time that I was around him. He was- I think, a jolly good fellow and I think that those who associated with him all liked him. He was a congenial fellow, I felt.

O.- What about Jim?

H. - Well, Jim was a little different turn. He was more the rugged type and I might say, the outdoor type. Liked-- might have a hobby of shooting and-- for amusement. Very likeable chap, though, Jim was.

O.- Quite different, quite -

H.- Yeah, he was a different personality altogether.

O.- Do you think that he and Walter made a good pair, a good partnership, working together?

H.- Why, I think so. As I- while- we were associated with him, with that little teaming outfit, why, Jim looked after the field work and Jim- Walter took care of the business end, in town most of the time, seeing about contracts and negotiating deals and contacting people that were-- had come in there to get in the oil game. And I think he built up quite a- quite an acquaintance of very fine individuals.

O.- What about the Sturm brothers?

H. -Well, Sturm brothers were also contractors in Corsicana. And they had- had been fairly successful there in their contract work at Corsicana and when- I think, I would say this positive, but I think they had the contract on the Beatty Well.

That was the fir-- the second well completed on Spindletop, It was a very good well. So they continued their contract for, oh, as long as the boom was on, but I think they drifted away. They didn't stay In the oil game like the Sharps.

O.- What were the names of the Sturm brothers?

H.- They- one was Wes and the other Bill, W. P. and- well, I don't know what Wes' initials were, W. P. Sturm and Wes. Wes came to Oklahoma here in- oh, I think maybe, maybe before Glen Poole. He quit that country down there and operated up around Cleveland, Oklahoma, here but he's died [sic] and I think both boys, they died young. They didn't live to be old timers like some of us now, still hanging around, just a little hope,

O.- Well, what about J. S. Cullinan? Where did you first know him?

H.- Well, J. S. Cullinan came into Corsicana about the time that Jim and I landed there and he built a refinery and gathering lines and made a market for the Corsicana oil. With that market, of course, Corsicana blossomed out and gave we contractors a lot of work to do.

We did, the work we did there for J. S. Cullinan in Corsicana was cleaning out some wells and abandoning some wells that he had acquired. Of course, when we got to Beaumont, he was the first oil man that showed up on the scene.

The morning after the Lucas Well came in, why, Lucas-- Lucas's had me to their breakfast there at their house and while we were eating breakfast, why, J. S. Cullinan knocked on the door and came in. And with him out in the carriage was S. M.-- uh-- Golden Rule Jones who owned the Acme Supply Company.

It was called the Acme Supply Company at that time. And a contractor by the name of T. J. Woods from Corsicana.

Well, they stayed and J. S. asked quite a few questions and then went on out to survey the well.

O.- Did you hear him express an opinion on the well?

H.- No, I wasn't-- I wasn't around. We went on with our break fast and I- when we got out there-- I got out there, I think they had seen all they could see or satisfied their curiosity and had driven around someplace and were back on the way to Beaumont, probably to frame up some deals. In fact, S. M. Jones immediately had-- well, within the next day or so, had the man from Corsicana, who was managing the store in the Corsicana field, come down there and he had this man, Frank Maxwell, hunt up Jim and tell him, "Now, Jim, your credit's good, your and Al's, here for $25,000 in money or machinery, any way you want it. So go to it."

Well, we never used that credit. We got by without doing that because [H. G.] Johnston and Akin [Elmer Akins] up there at American Wellworks Prospe- Prospecting Company, who were manufacturing the rotaries, staked us to the ro-taries, our credit.

Of course, we-- the Guffey and Galey furnished all pipe and derricks and everything like that so we- all the equipment we had to buy was the actual rotary equipment.

O.- What was the opinion of Patillo Higgins around the oil fields at that time?

H.- What was his opinion or their opinion?

O.- The opinion of him.

H.- Well, I think the opinion-- well, I'll tell you how it impressed me. The morning that Captain Lucas took me down to Beaumont Lumber Company to order this lumber, why, after we'd ordered it and turned to go away, why, Mr. George Carroll who was part owner of the Beaumont Lumber Company came up riding on a horse and got off and Captain Lucas introduced me to him. And this lumber company had a porch out in front of it that was a- just a small office building there and commissary, but Mr. Carroll walked up and Mr. Lucas said, "Mr. Carroll, I want you to know the young fellow that's gonna try to drill us a well out here."

And Mr. Carroll smiled, of course. We met, and we got to talking there and Mr. Carroll said, "Well," talked about Higgins, you see.

Something came up about Higgins and he said, "You know Higgins, his prediction out there, if we drill deep enough, we'll get a well of such and such a capacity." Now, as I remember it, it was 5000 and some hundred and some odd barrels. I remember the 5000 enough to be positive about that.

He said, "I'll tell you one thing. If you get a well equal to that, this bill of lumber won't cost you anything." Well, Mr. Carroll paid for that bill of lumber by-- when we put in our next order. So I feel that George Carroll made good by his promise paying for the bill of lumber to drill the Lucas Well. And he was a fine man, Mr. Carroll was.

O.- Did you know Mr. Higgins very well?

H.- No, I never knew Mr. Higgins very well. He was a - a rather peculiar man, I think. He had his own way of looking at things and the trouble of it was that people looked on him as a-- well, he was just a dreamer. There was nothing out there and, of course, I don't think anyone else did. Lucas had Paine and had J. S. Cullinan down there, I think, before. He'd had Paine of the Standard Oil Company and one or two others that he told me about. I just can't recall their names

down- now, but they told him, "Why, Lucas, you're just wasting your money. There isn't anything here in this soft country." So that's the way I think most everybody else thought about Higgins. I don't know. I asked Mr. Higgins one time if that was a dream or how he come to arrive at that opinion.

Well, he never gave me a direct answer, so I don't know how come him to feel that way about It. But I think the Beaumont people thought the same of us when we were going in there. And I think the way Mr. Carroll laughed, I think he thought we were just about the same character what Higgins- what the people thought Higgins was.

O.- Yes, sir. When did you leave Spindletop then?

H.- Well, I left Spindletop- well, I drilled some wells around at various times, I drilled one in Louisiana for the J. M. Guffey Petroleum Company and then I drilled two up in Maryland, right outside of Washington. I drilled one of them for a Baltimore concern, I think it was the name of Robinson, They was [sic] dealing in oil, Robinson and Son, I don't remember the initials, but they had an office down there where the railroad elevators run along. I remember that for I stopped at their office. And then- it was a dry hole and then I drilled a second one up there for Guffey and Galey - 1907.

O.- Was it a dry hole also?

H.- Yes, it was a dry hole. So then I came back to Beaumont.

I had equipment running most of the time there at Beaumont, though. Then along in 19, the early summer of 1910, why, I moved two outfits up to Shreveport there, at Mooringsport, for the Gulf Company,

O.- Were you at Sour Lake any time, drilling there?

H,- Yes, sir. Drilled some there. I didn't drill a great deal at Sour Lake. Our works were mostly at Spindletop and Batson and some work at Sour Lake,

O.- How long were you at Batson?

H.- Oh, we drilled quite a few wells over there. We wasn't there so awful long. Now, Curt was at Batson much longer than I. See, Curt branched out for himself pretty soon. I think he about drilled one well for us and then he went in contracting for himself, you see, and he moved over to Batson and he was at Batson quite some time. He drilled quite a few wells over there.

O.- Where did you stay when you were in Batson?

H,- Oh, just one of those shack hotels,

O. - Do you remember the name of it?

H.- No, I don't, but that was- now, that- that was a rough place of the oil country of South Texas. That was over in Hardin County. And they called-- speak of Hardin, they'd say, "Well, that's the free state of Hardin." Everything went over there, you see. Judge Kuntz there, why, he let them do about as they wanted to and Batson was a tough hole.

A tough place, saloons and gambling and- I remember one day I was over there and couple of girls in one of those joints had got in a fight and had gone outside of the building there to finish out the fight and they'd about disrobed each other and finally the cops got hold of them and, to separate them, they chained them to trees. That's the way they did a lot of the unrulies over there. So it was a-- quite a place.

O. - You think it was much tougher than Spindletop or Beaumont?

H.- Well, I think it was out open there and confined all in one small place there. You see, in one straight street, they just had one main street there. And it seemed-- it seemed rougher because you didn't have the bright lights or any paving or anything. It was just mud and step from one board to another going down the street, you know, and- had board sidewalks where they had them at all.

O.- Yes, sir.

H.- Live out there under a tree or any place they could stay for a while, just-- living conditions was very, very bad.

O.- Were you at Humble also?

H.- For a time. Jim looked after our stuff at-- over at Humble most of the time. He moved over there and looked after It. We didn't do a great deal of drilling at Humble. Curt--Curt went into Humble. He did- I think Curt stayed at Humble probably until he moved down to Markham.

O.- You mentioned going to California. About when was that?

H.- 1912.

O.- 1912? Would you tell about that trip?

H.- Well, I-- I was in Beaumont there and Mr. C. L. Wallace, who was General Manager of the Higgins Oil and Fuel Company, hunted me up and told me that they had a proposition out in California that looked pretty good to him and they needed a rotary man out there to take charge and wanted me to take an interest in the company.

Well, I happened to be-- wasn't doing very much and I got on a train and went out. So looked the lease over where they wanted to drill right away and it was next to property that was being developed by the Amalgamated Oil Company.

So I agreed with Mr. Wallace that I'd take an interest, which I did, and would also go out and superintend on the first well or two.

Well, I got out there and stayed for almost four years. And we developed that property and It turned out very nice. Still producing, by the way.

O.- What field was this?

H.- That was Lebria, out close to Puller.

O.- Yes, sir.

H.- Since, of course, the company has developed stuff down at Long Beach, and Huntington Beach, and got one very nice little property down in East Texas, very nice to look at--small, only seventeen wells, but then I tried to get the company to go in there earlier. Should have gone in myself but fooled around here. Things seemed so high that I finally got the company to go in there.

O.- What special problems did you run into in California?

H.- Well, it was kinda new in the rotary. They didn't- rotary had- it was making headway out there but they had the Amalgamated and the Union was about the only ones that had tackled the rotary. And they had advanced their cable tool drillers to drill it and they was [sic] too cautious.

So I took a drilling crew out there that- took a couple, of drillers that I knew would do the best they could. So we got out there and romped a well down in a hurry and those fellows out there just thought we was [sic ] wonders, but we didn't feel as though we was doing anything unusual.

But we made very good time and got a satisfactory well. And I drilled three wells out there within a year with one outfit, which was unheard of before.

Amalgamated was offsetting theirs, running along very slowly, you see, afraid to twist the pipe off, and take a whole year on a well.

So after- really, I went in out there and bought an oil well supply rotary. The oil well was just going into the manufacture of rotary out there. They had a shop foreman there. They had quite a shop in Los Angeles. His name was Dick Cline. Well, they thought they had a good rotary.

Well, we got it out there and just tore it up in one, two, three. And-- but old Dick would come out and [say], "Now, what do you want?" Finally got to where I had the whole thing made of cast steel.

After we got that, we went right ahead, so I think we was really the-- put the oil well on- made a satisfactory rotary there in our California shop.

O.- I'd like to go back and ask you about the development of the rock bit.

H.- Well, the first I knew about the rock bit- in fact, I didn't exactly know about what was going on but the Sharps were drilling a well, offset location to one there at Mooringsport, that I was drilling for the Gulf by contract.

And they had an old driller on it that he and I had roomed together at Corsicana, and he wouldn't tell me what was going on but intimated that they were experimenting something.

O- What was his name?

H. - Ram Huack [?].

O.- Had he been associated long with them?

H. - Oh, yes. I think that he'd been with the Sharps for a good many years. He was with them at Corsicana and also at Spindletop, and Sour Lake and around and I think Ram was their special confidential man. They wanted anything done or a tight well drilled or anything like that, they'd send old Ram out. So he- the story-- after it turned out, why, this bit was used on this particular well. Whether it was used anyplace else before that, I couldn't say, but I feel that was the real experiment, the try-out, because the sand up there at Mooringsport was very hard and a fishtail, it