Geological Map of Texas...: Standard Blue Print, Map & Engineering Co., 1920

Title: GEOLOGICAL MAP OF TEXAS SHOWING APPROXIMATE LOCATIONS AND DRILLING WELLS, ALSO NAMES OF COMPANIES DRILLING Author: Standard Blue Print, Map & Engineering Co. Date: 1920 Condition: See description Inches: 25 x 25 [Paper] Centimeters: 63.50 x 63.50 [Paper] Product ID: 308704 Gushers, Guts, and Glory An extraordinary survivor of the Texas oil boom, this 1920 geological map captures the fevered height of wildcat speculation, when every new well might be the next Spindletop. Packed with named drilling companies, well locations, and color coded formations, it’s effectively a period investor’s guide to Texas petroleum wealth—part working document, part treasure map. For any collector of Texas history, oil patch memorabilia, or serious cartography, it offers the rare chance to hang the early oil business—its risks, promises, and fortunes—directly on the wall. Geological wall map of Texas, issued to promote and document early petroleum exploration, showing detailed geological formations, oil and gas fields, and the rapidly expanding network of drilling activity across the state. The sheet is densely annotated with the names and locations of a huge number of DRILLING WILD CATS… (wells), each shown by individual, small oil derricks. and the companies operating them, making it a substantial primary source for the history of Texas oil development. The state of Texas is shown in full, with county boundaries, towns, railroads, rivers, and coastlines overprinted by a multicolor geological wash that distinguishes major formations and structural basins, keyed to a color legend along the Gulf Coast margin. The oil-bearing regions around the Gulf Coast, North-Central Texas, and West Texas are emphasized with heavier overprinting and symbols indicating individual wells, prospects, and fields. Hundreds of wells are plotted as small symbols scattered across the map surface, each tied to a corresponding entry in the printed lists. A large tabular index occupies the left and lower margins, arranged by region and field, giving for each well or lease its name, operator, location description, and in many cases additional notes on status or production. These lists read almost like a contemporary directory of Texas oil companies and independent drillers and underline the commercial purpose of the map as an investment and leasing aid. The upper right contains the bold title “Geological Map of Texas Showing Approximate Locations and Drilling Wells, Also Names of Companies Drilling,” with publication details, credits, and a note indicating that the geological data are compiled from official surveys and industry sources. In 1920 the Texas oil industry was in the middle of the “gusher age,” shifting the state’s economy from primarily agricultural to petroleum driven and drawing in both major firms and legions of speculative wildcatters. This was a high risk, high reward environment in which fortunes could be made overnight on new fields, but overproduction and volatile prices meant many investors and small operators were ruined as quickly as others struck it rich. State of the industry, ca. 1920 By 1920, the discoveries that followed Spindletop (1901) had created a broad belt of production from the Gulf Coast through North and Central Texas, with important fields such as Ranger, Burkburnett, and Desdemona coming in between 1917 and 1919. These strikes dramatically increased state output and helped make Texas a leading oil producer in the United States, laying the groundwork for the massive booms of the later 1920s. Oil revenues were beginning to eclipse cotton and cattle as the backbone of the Texas economy, stimulating rapid growth in refining, pipelines, railroads, and port facilities. Towns near new fields swelled into boom camps and small cities almost overnight, while urban centers like Houston and Dallas positioned themselves as financial and industrial hubs for the oil trade. Major producers and emerging giants Although hundreds of small independents and syndicates dotted the landscape in 1920, a cadre of larger firms was already consolidating production and capital. Over the decade, companies such as Gulf Production Company, Humble Oil and Refining (later part of Exxon), the Texas Company (Texaco), Magnolia Petroleum, Shell Petroleum, Pure Oil, and Mid Kansas Oil and Gas (later Marathon) would together account for more than half of Texas output. Many of these firms either originated in or grew rapidly because of early Gulf Coast and North Texas discoveries, using their financial strength to acquire leases and smaller operators. At the same time, regional outfits like Yount Lee Oil Company and J. K. Hughes Oil Company played outsized roles in particular fields, illustrating the blend of corporate and entrepreneurial capital that characterized the industry. Economic climate and boomtown culture The broader economic climate around 1920 was one of optimism and speculative excess, as post–World War I demand for fuel and lubricants encouraged aggressive drilling and lease buying. Texas became tightly linked to national and international markets, with oil wealth financing new banks, office buildings, and industrial plants and helping many communities weather later downturns better than non oil regions. Boomtowns near major discoveries experienced soaring land prices, severe housing shortages, and chronically strained infrastructure, along with the familiar social ills of transient, male dominated workforces. Law enforcement, including the Texas Rangers, was often called in to deal with disorder, gambling, and vice, underscoring how quickly oil money could upend local social structures. Wildcatting and speculation The prospect of a single “gusher” turning marginal land into a fortune produced a pervasive wildcatter mentality across Texas. Independent drillers, local syndicates, and out of state investors bought and sold leases on the strength of rumors, surface indications, or rough geological hunches, frequently without the benefit of formal training or systematic data. Spindletop had already demonstrated how spectacular the rewards could be, attracting hundreds of speculative companies and pouring an estimated hundreds of millions of dollars (in contemporary value) into Texas oil schemes in the early years of the century. By 1920 this culture of risk taking had become entrenched: wildcat wells dotted previously agricultural counties, promotional maps and circulars touted “proven structure” and nearby production, and investors across the country bought shares in ventures that might never bring in a paying well. Engraved and printed on a large single sheet, the map is designed as a working reference for geologists, engineers, and speculators, with a fine coordinate grid, county labeling, and transportation routes facilitating field use. The impression is that of an information-rich, highly utilitarian oil-industry map at a pivotal early moment in Texas petroleum history, suitable both as a research tool and as a visually striking display piece for collectors of Texas and energy-related cartography. Rarity Of the utmost rarity, only one previous private offering and three institutional holdings; Denver Public Library, Colorado School of Mines, and Southern Methodist University Condition A bright, well preserved example, originally issued folded. One tear at the upper left edge neatly mended on the reverse with archival tape. The covers show only light wear, with professional archival reinforcement to a few short edge tears and to a separation at the upper portion of the spine. Background on Creator Standard Blue Print, Map & Engineering Co. was a Fort Worth, Texas, firm that published and printed maps, especially oil-and-gas and county maps, in the early 20th century. Its maps often combine practical engineering information with commercial detail, such as wells, leases, railroads, townships, and mineral activity. The company appears in collections and auction records as a publisher of Texas and regional maps, with known examples dating around 1920 to the mid-1920s.