Chapter 13

In chapter 13 we are first introduced to Columbus Joiner aka, “daddy”. Joiner was part of the large group of men at this time who were basically con-artists within the oil industry who would send out letters, asking for donations to help find a new oil well and then promised the person a large chunk of change, once the well was up and running. Another huge player in this game was Robert E. Lee who was a descendent of General Robert E. Lee. Lee was able to acquire over $2 million before being caught by federal authorities. Later, Joiner became fascinated with the idea of finding oil in East Texas. Joiner was given the idea from “Doc Lloyd” who wrote out a map for Joiner to show him exactly where to drill. By this time, many people were aware of the scams performed by Lloyd and Joiner and they only laughed at Joiner for trying to go after this idea. Like many other deal makers in the oil industry at this time, Joiner thought of himself as a womanizer and said that every woman had a spot on her neck, that when he touched it, they would write him out a check. However, Joiner did receive enough donations to begin drilling on the Daisy Bradford farm.

After several years of trying, Joiner finally struck it big with his Wildcat on October 3, 1930 and his discovery was known as the Black Giant. Due to all of the oil being drilled, prices plummeted and “teakettles” (pint-sized refineries) produced Eastex gasoline, which was sold at gas stations to make up for the loss of money from oil. Later, Joiner decided to sell all his stocks to Haroldson Lafayette Hunt (H.L or Boy) and received $1.33 million-$30,000 up front but when he found out about Boy’s scam, Joiner issued a law suit but later dropped it and spent most of his money trying to hit it big with another Wildcat but was unable to and died at age 87.

Again, oil prices dropped and any wells only producing only a few barrels a day were shut down. Then in August of 1931, “Alfalfa Bill” Murray, the governor of Oklahoma declared a state of emergency so that all major oil fields would be shut down until oil prices reached $1. Next, on August 17, 1931 the governor of Texas declared war on East Texas and he sent in National Guardsmen on horseback to shut down production in that area. Any excess oil created was known as “hot oil” because it was being smuggled into other states, creating another drop in oil prices. Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Interior, was extremely close with Roosevelt and helped in many of the decisions made in the country dealing with the oil industry. Ickes eventually got into some trouble over a mistress of his who was sending him letters at the White House, and were accidently intercepted by others. After this, Ickes called for Federal investigators to come and examine refinery records, test oil gauges, inspect tanks, and to dig up pipelines in East Texas, in order to stop the “hot oil” crisis. Last but not least, in 1932, Congress passed a law that demanded 21 cents a barrel for crude and fuel oil and $1.05 for gasoline.