The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 44, July 1940 - April, 1941 Page: 311
546 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Oil, the Courts, and the Railroad Commission
independent operators, because at that time, the Railroad
Commission did not undertake to limit directly the produc-
tion of oil from any field or well, and, by exceptions, the Rail-
road Commission generally granted permits as exceptions to
Rule 37 where any substantial hardship would have resulted
from a strict enforcement of the rules. In fact, of the ap-
proximately 26,000 wells drilled in the East Texas field, about
65 per cent have been drilled as exceptions to Rule 37.
The situation changed radically, however, beginning in 1930.
The general depression and the discovery of the East Texas oil
field coincided to create a very serious situation in the oil in-
dustry. Even prior to that time, the industry had accumulated
great above-ground stores of oil and its products, and it was
obvious that production would have to be limited in some
manner or there would be a serious breakdown in the price
structure. When a vast new reserve of oil was discovered in
the East Texas field, it was regarded as absolutely imperative
that the production of oil and gas be restricted. There can
be little question but what the primary desire of the advocates
of governmental restriction on production was to achieve sta-
bilization or in plainer words, to keep the price of oil up. The
fact that restriction of production also in fact prevents physi-
cal waste was a fortunate coincidence for the proponents of
restriction.
Since by far the greater part of the litigation relating to
the regulatory orders of the Railroad Commission has had to
do with the East Texas field, it is well to state here some of
the outstanding facts as to the discovery, development and
general characteristics of the field.
The East Texas field was discovered when a well was brought
in by "Dad" Joiner on Mrs. Daisy Bradford's farm in Rusk
County on October 9, 1930.19 Prior to this time, all of the
geologists for the major oil companies had rejected the possi-
bility of the existence of an oil field in this vicinity. Even
after the Joiner well was brought in, the existence of a major
field was not suspected, because the discovery well was drilled
toward the eastern edge of the field, and therefore was not a
big producer. In December, 1930, however, when the Bateman-
Crim No. 1 was drilled almost ten miles north of the Joiner
well, some idea of the size of the field was indicated. Devel-
19See "A Decade of East Texas: Colossus of Oil," The Oil Weekly
October 7, 1940, p. 19.311
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 44, July 1940 - April, 1941, periodical, 1941; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146052/m1/348/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.