Roughnecks, Drillers, and Tool Pushers: Thirty-three Years in the Oil Fields

Gerald Lynch

Published by University of Texas Press 1991

Roughnecks, Drillers, and Tool Pushers

Thirty-three Years in the Oil Fields

Gerald Lynch

In the series Personal Narratives of the West

https://doi.org/10.7560/715530

Overview
Contents

About this book

Oil, the black gold of Texas, has given rise to many a myth. Oil could turn a man overnight into a millionaire—and did, for some. But these myths have obscured what life was really like in the oil patch, a place that was neither the El Dorado of legend nor quite the unredeemed den of sin and iniquity that some feared.

In Roughnecks, Drillers, and Tool Pushers, Gerald Lynch provides a much-needed insider's view of the oil industry, describing life in various oil fields in and around Texas. He also chronicles changes in drilling methods and oil-field technology and how these changes affected him and his fellow oil-field workers. No one else has written a working-class history of the oil fields as colorful and articulate as this one.

Author / Editor information

Gerald Lynch is a retired oil driller and freelance writer.

Bobby Weaver is archivist of the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Illustrations Publicly Available Download PDF	viii
Introduction Bobby Weaver Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Prologue Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Breaking In Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	4
2. From Weevil to Top Hand Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	17
3. My First Boom: Nigger Creek/Mexia Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	29
4. The Bruner Boom in Luling Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	38
5. The Free State Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	46
6. The East Texas Depression Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	55
7. Fading Depression, Fading Boom Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	68
8. Hard Rock Drilling in Hobbs and Oklahoma City; Leaving East Texas Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	82
9. Cayuga and Mabank, Then on to Illinois and a New World Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	95
10. West Texas-S-H-K and Big Lake Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	108
11. Back to Odessa, Still Drilling Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	124
12. Pushing Tools: Starting, Then Becoming the Loner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	145
13. Kermit and New Mexico: The Exodus from Odessa Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	164
14. The Tulk Field Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	179
15. Andrews and the Maguetex Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	191
16. Back to New Mexico: Wildcat at Clovis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	203
17. Wildcat at Grandfalls, Then on to Lovington, Sweetwater, and Lovington Again Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
18. Winding Up Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	242
Epilogue Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	247
Glossary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	249
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	253

Language: English
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 278

eBook

Published: January 13, 2014
ISBN: 9780292790568