Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-03-22
DOWNFALL OF SOUR LAKE.
A Texas Oil Town Whose Boom Has
COLLAPSED.


The glories of the Oil boom days
of Sour Lake are passing away. Now
the big frame building known as
Millers hotel is being removed.
1t was erected at the height Of the
boom, when fabulous prices were be-
ing charged for everything. In those
days much of the business of the town
was carried on in tents.
Tents where the price of a night s
bed ranged from 81 to SIS were num-
erous. Even then the best bed was
an uncomfortable cot. But when the
weather was bad the tents were better
than the open air, and the taverns
made small fortunes for their keepers.
Then came the period when the
boomers thought that Sour Lake was
destined to become a great city. 1t
had already grown from a village of
perhaps fifty inhabitants to a town
of probably six thousand people. The
erection Of more substantial struc-
lures had begun, and one of the first
of these was Miller's hotel.
The oil field was producing hun
dreds Of thousands of barrels each
week. Land values went up from S.
an acre to as high as 100000 an
acre. The latter sum is not as high
as the price which some Of the land
in the Spindle Top field, near Beau
mont, reached in the heyday Of its
oil excitement, but it was a pretty stiff
price to be paid for land which only
a few months before could have been
bought for S5 an acre.
The town grew 10 such Importance
that the Southern Pacific railroad
built a branch line here from Nome
and another railroad, the Beaumont,
Sour Lake & Western, was built here
from Beaumont. The traffic in oil
and general supplies were heavy and
the people of the town felt that 1t
was secure in the commercial posi-
ton which it had attained as If by
magic.
Then came the salt water. Sour
Lake was exulting> over her prosper
ity when the news came that the salt
water had appeared in one of the
wells which had been giving many
thousands of barrels Of oil regularly
each day. The well was ruined.
From we'll to we'll the salt water
spread and many of the best pro-
ducers went out of commission. One
oil concern after another had to quit
business. Well after we'll was aban-
doned. Derricks were removed.
Land and town property values COL
lapsed. The tented city disappeared
almost in a night. Business buildings
were vacated and the town dwindled
in population.
Land that was once dotted with oil
derricks is now devoted again to
growing cotton and other products. In
one part of the oil field is a tract of
land which at the height Of the boom
sold for $125,0O0 an acre.
1t was owned by an aged negro
named Tom Belvin, who lived in lit
tie hut upon the place with his family.
He sold the land before the boom was
we'll started, receiving, it is said, $780,
900 cash for the land.
The old negro took the advice of
some of his white friends and depos-
tied the money in a bank. He Is CIV
ing the younger children a good edu-
cation with some of the money and
the rest of his family are taking life
easy in Houston, where they moved
after the fortune came to them.
Pat Cannon is another resident OF
Sour Lake who was in on the ground
floor when the boom struck here. He
owned a small tract Of land and lived
in an old and delapidated house. His
land proved to be in the very heart
Of the best producing part of the oil
field.
He is said to have received upward
of 100000 cash for his land and a
few days after the sale had been made
the place was dotted with oil der
ricks and some big producing wells
were brought in. Cannon took care
of his money and got good deal more
out of it than many Of the men who
acquired fortunes in that manner.
The history Of the Batson and Hum
BILE oil field is a repetition Of that Of
oil
Lake field is still producing oil. but
the quantity is small compared with
the output in the boom days.
About the time of the collapse Of
the boom here oil was discovered at
Batson, ten or twelve miles northwest
of this place. In few months Bat
son had grown from a. crossroads
store and blacksmith shop to a town
with 5000 people. Oil lines were
built to the new field and the enthu-
siasts were predicting that a great
city would be built there.
Salt water! That told the tale of
Batson's end Just as the permanency
of the new field seemed to be estab-
lished the salt water appeared and
smothered the oil. Batson fell quick
ly from its greatness.
It was riotous town while 1t ex-
listed. Everything was run wide open.
Crooks gathered there from all parts
of the country. Men who had made
fortunes from the sale Of land or in
oil let the money slip through their
fingers like water.
1t was about the time of Batson's
retirement from the spotlight that the
announcement was made of the dis
covery of another great oil field in
Texas. This time it was at Humble, a
little village about seventy-five miles
east of here.
Up to the time Of this discovery
probably not five hundred people in
the state knew of its existence. The
fortune hunters from Batson, Sour
Lake and Spindle Top hurried to the
scene of the new discovery and in a
few weeks Humble's population had
grown to 1000 people. It's oil pro-
duction and traffic were enormous till