page_title: Texas oil boom
section_title: The big four
hierarchical_section_title: Texas oil boom / Iconic figures of the era / The big four
caption_attribution_description: English: Hugh Roy Cullen, Texas oilman, and philanthropist.
context_page_description: The Texas oil boom, sometimes called the gusher age, was a period of dramatic change and economic growth in the U.S. state of Texas during the early 20th century that began with the discovery of a large petroleum reserve near Beaumont, Texas. The find was unprecedented in its size and ushered in an age of rapid regional development and industrialization that has few parallels in U.S. history. Texas quickly became one of the leading oil-producing states in the U.S., along with Oklahoma and California; soon the nation overtook the Russian Empire as the top producer of petroleum. By 1940 Texas had come to dominate U.S. production. Some historians even define the beginning of the world's Oil Age as the beginning of this era in Texas.
  The major petroleum strikes that began the rapid growth in petroleum exploration and speculation occurred in Southeast Texas, but soon reserves were found across Texas and wells were constructed in North Texas, East Texas, and the Permian Basin in West Texas.
context_section_description: Four businessmen were emblematic of the 1920s and 30s boom years — H. Roy Cullen, H. L. Hunt, Sid W. Richardson, and Clint Murchison. Cullen was a self-educated cotton and real-estate businessman who moved to Houston in 1918 and soon began oil prospecting. Cullen's success led to his founding the South Texas Petroleum Company (with partner Jim West Sr.) and Quintana Oil Company. Cullen and his wife established the Cullen Foundation, which became one of the largest charitable organizations in the state, and donated heavily to the University of Houston, the Texas Medical Center, and numerous other causes in Texas, particularly in the Houston area.
  Hunt's first successes were in the oilfields of Arkansas, but he lost most of his fortune by the outset of the Depression as overproduction depleted his fields and his speculation on land and oil drained his resources. He joined in Columbus Joiner's venture which opened the East Texas Oil Field. Hunt bought most of Joiner's interests in eastern Texas and his company, Placid Oil, owned hundreds of wells. He became established in Dallas and was labeled the richest man in the nation in 1948 by Fortune Magazine. A scandal emerged in 1975, after his death, when it was discovered that he had had a hidden bigamous relationship, with his second wife living in New York.
  Richardson was a cattle trader who established an independent oil production business in Fort Worth in 1919. He soon expanded into numerous businesses and owned the Texas City Refining Company, cattle ranches, radio and television networks,  among other businesses. He was a very private man who was sometimes referred to as the "bachelor billionaire." Murchison, who began his career at his father's bank, soon became an oil lease trader working with Richardson. He expanded into exploration and production in northern Texas, then around San Antonio, and finally the Dallas area. He went on to create the Southern Union Gas Company and became a developer on the East Texas field. He expanded his business into international oil and gas operations in Canada and Australia. His son Clint Jr. went on to form the Dallas Cowboys football franchise. For their part, Murchison and Richardson were known to have been major national political operatives and had close ties to President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his vice president Richard M. Nixon, as well as FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover and President Lyndon B. Johnson.
caption: H. Roy Cullen, industrialist and philanthropist, considered one of the key figures in the early Texas oil industry
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "COOLPIX S200", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "GIMP 2.6.7", "Image DateTime": "2010:04:12 09:59:49", "Image ExifOffset": "252", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/25", "EXIF FNumber": "39/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:05:05 16:57:59", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:05:05 16:57:59", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "33/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "93/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1944", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2592", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "56", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}