Oilfield trash
Subtitle: life and labor in the oil patch
By: Bobby D. Weaver.
Edition: 1st ed.
Series: Kenneth E. Montague series in oil and business history -- no. 22; Kenneth E. Montague series in oil and business history -- no. 22.
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: College Station
Language: eng
Number of pages: 226
ISBN-13: 9781603442053
Subjects: Petroleum workers -- Texas -- Social life and customs -- 20th century; Petroleum industry and trade -- Texas -- History -- 20th century
Description: When the first gusher blew in at Spindletop, near Beaumont, Texas, in 1901, petroleum began to supplant cotton and cattle as the economic engine of the state and region. Very soon, much of the workforce migrated from the cotton field to the oilfield, following the lure of the wealth being created by black gold. The early decades of the twentieth century witnessed the development of an oilfield culture, as these workers defined and solidified their position within the region?s social fabric. Over time, the work force grew more professionalized, and technological change attracted a different type of laborer. Bobby D. Weaver grew up and worked in the oil patch. Now, drawing on oral histories supplemented and confirmed by other research, he tells the colorful stories of the workers who actually brought oil wealth to Texas. Drillers, shooters, toolies, pipeliners, teamsters, roustabouts, tank builders, roughnecks . . . each of them played a role in the frenzied, hard-driving lifestyle of the boomtowns that sprouted overnight in association with each major oil discovery. Weaver tracks the differences between company workers and contract workers. He details the work itself and the ethos that surrounds it. He highlights the similarities and differences from one field to another and traces changing aspects of the work over time. Above all, Oilfield Trash captures the unique voices of the laboring people who worked long, hard hours, often risking life and limb to keep the drilling rigs ?turning to the right.?--Amazon.com.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: The oil boom, 1901-1905; title: The drillers, 1901-1910; title: The other hands, 1901-1910; title: Moving on up north, 1910-1922; title: The Panhandle-populating cow country, 1919-1930; title: East Texas; title: changes in the patch, 1930-1935; title: Way out west, 1923-1940; title: Change comes to the oil patch, 1941-1960; title: The making of an oilfield culture, 1901-1960; title: A language of their own.