Black diamonds! Black gold!
Subtitle: the saga of Texas Pacific Coal and Oil Company
By: Don Woodard.
Publisher: Texas Tech University Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Lubbock, Tex
Language: eng
Number of pages: 322
Subjects: Texas Pacific Coal and Oil Company -- History.; Coal trade -- Texas -- Fort Worth -- History.; Coal mines and mining -- Texas -- Fort Worth -- History.; Petroleum industry and trade -- Texas -- Fort Worth -- History.; Businesspeople -- Texas -- Fort Worth -- Biography.
Description: In a West Texas town called Thurber the Texas Pacific Coal and Oil Company grew rich digging coal, drilling oil and making bricks from the clay soil.

The Texas Pacific Company as it was known at its beginning, was born in 1888 just seventy-five miles west of Fort Worth. Employing mostly immigrant workers in the coal mines, the company prospered and created a town eventually called Thurber. The company added a brick works in 1894. For several years Thurber rivaled Fort Worth as the largest population and cultural center for the region. The discovery of the famous Ranger oil fields in 1917 by the company's general manager, W. K.

Gordon, began not only a whole new chapter in the development and expansion of the company, but also in the growth of Texas.

The company survived by both anticipating and adapting to the changing economy until its eventual sale in 1963. The latter part of the book offers an insider's look into the post-World War II development of Fort Worth, including the political maneuverings of the last chairman of the company, H. B. Fuqua.

Through photographs, newspaper articles, company archives, and oral recollections, the reader catches a glimpse of the life and times of the people and events that shaped the socioeconomic growth of the region from its beginnings, through wars, the Depression, and post-war booms.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 301-309) and index.