THE MEN WHO WORKED THE RIGS

C6

An account written by Lindell O’Neal of Nocona told what life was like during the oil boom of the North Field:

“Living only one mile east of the oil field, the continuous sound of gas engines and an occasional explosion when men were blown to kingdom come could be heard. Tales of fighting, killing, and injury kept most of the farmers at bay. They were content to do their own thing, that being to keep their families out of the oil patch, and ‘let the rowdy bunch handle it.’ … Workers by the hundreds, heavy machinery, bulldog trucks, Fordson tractors, and horses and mules, ten to twelve in a team, were a common sight. When it rained, workers were pushing and digging with shovels, using pry bars, heavy equipment or any other means just to get their machinery down the road, often only a few feet at a time. Since the road was passable generally in only one set of ruts, a line of cars, trucks and wagons formed back and front waiting for the road to be cleared. Greasily-clad oil field workers were everywhere, which was quite a contrast to the farmer, attired in his patched overalls which had been washed on a rub board the night before the trip to town. This contradiction was furthered by their opposing life styles. The farmer had a day-to-day routine, whereas the oil field worker awoke to new expeditions, new faces, new equipment, and new danger on a daily basis.”

Mr. O’Neal’s early years in the oil fields “confirmed by early belief that the oil field worker was in a world of his own. But, while it was true that he made more money than the average worker, it was also true that most were not good savers and lived from pay check to pay check. One late evening the boss came by and began to complain that the rod lines and doll heads were not oiled, and asked me when I was going to do it. Having been working for the past fourteen days on a worker rig from daylight till dark, I was left with the light of the moon to do whatever else needed to be done. I asked him a point blank question: ‘How long have you been in the oil field?’ ‘Thirty three years’ was his reply. ‘Do you have a lot of money saved up?’ ‘Three hundred dollars in a cookie jar,’ he said. On considering his answer, I tossed my oil field helmet in the old Mack truck and walked off my first oil field job.”