by Alfred Rogers (RHS-1960)
These articles were first published in The Waggin’ Tongue
newsletter beginning in April 2016. They are based on Alfred
Rogers’ book, Ranger, published in 2010 by Arcadia Press in its
"Images of America” series as well as his additional research.
Articles - Page 1: (2016)
RANGER CAMP VALLEY THE EARLY YEARS
SOME EARLY BUSINESSES THE SEARCH FOR OIL
THE DISCOVERY OF OIL THE OIL BOOM
LIVING CONDITIONS DURING THE BOOM END OF THE DROUGHT
Articles - Page 2: (2017)
EARLY WATER SOURCES FIRE
CRIME LAW ENFORCEMENT
HOTELS SOME EARLY CLUBS
KU KLUX KLAN M.H. HAGAMAN
CIVIC IMPROVEMENTS JOHN McCLESKEY
MOVIE THEATERS EARLY SCHOOLS
Articles - Page 3: (2018)
FAMOUS VISITORS POST OFFICE
BOYCE HOUSE EARLY NEWSPAPERS
W.K. GORDON SHOOTING AN OIL WELL
TICKVILLE BAND ST. RITA'S
T&P RAILWAY CO. RANGER'S HOSPITAL
JAKE HAMON RAILROAD JOHN GHOLSON
Articles - Page 4: (2019)
MIRROR LAKE J.E. TEMPLE PETERS
BONNIE & CLYDE REC BUILDING
RANGER HIGH SCHOOL TRAIN ROBBERY
WALTER P. WEBB SALOONS & CABARETS
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH BYRON PARRISH
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
Articles - Page 5: (2020)
DR. CHARLES TERRELL WEST TEXAS CLINIC
ACCIDENT ON THURBER HILL BANKHEAD HWY
TRANSPORTATION SALLIE TARRANT
WINSETT SPRING (Final)
RANGER CAMP VALLEY - Ranger was named for the Texas Rangers.
As late as the 1870’s the Comanche Indians were still making
raids in the area that had become Eastland County in 1858 by
an act of the Texas Legislature. To counter these raids, Mexican
desperadoes, and other outlaws, the Texas Rangers set up a camp
on the Watson Ranch, which would eventually become the Hagaman
Ranch. Ranger Camp Valley, as the location of the camp came to
be known, was a few miles northeast of the present site of Ranger.
The exact date the Texas Rangers camp was established and its
precise location are unknown. The West Texas Historical Association
yearbook of 1934 documents an 1871 account of Ranger Camp by a
rancher who was living in the area at that time. Archeological
evidence suggests that it was south of the area that would become
Hagaman Lake. The Texas Ranger camp was never intended to be
permanent, and ultimately it moved westward. However, when it
was set up, it attracted settlers from other parts of Eastland
County, adjacent counties, and even other states. Many of the
settlers worked on construction of the “High Trestle,” the rail-
road bridge over a canyon near the area. The Texas and Pacific
Railway Company would eventually run its trains over the bridge.
The Ranger Camp Valley community, which may have reached a
population of between two and three hundred, lived in tents,
worshipped in tents, and set up a tent for a school. Tents
even housed a general store and hotel. The community did not
become permanent because the railroad, which had been pushing
westward, followed the contours of the land insofar as possible,
thereby bypassing Ranger Camp Valley to the south and west. It
reached the present site of Ranger October 15, 1880. The Ranger
Camp Valley community had moved to be near the railroad, and the
resulting town was henceforth known as “Ranger.”
A highly readable account of the Comanche Indians is S.C. Gwynne’s
book, Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and
Fall of the Comanches (New York, Scribner, 2010). Walter Prescott
Webb’s book, The Texas Rangers: a Century of Frontier Defense
(2d. ed. Austin, University of Texas Press, 1965), was for many
years the definitive source of information on the Rangers. Webb
grew up in north central Texas and graduated from Ranger High
School before going on to an illustrious teaching career at the
University of Texas. A more recent book, The Texas Rangers, now
considered by many to be the definitive history of the Texas
Rangers, was written by Mike Cox (New York, Forge, 2008).
THE EARLY YEARS - The Texas and Pacific Railway Company, or T&P as
it came to be called, bought 160 acres from Isham G. Searcy for a
town site, which it named Ranger for the Texas Rangers and Ranger
Camp. Searcy had obtained the land from the Francis Blundell Survey:
Blundell was the original owner. The original town site took up 53
blocks. Eventually the site was expanded beyond the original acreage.
An early T&P map shows that when Ranger was laid out, what eventually
became Main Street was Locust Street. What came to be Commerce Street
was North Front Street, and what would be U. S. Highway 80 through
town many years later was South Front Street. Other street names
which appeared on that early map include Bowie, Fannin, Houston,
Lamar, Hunt, and Clay (all east of the railroad tracks), and Mesquite,
Elm, Pine, Walnut, Cherry, and Cypress (all west of the tracks).
The railroad reached Ranger on October 15, 1880 on its way westward.
The inhabitants of Ranger Camp a few miles to the northeast had moved
to be near the railroad. In the beginning the new settlement was a
collection of mostly tents, which not only were habitations but also
stores, a hotel, and restaurants. Soon more permanent structures,
some of wood but a good number of stone, were built.
Ranger was a farming community, with the usual general mercantile
stores, cotton gins, blacksmith shops, feed stores, and livery
stables. No United States census was taken in those early years,
but it was estimated that in a few years the population had grown
to about 700. Ranger became a trade center for many communities
in the north and northwest part of Texas. After the railroad came
through Ranger, a large stock pen was built, and Ranger became a
shipping center for Stephens, Young, Shackleford, & Erath counties.
SOME EARLY BUSINESSES - Before the oil boom Ranger was a farming and
ranching community, with the usual wagon yards, cotton gins, blacksmith
shops, feed stores, livery stables, and general mercantile stores. Many
of these stores sold to a wider area than just Ranger. One of the stores
which catered to a wider trade area was the Ranger Mercantile Company,
one of the major stores before the oil boom. Many farmers and ranchers
would buy a six-month supply of goods at one time.
Another early business in Ranger was a brick-making concern. The kilns
operated in an area south of town where the clay was good for making
bricks. After the bricks were formed and baked in one of the kilns,
they were used in construction. The wood used for fire was allowed to
smolder and turn into charcoal, which was then sold.
There were a number of blacksmith shops. They not only repaired farm
machinery and plows but also shod horses and mules. Horseshoes wore
out so quickly on the bad roads and streets that blacksmiths were kept
busy taking care of horses from all the livery stables. Livery stables
would rent horses, buggies, and surreys, with or without a driver.
One of the most popular early businesses, especially with train travelers,
was the Rock Saloon (also known as the Old Rock Saloon). Located in a rock
building on Main Street near the train station, it served as a community
gathering place and catered to passengers arriving on the train and anybody
else in need of liquid refreshment. A second Rock Saloon later opened
across the street from the original saloon.
THE SEARCH FOR OIL - In 1917 an area-wide drought, the worst that many
could remember, was devastating Ranger’s chiefly agrarian economy. Many
crops failed. A group of businessmen led by John M. Gholson realized the
need to diversify the economy and decided to approach William K. Gordon,
head of the Texas & Pacific Coal Company’s operation at Thurber and general
manager of the town, a Company town. There had been some exploratory oil
drilling in the area, with a number of failures but also with some success.
In 1915 the Texas & Pacific Coal Company had brought in a well ten miles
east of Ranger. Initially it produced several hundred barrels of oil a
day. Gordon and other officials of Texas & Pacific Coal Company had
predicted that the demand for coal would decline rapidly, since railroads
were using more oil-burning locomotives; hence the search for oil around
Thurber. Gordon had been trained as a surveyor and mining engineer and
not as a geologist. However, he believed, as did a number of geologists,
that prospects for oil in the Ranger area were very good. So when the
group of Ranger businessmen approached him, he agreed to finance the
drilling of four exploratory wells around Ranger in exchange for Texas
& Pacific Coal Company leases on about 25,000 acres. The first test well,
on the Nannie Walker farm north of town, was a disappointment: rather
than oil, it began spewing natural gas, for which there was no market
at the time. However, the second well, on the John McCleskey farm
about a mile south of downtown Ranger, came in on October 17, 1917. With
that gusher, Ranger was catapulted into oilfield history, becoming one
of the great oil boomtowns of all times.
THE DISCOVERY OF OIL - After the exploratory well on the Nannie Walker
farm turned out to be a disappointment, the New York financial backers
of Texas & Pacific Coal Company’s four exploratory wells became very
skeptical and told W.K. Gordon to cease drilling at 3,200 feet. However,
he was convinced that he would find oil, and he was able to persuade
company officials to let him continue awhile longer on the McCleskey
well.
Frank Champion was the driller on duty the afternoon of October 17,
2017 when the McCleskey well blew in. He went to town to telephone
Gordon with the news. Years later Champion described the well: “It
was the prettiest sight I ever saw. The oil shot straight up in the
air like a golden spray.” There had been no preparations to contain
the oil, so in Champion’s words, it “ran wild” until facilities could
be provided. The McCleskey well’s initial output was 1,700 barrels
a day. The well was abandoned May 30, 1930 after producing 275,000
barrels of oil.
In the meantime the well on the Walker farm had continued to spew gas,
but in early 1918, it began to gush oil. Gordon’s third trial well
was on the Shook farm. It came in at 3,100 feet, producing 2,500
barrels a day. The fourth and final exploratory well was on M.H.
Hagaman’s land. It became a gusher at 3,100 feet.
Ranger’s “exploratory wells” were a thing of the past: Ranger was now
a proven oilfield. The Texas & Pacific Coal Company held thousands
of productive leases in the Ranger area. It became so involved in
developing these leases that it changed its name to “Texas Pacific
Coal & Oil Company.”
THE OIL BOOM - Frank Champion, the driller on duty the afternoon of
October 17, 1917 when the McCleskey well blew in, called W. K. Gordon
in Thurber to tell him the news. Soon the entire country knew that
not only the McCleskey but also the three other exploratory wells and
other early wells after them were major producers. Many oil producers
and would-be producers flocked into town.
The Texas Pacific Coal & Oil Company had leases on practically all
the territory around Ranger. In fact, it had so many leases that it
could not drill on all of them, so it sold some at a great profit.
On still others it allowed other companies to drill, splitting the
profits 50-50. Soon oil derricks were everywhere: downtown, city
outskirts and on outlying farms. After the boom, the Texas State
Railroad Commission estimated that about 1,200 wells had been
drilled in the Ranger oilfield.
Some of the top-producing wells were located south and west of
town. Merriman in particular was the site of competitive drilling.
Warren Wagner, formerly a drilling contractor with Texas Pacific
Coal & Oil Company, got his own lease on the Merriman school
grounds adjacent to the Company’s rigs. Wagner felt that the
Company was trying to drain as much oil as possible from his
lease, and he sued. The courts ultimately limited his wells
to four and the Company’s to five. The verdict was hailed as a
victory for the smaller independent producer.
After the well on the Merriman school grounds came in, Merriman
Baptist Church members voted to lease the churchyard for drilling.
When that well came in, they voted to set aside 15 per cent of the
royalties for their church and to donate the remainder to missions,
hospitals, orphanages, and colleges. Members did not individually
receive royalties. The church’s action received national attention,
including an article in the New York Times.
Merriman again made national news when it refused to allow drilling
in the cemetery. Will Farrell wrote a poem on the rejection, which
has become part of oilfield lore:
All oildom knows the answer
When the chairman shook his head,
Pointing past the men of millions
At the city of the dead.
Why disturb the weary tenants
In yon narrow strip of sod?
“Tis not ours but theirs the title,
Vested by the will of God.
We the board have talked it over,
Pro and con without avail.
We reject your hundred thousand—
Merriman is not for sale.
CORRECTION: In my column published in the July 15th issue of The
Waggin’ Tongue, I reported that the McCleskey well was abandoned
May 30, 1930. This is the information on the Texas State Historical
Marker. Jeane Pruett called my attention to the fact that the
McCleskey was instead plugged May 28, 1920. This is the more
reliable information from the Texas Railroad Commission. Thanks,
Jeane
LIVING CONDITIONS DURING THE BOOM - An official census had not been
taken in Ranger before the oil boom, nor was there one until after
the boom was waning. However, it was estimated that before the
boom Ranger had a population of less than a thousand, but during
the boom it soared to around 30,000. According to the Texas State
Historical Association’s Handbook of Texas Online, the 1920 census
counted 16,201 people. The publisher of a 1919 postcard folder,
issued during the height of the boom, entitled it ”A Trip to Ranger,
Where There is Wealth for All.” He predicted that within the
immediate future Ranger would have a population of 100,000.
That never happened, of course, and the purported 30,000 that
populated Ranger in the beginning of the oil boom were enough to
strain Ranger’s already limited resources. The town was in fact
ill prepared to deal with the influx of people. Among them were
investors, speculators, wildcatters, oil field workers, curious
onlookers, and the usual criminal element attracted to oil boom-
towns.
The lack of housing was a major, immediate problem. Hotels and
rooming houses sprang up, but they were inadequate to cope with
would-be customers. Men slept in hotels in shifts, and they paid
to sleep in hotel lobby chairs. Several “tent cities” came about.
People who were able to rent a so-called “shotgun” house were
considered lucky. The shotgun house was two or three rooms built
in a straight line without a hallway. It was usually built on
land that rented from $5 to $10 a month. People also slept in
abandoned oil tanks, under wagon sheets, and at the train depot.
A shack or tent was considered a luxury.
Sanitary conditions were terrible. Initially there was neither
a safe, adequate water supply nor a municipal sewage disposal
system. The Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918 caused many
deaths in Ranger as elsewhere. The few doctors in town had
to deal not only with infectious diseases and other more usual
maladies but also with oil field injuries & victims of shootings
and fights. Dr. A. K. Wier, who had come to Ranger in 1913,
said once that men had died of gunshot wounds before he could
save them.
END OF THE DROUGHT - By 1917 the worst drought in years had
devastated Ranger’s mainly agrarian economy, prompting city
leaders to look into drilling for oil as a potential alternate
source of revenue. After the McCleskey well blew in October 17,
1917 and other early wells were successful, Ranger became an
oil boomtown, with agricultural output of secondary importance.
Ironically soon after oil was discovered, partly because of the
drought, the long, dry spell ended, and approximately two years
of far above average rainfall began. Ranger was as unprepared
for the rains as it had been for the influx of people coming
into town in the wake of the boom. Streets were unpaved, and
their deep ruts became quagmires of mud. Cars were often up
to hubs or even a fender or two in mud, and wagons and trucks
fared no better. Several who were in Ranger at the time claimed
that a mule had drowned in an especially deep hole.
An enterprising young man and his brother built a sled, hitched
up one of their father’s horses to it, and began hauling people
across the street from the train depot for a quarter. There were
imitators at other street intersections. Eventually boardwalks
were put up at major intersections to help people cross muddy
streets. These boardwalks, which were free, replaced the “mud
ferries,” or sleds, that ferried people across for a fee.
By that time many people in Ranger were wealthy because of the
oil boom, and it was not at all unusual to see women wearing
diamonds and furs trying to navigate the muddy streets. In the
meantime there seemed to be only an occasional let-up in the
rain. The writer of a postcard dated July 4, 1919, for example,
exulted that a whole week had gone by without rain!
History of Ranger - Page 2
