Texas Salt Flat Oil Field Photo Archive: Davis Lease, Rumbaugh Well No. 5, and Petroleum Labor During the 1929 Oil Boom

Texas Petroleum Industry

Photograph

Photo archive of 11 silver gelatin photographs depicting drilling crews, derricks, lease camps, well stimulation, pumpers, machinery suppliers, and industrial worksites associated with the Salt Flat Oil Field (originally known as the Bruner Field) near Luling, Caldwell County, Texas, during the peak of the 1929 oil boom and the years immediately following. The photographs document petroleum labor and field operations at one of the most productive Texas oil discoveries of the late 1920s. Contemporary captions preserve the working language of the oil patch, identifying a “full gang,” a “pusher,” a “pumper,” a named lease, a specific well, and a well “shot” on October 4, 1929. Together with the verso photo-processing stamps, these annotations provide unusually precise evidence for identifying the location and activities depicted. Rather than representing an unidentified Texas oil field, the photographs can be tied to the historic Salt Flat Oil Field near Luling in Caldwell County, approximately forty-five miles northeast of San Antonio.

The 11 Photographs range from approximately 2.5" x 3.5" to 3" x 5.5". Several photographs show derricks rising above sandy and scrub-covered ground, with drilling rigs, trucks, timber supports, tanks, sheds, and rough lease roads surrounding the wells. Workers pose in oil-stained coveralls beside machinery buildings, sit outside wooden lease structures, stand atop storage tanks, and gather around drilling equipment, preserving both crew portraiture and active worksite environments. Additional images depict industrial buildings, machinery yards, and processing facilities connected to the broader petroleum economy. The captions identify the famous Davis Lease, one of the most productive properties in the Salt Flat Field, located near the marshy lowlands of the San Marcos River outside Luling. Another image is captioned “Rumbaugh No. I, Well 5, shot on 10/4-1929.” The notation refers to a well drilled on the Rumbaugh family lease during the intensive drilling campaign that transformed the region between 1928 and 1929. To “shoot” a well meant lowering a nitroglycerin torpedo into the borehole and detonating it to fracture the Edwards Limestone formation and increase oil flow. The photograph records the exact day this operation occurred, preserving a rarely documented example of a dangerous production technique widely employed before modern hydraulic fracturing.

Other captions identify key participants in the field hierarchy. “W. B. Morrison, pusher” refers to the toolpusher responsible for supervising drilling operations, personnel, supplies, and equipment. “Full gang and at 1 clearance” appears to document an entire drilling or roustabout crew maneuvering equipment within extremely tight tolerances. “Naldo by pumper” likely identifies a field pumper, the worker responsible for operating producing wells and monitoring storage tanks after completion. A photograph captioned “Panama Machinery Co.” records one of the supply firms that emerged to furnish drilling components, cables, boilers, and pumping equipment during the boom. Two versos bear “Cooper Photo Tone, San Antonio, Texas” stamps. While the oil field itself was located in Caldwell County, San Antonio served as the principal commercial center for the region, and photographs were commonly processed through city photographic studios and commercial darkrooms. The stamps provide a direct connection between the remote lease camps and the urban infrastructure that supported South Texas petroleum development.

The date October 1929 gives the archive particular historical significance. The Salt Flat Field reached its peak production during that month, producing approximately 97,000 barrels of oil per day and standing among the most productive oil fields in Texas. These photographs therefore capture the field at its zenith, only weeks before the Wall Street Crash of October 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression. By September 1930, the field had already produced nearly twenty million barrels of oil, illustrating the extraordinary pace of development represented in these images. Light surface wear, minor edgewear, and occasional verso staining; overall very good condition. An unusually well-captioned photographic archive documenting named workers, identified leases, specific wells, and field operations during the peak production years of the Salt Flat Oil Field, one of the defining Texas petroleum booms of the late 1920s.

Item #23518

Price: $580.00