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The Psychic and the Oilman
Posted by theoilpatchplug on Tuesday, September 25, 2007 3:07:23 PM
by Robert L. Gaston
The discovery of oil in the Edwards formation of south-central Texas in the
year '22 was the starting gun for a brand new trend of exploration and
development. Credited with this trend is Edgar Byram Davis (1873 - 1951),
who pioneered the Edwards, and to the many other prospectors who
carried Edwards exploration from the Sabine to the Rio Grande. Later gas
discoveries in the Edwards established substantial reserves and additional
exploration opportunities until today.
The discovery of oil in the Edwards formation opened a chapter in the
history of the oil business, which was as important to Central Texas as
were the great discoveries at Spindletop for the Gulf Coast, Yates for West
Texas, C. M. "Dad" Joiner's No. 3 Daisy Bradford well for East Texas. As in
all the above cases, oil and gas discoveries in this province shot local
lifestyles upward, from hard-scrabble farming in the country and
subsistence living in local towns to more comfortable and professional
lifestyles, that even broached, in some cases, luxury.
After the initial excesses of the boom days had subsided, cultural
improvements and progress characterized local community life, and both
the countryside and urban centers have continued to enjoy the benefits
first introduced to the area by Mother Oil. As was the case throughout the
oil patch, hundreds of ranchers were able to keep their land in the family
and prosper through the risk-taking and efforts of these great wildcatting
pioneers and their modern brethren, rather than suffer seeing their hard-
earned assets disappear through foreclosure into the maws of banks and
financiers during and after the Great Depression. The economic impact
cannot be underestimated throughout the main productive trend,
extending from Caldwell to Webb County, a distance of 165 miles and will
continue way into the future, so long as politicos and other assorted
rascals leave well enough alone.
The story of oils discovery in the Edwards, like all oil and gas plays, is
laced with doubt, disappointment, dogged persistence, and fabulous
success. It had its inception in the mind of a man guided by a firm "FAITH",
as he would always insist it be spelled. Although this interesting man
passed to his heavenly reward in October 1951, he attained the status of a
legend. Even while living, his retiring attitude and deeply religious nature
caused most to regard him as a man of mystery. This remarkable
individual who first discovered oil in the Edwards was Edgar B. Davis, late
"Citizen of Luling".
The saga of Edgar B. Davis should live because it stands out as a unique
story in the annals of the oil industry. Unlike the typical oilpatch stories that
commonly abound of swashbuckling promoters discovering oil by sheer
luck, of "poorboy" wildcatters spending their last dollar to bring in an
elusive gusher, Edgar B. Davis stands out as a contrast to the common
rough and ready lot of the typical oilpatch. Davis was a member of an old
New England family, reared with all the luxuries of the prosperous gay
nineties. He had traveled the world, associated with royalty, played golf,
excelled at bridge, loved music and art. Admitting to no church affiliation,
he nevertheless considered himself "Steward of the Lord," ordained to
improve the lot of his fellow man.
This extraordinary individual left a promising business career at 35 years
of age as co-founder and sales executive of the Walkover Shoe Company
of Brockton, Massachusetts, in an effort to improve his poor health on a
world tour. In Singapore, he met a Dutch rubber plantation manager who
induced him to interest the United States Rubber Company in cultivating
rubber trees in Sumatra.
This proved to be a highly successful venture for Davis and resulted in his
acquiring $4,000,000.00 in rubber company stocks and cash, a huge
fortune in those days. Upon his return to New York he declined an
attractive offer to become president of the United States Rubber Company,
because he felt the job would confine his activities too much. Instead, he
betook it upon himself, at the age of 50, to transplant himself from his
luxurious New York lifestyle to the impoverished farming community of
Luling, Texas. Without Eva Gabor. His immediate mission in doing so was
to salvage whatever could be retrieved from a $75,000 investment in a
shaky wildcat venture made by his elder brother and some associates. The
record is hazy if the promoter was named Haney. Little did he realize where
his decision to leave "the City" would lead.
A true entrepreneur, fascinated by the idea of prospecting for oil, and
imbued with the impassioned desire to bring prosperity to the inhabitants
of his newly adopted home community, he acquired the interests of his
brother and associates and dedicated himself wholly to his newfound task
of salvaging his wildcatting interests.
The first step led him to assume the lease obligations of the Texas
Southern Oil and Lease Syndicate in the Luling area. This syndicate had
assembled leases covering most of what are now the Salt Flat and Darst
Creek fields as well as about 85 percent of the Luling field. Many of these
leases had to be dropped for lack of finances, but the Luling block was
retained on the basis of a fault exposed in the San Marcos River and the
mapping of an inlier of lower Wilcox against it. The discovery of the fault is
credited to Vernon E. Woolsey; and additional work by him, Carol E. Cook,
Roy A. Dobbins and others resulted in definition of the lower Wilcox inlier
on this up-to-the-coast fault. The Syndicate drilled its first well in 1920 on
the Thompson lease in the George C. Kimball survey, Caldwell County. It
was abandoned as a dry hole in the Buda Limestone, 150 feet above the
Edwards, but shows of oil and gas in the Eagleford provided
encouragement for additional drilling.
Davis named his new enterprise, organized March 18, 1921, the "United
North and South Oil Company, Inc.", as a Yankee gesture of friendship
toward the unrepentant parochial planters of this Southern community.
After taking over the holdings of Texas Southern Oil and Lease Syndicate,
he spudded a well on the Cartwright farm, about a quarter mile closer to
the surface fault trace than the Syndicate's Thompson dry hole. It had a
small show of oil in the Edwards, as did the No. 2 Cartwright drilled about
500 feet up dip, although both were plugged as dry holes. On May 5, 1921
the No. 3 Cartwright was spudded and was plugged as a dry hole on June
16. The Cartwright No. 4 soon followed at a nearby location and was also
dry. Adding to the injury, the No. 2 Thompson proved to be a failure as well.
At this point, a desperate Davis sought out the great clairvoyant Edgar
Cayce. In a trance, Cayce described the underground geological structure
in detail for Davis. The resulting discovery, made on the basis of Cayce's
revelation, also flew in the face of accepted geological wisdom of the time.
As Humble's (now Exxon-Mobil) chief geologist, Wallace E. Pratt, a skeptic
when it came to looking for oil around faults, put it,
"the hazards of exploration in faulted territory are already widely
appreciated."
But, then, Pratt had not consulted Edgar Cayce!
On the basis of Cayce's advice, Davis made a seventh location on the
Rafael Rios 126 acre farm in the John Henry survey. The well was
spudded June 19, 1922 and, on the hot afternoon of August 9, 1922, a
depressed if not totally discouraged group of three United North and South
people, Edgar Davis, Agnes Manford and W. F. Peale, sat watching the
hypnotic rotary grinding away at 2,100 feet. Just as Peale, at the wheel of
their car, was about to drive away, Miss Manford is reported to have
pointed and shouted (in a most undignified way): "Look, Boys, Look!"
A black column was rising from Rafael Rios No. 1; the crew was scattering.
The column was rising higher, higher, like an aroused giant black snake.
Miss Manford and Peale quickly piled out of the car as the black column
rose higher, rising above the crown block and began to spray the black,
greasy stuff of which dreams were made (and of which environmental
lawsuits are made today).
Peale and Miss Manford were a bit hysterical. For the charming bachelor
who had furnished so many pleasant evenings at cards or talk; for the
employer of Peale who had never looked back, never faltered, never lost
his beatific smile; for the strange man who seemed half of the present
material world and half of the heavenly world to come, they were overjoyed.
And Davis himself? That gentle smile grew a bit more expansive perhaps;
he was quieter, if anything, and he retained that ever-present dignity. Yes,
the foreordained had come to pass, the Lord, through the instrument of
Edgar B. Davis, had achieved another objective, and in the end Davis,
drenched with oil, reminded his employees that he must go to town.
To Luling went the oil-spattered trio and when the giant Davis was asked if
he wanted to go to the hotel to change clothes.
He said, "No, first to Mackey's Drug Store."
At Mackey's, they called for J. R. Mackey, who had been sure Davis was
chasing a "will-o'-the-wisp" and had said so publicly many times. Mackey
came out, stared, threw up his hand and said with awe,
"The drinks are on me. Anything you want. Anything!"
Thus the story of Luling is, in a way, the story of Edgar B. Davis, who
would walk into a fiery furnace if his Lord ordered, yet belonged to no
church, who is Luling's godfather, but who, at age 77 had never married;
the Yankee who had walked with princes and kings, but who spent his
happiest years among the descendants of Rebels who loved him.
On August 10, 1922, the Luling boom began, gaining momentum slowly at
first, because oilmen were skeptical of Edwards production. Magnolia
Petroleum Company (later Mobil and today Exxon-Mobil) came forward with
an offer to buy 1,000,000 barrels of oil in the ground at 50 cents a barrel.
Davis and his associates accepted quickly and used the $500,000 to
finance early development of the Luling field. Extension of the discovery
area 1.6 miles northeast was established on March 13, 1923, by the
Caldwell Oil Company No. 1 Hardeman, which made gas. In May 1923,
Royal Oil Company completed a well for over 1000 barrels a day on their
40 acre W. H. Tabor lease, later acquired by Grayburg Oil Company. This
extended the field 2 ½ miles northeast of the Rios No. 1 discovery well.
The rate of drilling increased after these extensions, and many wells were
completed with initial production of 1000 barrels a day or more.
By December 1924, the field had 391 producing wells, and by the end of
1926, the total number of wells had increased to 502.
In the spring of 1926, display advertisements appeared on the financial
pages of several well-known newspapers stating that the Luling Field
properties of the United North and South Oil Company were for sale. It is
reported that several major oil companies considered the deal and made
offers, but probably because the production was from limestone, and the
fact that many of the fabulous Mexican fields of the same type were
suddenly beginning to make salt water, no trade was immediately
consummated. The Magnolia Petroleum Company, having bought the first
production from the field and with pipeline facilities in place, eventually met
the advertised price of $12,100,000. The deal was consummated on June
11, 1926, on a basis of half cash and half in oil as produced.
That should have been the end of the saga of Edgar B. Davis. The man, at
age 56, had more money than any man would ever need. But the strange
New Englander recognized something that not many men do, an obligation
to those who help them make fortunes. And the benevolent, unusual
visionary went about it in a most unusual way. First he announced a
barbecue to which Luling, Caldwell County, Guadalupe County, former
employees, friends over the world and well…. practically everyone… were
invited. He bought a herd of beeves, all the soft drinks in central Texas,
imported entertainers from New York and purchased and cleared 100
acres of land white with cotton at harvest time for the jubilee.
"Come one, come all", advertised Davis. And pretty near everyone did, or
so it seemed.
The most conservative estimates placed the crowd at 15,000 while others
looking at the sea of faces, swore not less than 40,000 were there. And
the 15,000 or 40,000 were not only fed but also electrified with excitement.
Every employee drew a bonus. Those who had been with him one year
drew 25 percent of total salaries paid them to date; two years brought 50
percent; and four years, 100 percent. Five men on his firm's management
committee received checks for $200,000 each.
A couple of million was the conservative cost to Luling's benefactor for
bonuses alone. But there was more to come: A $50,000 golf course later
built on that $150,000 cleared cotton patch, a $50,000 black athletic
clubhouse, a $150,000 total endowment for upkeep of both.
Something bigger was on the mind of the town's benefactor who later put
into writing approximately what he said that day and which reveals the
magnificent obsession of the man.
"Believing that the kind and generous Providence, who guides the
destinies of all humanity, directed me in the search for oil…" he wrote, and
believing that the wealth which has resulted has not come through any
virtue or ability of mine, but has been given to me in trust; and desiring to
discharge in some measure the trust which has reposed in me; and in
consideration of the opportunity which the resources of Texas gave me;
and of my interest in the welfare of the citizens of the City of Luling,
Caldwell, Guadalupe and Gonzales Counties;… and realizing the evils of
the one-crop system ; and the hope through experimental work in
diversified crops of aiding the tillers of the land to secure a larger return
for their labor…" With such a promise the man who had something of the
ethereal in him proceeded to establish the Luling Foundation for the
benefit of agriculture with $1,000,000.
Much has been written about Edgar B. Davis and far more could be written
if the man of mystery had left written records or if he had communicated
more freely with his associates.
One regrets to reveal that Fate proved cruel in the end by removing the
great man from the scene, on October 10 1951, before the United North
and South Development Company was able to realize the second vast
fortune Edgar B. Davis had dreamed about. His complete saga when it is
written will reveal a depth of "FAITH" totally undeterred by difficulty.
*"FAITH"
The use of "FAITH" is in deference to Edgar B. Davis who always
capitalized the word in his writing.
Addendum:
In writing the story of Edgar B Davis, the old Wanderer unwittingly
perpetuated two myths that now need to be corrected. Some of us write
without letting the facts stand in the way of a good story.
The first concerns Davis consulting the great clairvoyant Edgar Cayce.
From Riley Froh’s book “Edgar B. Davis: Wildcatter Extraordinary”, is this
about Cayce:
Some time in 1921 a singular oil exploration crew arrived in Luling
composed of a young businessman, David Kahn and his “clairvoyant”
friend
Edgar Cayce. To locate oil, Cayce went into a trance; spoke in detail of the
underground oil structure, while Khan took notes. In this manner they
supposedly located first Luling and then the Oil reservoir. With three
thousand acres under lease, the pair entered upon frustrating drilling
operations that depleted their funds.
David Khan met Davis shortly thereafter in Fort Worth or New York, where
Khan related his psychic information to Davis.
That Davis put much stock in such chance conversations is doubtful, but
he was interested in psychic phenomena. In 1929 he was attempting to get
in touch with Cayce, and he did meet the clairvoyant in the thirties and had
several interpretations of his life related while the seer was in a trance.
The second concerns The Rios No. 1 discovery well, blowing out and
spraying Davis and his group with oil. This happened not at the Rios well
but at Merriweather No. 2, where oil blew out over the top of the derrick
and sprayed Davis’ group and their car.
Now it seems the story is more truthful although less sensational.
Editors Note:
I watched my father chase the Cayce Myths in San Saba ,County spending
over 3 million dollars in the early 70's to drill wells through granite
searching for the elusive Rocky Creek field where Cayce believed the
"Mothers of All Fields" was located. To date no commercial production has
been found in San Saba.
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