KILGOROUND

LIKE a pool of oil that a pebble has been dropped into, word of the Diamond Jubilee...

The Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of the East Texas Oilfield is spreading like melted butter across the states to reach all who have been a part of the rich history that began with the drilling of the first well in 1934.

This particular celebration of the oilfield is already proving to be a writer's dream and a reader's joy as the old stories of trying times are also surfacing and spreading once again.

“It was in 1957,” this particular story began. “My father worked on a work-over rig. He was right out of high school and was considered a ’worm’ which is a term used for all new hands in the oilfield,” said Tommy McPherson, Jr. “He was very skinny and had much difficulty wrenching the rods.

“To wrench the rods a person would take two wrenches and place one on the top rod and one on the bottom rod and snap their wrists together to break (loosen) the rods,” said McPherson. “Then you would finish unscrewing the rods using the bottom wrench. This was a technique my dad just couldn't get down. The more experienced hands became frustrated at him and one of the guys by the name of Carl came over to him and took the wrenches and said, “Look, Tom, I'm going to show you how to wrench those rods just one more time.”

“Carl had his thumb exposed over the bottom rod when he snapped them together and the top wrench hit his thumb nail and peeled it back to where it was standing up as straight as noon. My dad said, ‘Dang, Carl I don't believe I can do it like that’.” Carl's words are unpublishable, but definitely depicted the day to day life in the oil patch.

“Eventually, dad went to work for East Texas Saltwater Disposal where he worked for many years. It was a far cry from wrenching rods. He would tell you it was the best thing he ever done, but he never got over the fever of wanting to be in the oil patch.

(Note - Tommy McPherson, Jr. started out in the oilfield working for Pool Well Service. His grandfather, also an oilfield man laughed at him for working eight hour shifts. Twelve hour shifts from sun up to sundown ware supposed to be the mark of a real oilfield hand).

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NATIONAL Night Out was observed Tuesday evening by the Sabine Volunteer Fire Department. The community gathering was held at the Liberty City Community Building where approximately fifty residents gathered to enjoy food and fellowship. Sheriff Maxey Cerliano and other members of the Gregg County Sheriff's Department attended the second annual event held by the fire department.

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AS WRITTEN in the Kilgore Daily News on August 3, 1931 - The Hotel Heard, Kilgore's new fifty room hotel, opened its doors to the public this morning. This new modern hostelry is located on the Longview Highway one block from the Depot.

This new institution has fifty rooms, hot and cold water, baths, fans and telephones. A modern coffee shop, drug store and barber shop will be opened on August 15.

Roy H. Pendleton, formerly connected with some of the leading hotels of the Southwest will manage The Heard.