Drilling Report Sam Overton 137 Acre Fee Lease Rusk County, Texas [caption title]

Dallas: C.A. Everts, Drilling Contractor, 1935. Very good.. 5pp. typed document, stamp-signed, plus one-page printed plat map. Original mailing folds, minor wear, light staining to plat map. An informative circular letter issued by the C.A. Everts, a drilling contractor based in Dallas, entitled, Drilling Report Sam Overton 137 Acre Fee Lease Rusk County, Texas, and accompanied by a map titled, "Plat Showing Everts Drilling Co. 138.1 Ac. Lease. Sam Overton...." The first page of the report is printed on Everts' company letterhead. The report is addressed to "My Friend and Backer," and details recent activities on the Overton lease and its potential for (truncated) "outstanding good chance of being powerful big flowing well oil land." Everts encourages his correspondents to send in a subscription promptly to help finance the first well which is already down 650 feet. He is convinced that in no time his work will yield $2 a barrel for every barrel of oil produced. Everts often emphasizes his enthusiasm with capital letters and is undeterred by the difficulties presented by the bayou country.

The discovery of a vast oil field in East Texas, and Rusk County in 1930 led to a rush of land leases in the area. Many small landowners carved up their holdings, offering them to both major oil companies and independent oilmen for development. A history of the East Texas oilfield in the Handbook of Texas details the "unconventional development" of the area, and the resultant rise in regulation of the industry beginning in the 1930s. The "unconventional" nature of the East Texas oil industry can be witnessed in snapshot in the accompanying plat map of the Overton lease. The lease is surrounded by parcels owned by Marathon Oil, Sun Oil, Humble Oil, Shell, and so forth. (Inventory #: 5834)