The Age of Independent Shreveport Area Oilmen

The recent passing of Mr. John D. Caruthers marks for me the end of the age of significant independent oil companies in the Ark-La-Tex.  The 20^th Century saw a rapid growth in oil and gas exploration and production.  Many well-known local families accumulated vast wealth, discovered and developed numerous significant fields, built the first pipelines and contributed much to the local and regional economies.  Shreveport was built largely in the 20^th. Century on oil and the wealth that funded many other segments of its economy notably banking and real estate. The oil business insulated Shreveport and much of the Ark-La-Tex from the major economic downturns in US history.  In the 1930s while the rest of the country suffered through the Great Depression, the oil business was booming in south Arkansas, east Texas and north Louisiana.  Shreveport was the epicenter for the businesses that drove exploration and production across the region.  In this century, while the 2008 stock market crash caused wide spread economic misery, northwest Louisiana and east Texas were largely insulated by the discovery of the Haynesville Shale.  In eight months of 2008, the economic impact of the Haynesville Shale in Louisiana was approximately $1.3B with $900M of that being simply the lease bonuses paid to mineral owners.  Actual drilling and production would ramp up over the following years.

A short list of the prominent oil families of the area would include the Phillips and Sklars (Sam & Albert Sklar, Leonard Phillips), the Kinseys (Norman & sons), the Goldberrys (Hood), the Everetts (Jack), the Nortons (Richard), the Atkins (John B. Sr. & Jr., J.W.), the Woods (Dalton), John Franks, the Caruthers (John D. and Witt), Jack W. Grigsby, W. C. Nabors, the O’Briens (William, James, Paul, Ray and sons)/Long family (brother-in-law Denman Long), the Jones Family, (M Carl, Carl Wiley, James Marshall) the Schurmans (George & Rankin), Palmer Long (son of Huey), Henry & Gil Goodrich, David Crow, Charlton Lyons and James E. Smitherman.  R. O. Roy credited with the discoveries of the Bellevue, Sligo and Elm Grove fields.  I was unable to locate an Internet article on Mr. Roy but his work is covered in some detail in the book, Louisiana: The Energy State – A History of Louisiana’s Oil & Gas Industry by William D. Reeves.

Sam Sklar:  https://phillips.energy/about/

Norman V. Kinsey:  https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/shreveporttimes/name/norman-ki...

Hood Goldsberry:  https://www.osbornfuneralhome.net/obituary/504635?fh_id=10282

Jack Thomas Everett:  https://www.osbornfuneralhome.net/obituary/1548635

Richard William Norton:  https://time.com/archive/6755385/business-finance-railroad-rodessa/

John B. Atkins:  https://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/local/2014/08/31/history...

John Dalton Woods:  https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/547035/posts

John A. Franks:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_A._Franks

John D. Caruthers:  https://www.shreveporttimes.com/obituaries/plou1048579

Jack W. Grigsby:  https://www.osbornfuneralhome.net/obituary/1146166

W. C. Nabors: https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-william-campbell-nabor...

William J. O’Brien Jr.: https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-1983-william-joseph-ob...

Palmer R. Long: 

https://www.osbornfuneralhome.net/obituary/735725Carl Jones: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/26170051/marshall-carl-jones

Geroge R. Schurman:  https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/shreveporttimes/name/george-sc...

Denman Long:  https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/shreveporttimes/name/denman-lo...

Henry Goodrich:  https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/shreveporttimes/name/henry-goo...

David Crow:  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/177690303/david-cleborne-crow

Charlton H. Lyons:  https://lib.lsu.edu/sites/default/files/sc/findaid/3075.pdf

James E. Smitherman:  https://www.facebook.com/robinshistory/posts/james-e-smitherman-a-n...

R. O. Roy was credited with the discoveries of the Bellevue, Sligo and Elm Grove Fields. I found no Internet article on Mr. Roy but his legacy is covered in some detail in the fine book, Louisiana: The Energy State – William D. Reeves.

An excerpt from the book, Louisiana: The Energy State – A History of Louisiana’s Oil & Gas Industry by William D. Reeves.

“The year 1954 was probably the peak of Shreveport’s influence in the national gas business.  Companies with headquarters in Shreveport operated 36,000 miles of pipelines and transmitted thirty-two percent of the total volume of U.S. gas.  The twenty-two Caddo/Bossier Oil and Gas Fields produced 93 billion cubic feet of gas and 10,200,000 barrels of oil annually.”