Texas A and M University - Aggieland Yearbook (College Station, TX)

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•| A. ‘M- ¥ ' . T;. -ZXL.: : - n 2..... r i ' 7 ' •Cl- Jl ' - ■ ■: . ' f ' x. OIL INDUSTRY The great value of the petroleum industry in Texas and its signifi¬ cance in the economic development of the State is generally known by the Texas public, yet Texans have for so many years thought of their State as an agricultural empire, and espe¬ cially as a cotton producer that many do not realize the greatness of the oil industry. From the standpoint of val¬ ue of product, the petroleum indus¬ try is even greater than cotton. Petroleum and petroleum products contribute more than sixty percent of the annual tonnage of the exports through Texas ports. As in the cot¬ ton industry, hundreds of thousands of people in Texas depend upon the oil industry, directly or indirectly, for their livelihood.

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Derricks These towering structures are sym¬ bols of the production of probably nature s most valuable and useful gift to mankind. Throughout the Southwest, and Texas especially, these derricks may be seen dotting the distant horizon. The predecessor of the derrick con¬ sisted of a single pole so gaged that a light piece of pipe and a bit could be suspended from it. This pipe was turned by hand and the hole seldom reached a depth of over a hundred feet. Four-legged wooden derricks were first used to get oil at great depth. Today the steel derrick has replaced the wooden one, some ex¬ tending nearly two hundred feet into the air and drilling to a depth of some eight or nine thousand feet. SENIORS