Texas Boomtowns by Bartee Haile
On January 10, 1901, Beaumont awoke to the historic roar of the Spindletop gusher. A flood of frantic fortune seekers heard its call and quickly descended on the town. Over the next three decades, Texas's first oil rush transformed the sparsely populated rural state practically beyond recognition. Brothels, bordellos and slums overran sleepy towns, and thick, black oil spilled over once-green pastures. While dreams came true for a precious few, most settled for high-risk, dangerous jobs in the oilfields and passed what spare time they had in the vice districts fueled by crude. From the violent shanties of Desdemona and Mexia to Borger and beyond, wildcat speculators, grifters and barons took the land for all it was worth. Author Bartee Haile explores the story of these wild and wooly boomtowns.
Haile, Bartee: - Bartee Haile began writing This Week in Texas History in 1983 for small-town and suburban newspapers across the Lone Star State. Thirty-five years and more than 1,800 columns later, it is the most widely read and longest-running feature of its kind ever. Texas Entertainers: Lone Stars in Profile is his fifth book for The History Press. The master storyteller's earlier titles are Texas Depression-Era Desperadoes, Murder Most Texan, Texas Boomtowns: A History of Blood and Oil and Unforgettable Texans--all fascinating page-turners. A fourth- or fifth-generation Texan (like most Texans, he can't say for sure), Bartee Haile lives in the Houston area with his wife, Gerri.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781540202567 |
| ISBN 10 | 1540202569 |
| Title | Texas Boomtowns |
| Author | Bartee Haile |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | History Press Library Editions |
| Year published | 2015-11-30 |
| Number of pages | 130 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |