Yount-Lee Oil Company
Encyclopedia
The Yount-Lee Oil Company, founded in 1914, was the successor to the Yount-Rothwell Oil Company which had been formed earlier by Miles Franklin Yount
and Talbot Frederick Rothwell
. Yount headed up the new enterprise and counted among his partners Thomas Peter Lee
, William Ellsworth Lee
, Emerson Francis Woodward, Talbot Frederick Rothwell
, John Henry Phelan
, Beeman Ewell Strong, Frank E. Thomas, and Maximilian Theodore Schlicher. With a new fusion of capital provided by T. P. Lee, Yount was confident that the Spindletop
oil field had not been tapped out, so he set about acquiring large tracts of land in the area. On November 14, 1925, his McFaddin No. 2 well struck oil at about 2,500 feet, sparking a second Spindletop oil boom.
Yount went on to acquire mineral rights in several of the Gulf Coast's major fields, and he built the infrastructure necessary to ship his company's oil to destinations around the world from his headquarters in Beaumont, Texas
. Before his death in 1933, Yount, his business partners and associates, had built the company into one of the largest and most successful independent oil operators in the country. Within two years, on July 31, 1935, the stockholders sold Yount-Lee Oil Company for $46.2 million to Houston attorney, Wright Francis Morrow, who immediately began to parcel off the assets. Stanolind Oil, later a part of Amoco
, bought most of the oil inventory and oil-producing properties for over $41 million, which at the time represented one of the largest financial transactions in American business history.
Miles Franklin Yount
Born in Arkansas on January 31, 1880, Miles Franklin "Frank" Yount eventually came to head up one of the most successful, private oil companies in the United States. Although famous in later years as the "Godfather of Beaumont", Frank’s early life is shrouded in mystery...
and Talbot Frederick Rothwell
Talbot Frederick Rothwell
Talbot Frederick Rothwell was born in West Virginia on February 27, 1887 to T. J. and Mary Jane Cross Rothwell. Educated in the public schools of both his native state and Ohio, he began his career in the oil fields and eventually moved to Saratoga, Texas, where he found work with the production...
. Yount headed up the new enterprise and counted among his partners Thomas Peter Lee
Thomas Peter Lee
Born on March 19, 1871, in Petroleum, West Virginia to Alexander and Martha Jane Mount Lee, Thomas Peter Lee left school at the age of sixteen and went to work in the oil fields, first in his native state and then in Ohio...
, William Ellsworth Lee
William Ellsworth Lee
William Ellsworth Lee -Biography:The brother of Thomas Peter Lee, was born in Petroleum, West Virginia on January 31, 1867. At a very early age, he began working in the oil fields and spent six years with the U. S. Oil Company in West Virginia, before moving to Ohio and then following his brother...
, Emerson Francis Woodward, Talbot Frederick Rothwell
Talbot Frederick Rothwell
Talbot Frederick Rothwell was born in West Virginia on February 27, 1887 to T. J. and Mary Jane Cross Rothwell. Educated in the public schools of both his native state and Ohio, he began his career in the oil fields and eventually moved to Saratoga, Texas, where he found work with the production...
, John Henry Phelan
John Henry Phelan
John Henry “Harry” Phelan , was a businessman and philanthropist. He was made a Knight of St. Gregory in January 1933 by Pope Pius XI ....
, Beeman Ewell Strong, Frank E. Thomas, and Maximilian Theodore Schlicher. With a new fusion of capital provided by T. P. Lee, Yount was confident that the Spindletop
Spindletop
Spindletop is a salt dome oil field located in the southern portion of Beaumont, Texas in the United States. The Spindletop dome was derived from the Louann Salt evaporite layer of the Jurassic geologic period. On January 10, 1901, a well at Spindletop struck oil . The new oil field soon produced...
oil field had not been tapped out, so he set about acquiring large tracts of land in the area. On November 14, 1925, his McFaddin No. 2 well struck oil at about 2,500 feet, sparking a second Spindletop oil boom.
Yount went on to acquire mineral rights in several of the Gulf Coast's major fields, and he built the infrastructure necessary to ship his company's oil to destinations around the world from his headquarters in Beaumont, Texas
Beaumont, Texas
Beaumont is a city in and county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, United States, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 118,296 at the 2010 census. With Port Arthur and Orange, it forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the...
. Before his death in 1933, Yount, his business partners and associates, had built the company into one of the largest and most successful independent oil operators in the country. Within two years, on July 31, 1935, the stockholders sold Yount-Lee Oil Company for $46.2 million to Houston attorney, Wright Francis Morrow, who immediately began to parcel off the assets. Stanolind Oil, later a part of Amoco
Amoco
Amoco Corporation, originally Standard Oil Company , was a global chemical and oil company, founded in 1889 around a refinery located in Whiting, Indiana, United States....
, bought most of the oil inventory and oil-producing properties for over $41 million, which at the time represented one of the largest financial transactions in American business history.
Sources
- McKinley, Fred B., and Greg Riley. Black Gold to Bluegrass: From the Oil Fields of Texas to Spindletop Farm of Kentucky. Austin: Eakin Press, 2005.