Heywood 1872 History; Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana Source; NOLA MAE ROSS American Press Writer Publication Date: 06/09/1991 Page and Section: 3 IM Submitted by Kathy LaCombe-Tell Submitted April 2002 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************Parish History Heywood 1872 A kaleidoscopic career that spanned more than half a century took him from show business to the oil fields of California and the Klondike Gold Rush before the black gold in Louisiana summoned and he drilled Louisiana's first oil well in Jennings. Touched by the Pelican State's politics, Heywood was first a friend, then fervent foe of the state's reigning politico, the legendary Kingfish, Huey P. Long disenchantment that led to Heywood's election to the state senate in 1931. W. Scott Heywood was born in Cleveland in 1872 and as a youth spent a year in Battle Creek learning to play the cornet and cello. He played in the Iowa State Band and at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago before touring the United States with his brother Alba's minstrel troupe, which became quite famous during 1893- 96. McNeese State University Archives' extensive collection of Heywood memorabilia includes many rave reviews about Alba Heywood's Minstrel. A review from an Alabama paper states, ''No man who has ever appeared behind the footlights in Auburn has shown such a mimetic and comedy power as Alba Heywood and his troubadours.'' During the same period Ex-governor Richard B. Hubbard of Texas stated, ''you may tell the people that The Heywood Company is one of the finest high -class comedies that ever played the state of Texas.'' The Olympian Tribune reported, ''Mr. Heywood has few equals on the American stage.'' And a Little Rock paper wrote, ''those who missed Alba Heywood last night missed one of the finest entertainments ever given in this city.'' When the troupe reached California, Scott decided to stay there. He took a position as band teacher in Hanford and also bought an insurance company. In spare time, he made trips to Coalinga, Calif., where oil had been discovered. ''I staked several mineral claims in California,'' he wrote in his autobiography, '' but before I could promote them I heard of the vast Klondike gold discovery in Alaska. So I sold my cornet, my horse and buggy and personal effects and gathered all the funds together I could get.'' So began a hair-raising odyssey, which took him and two partners through a very rough and remote part of Alaska. At Juneau, everything went haywire. ''We were told to take White Pass which was 38 miles of sheer torture, over a 4,000-foot mountain pass, on foot, carrying all our provisions. It took us six weeks to get our provisions and outfits over that trail. Then we built an open rowboat to get through the next 650 miles of lakes and rivers. We had many narrow escapes and encountered temperatures running from 20 degrees below. ''One river we traveled was so shallow and so clear and so fast, that we could see the boulders sailing past under us like fence posts beside a racing train. Our journey was through swift water, full of boulders and rapids, which tore up many of the other prospector's boats. "Ice bergs all around us gave us nightmares. We had to fight with our oars to stay off the ice and to keep from being floundered.'' When the Heywood group arrived where the gold was supposed to be, the claims were playing out. Though they waited through the winter until spring thaw, they never made a worthwhile dig. ''With all the hardships and privations ... encountered (on) the trip to Alaska, I would not make it again,'' Heywood wrote, ''but I have never had regrets for having made it.'' Heywood returned to California and resumed plans to drill for oil when word came that Beaumont, Texas, had a real gusher. So he disposed of California holdings and rushed to Spindletop, where he drilled the second gusher. Calling his brothers, Alba, O.W., Clint and Dewey Heywood, to join him in the new oil venture, Scott drilled several wells, which became outstanding producers. The Heywoods had more work than they could do. In 1901, several men went to Heywood and invited him to Jennings to drill. ''I was elated,'' Heywood wrote ''and I let no grass grow under my feet in getting to Jennings.'' He bought a home on Academy Avenue in Jennings, where he lived for the next 50 years. His nephew Alba Jr. bought a home on U.S. 90 in Jennings and lived there 38 years. Scott Heywood chose 40 acres on which to locate the first well but almost lost it when the landowner, Jules Clement Sr., padlocked the property and said he didn't want anyone drilling in his rice field. Finally Heywood persuaded him to let them drill, opening the way for the first oil well drilled in Louisiana. "There were no conservation laws at that time,'' Heywood wrote, ''and the law of the jungle prevailed. ''Tracts of land as small as 20 square feet, the exact size of a derrick then, would be leased. There would be no room for pipe lines or loading racks or settling tanks. ''In some cases the wells were so close that one could walk from derrick to derrick over 15 acres and never set foot on the ground.'' The Heywoods built a pipeline and some large aboveground earthen storage areas, and they also transported oil down the Mermentau. ''At first I was pointed out on the streets of Jennings as that crazy guy who's drilling for oil in rice fields. But when the wells began coming in I was suddenly pointed out as a great oil pioneer.'' After a few years the oil business slowed in Jennings, so Scott made several trips to the Texas panhandle, where he also drilled some good wells. He tells of one incident there when he was having trouble with a well: ''I went to Howard Hughes, who was a friend of mine, and had him make me a 19-inch roller bit with which I drilled down 620 feet in hard rock and settled a 15-inch casing.'' The Amarillo News reported, ''When the Roll of Honor or Hall of Fame for the Panhandle Oil Field is written, it should include Scott Heywood's name near the top.'' About that time there was a general downgrade in the oil field business. Heywood wrote: ''I lost a lot of my own money, besides some of my friends' money. And I also lost my health. I was working 15 to 18 hours per day for over a year, not only doing my own drilling but tending to the office work, getting two or three hours sleep a night. ''Finally I was forced to sell my assets to live, and since I owned a farm in California, I went there to stay for awhile until my health returned.'' In 1928, Heywood was back in Jenningsat his home on Academy Avenuewhen he got involved in politics. ''I was impressed with Huey P. Long's program of good roads, free school books and free ferries and bridges. After Long was elected I sent him some pamphlets which I had written regarding the manipulations of some of the major oil companies. He sent for me to come to Shreveport to see him. After visiting for a while he asked what I thought of his program. ''I told him I thought the program was wonderful. I'd seen the conditions of Louisiana and though it was pitiful the way some of our people had to live and the sacrifices they had to endure. ''Then Long asked, 'Do you know how I'm going to get the money to buy free schoolbooks? I'm going to raise the tax on you oilmen's oil. So what do you think of that?''' ''I replied that I'd be glad to go for a raise on my taxes for this purpose. Then he asked me to go to Baton Rouge and help him put the idea across.'' Before very long, however, Heywood began to disagree with Long's tacticsand never hesitated to tell the Kingfish so. Finally, Heywood decided he could more if he was a member of the Legislature, so in 1931 he ran and was elected to the Senate District 14 seat. During the next four years, Heywood did his best to keep his promises to the people who elected him. He managed to get a homestead exemption act passed and also created a tax reform commission to work on taxes. But he had to fight the Kingfish all the way. Heywood wrote about one tactical battle with Long. ''Long refused to see me or listen to my pleas regarding tax policies. So I sat down in a chair just outside his office at the capitol, and every time the door opened he couldn't help but see me there. I did not move all day.'' Finally they talked and reached an agreement on the tax reform program, according to Heywood. Heywood decided not to run for a second term. In 1937 he was diagnosed as having arterial thrombosis and began to curb some of his activities but, as he wrote, ''would not sit on the front porch and swat flies for a pet chicken.'' Heywood died in 1950, just weeks before Jennings' 50th Anniversary Oil Celebration, at which he was to be honored as a pioneer. His widow, Mrs. Josephine C. Heywood, administered the Heywood Syndicate in Jennings for another 34 years, until her death in 1984. She willed the syndicate to her lifelong friend and employee, Mrs. Augusta Porter, who lives in Lake Arthur and still conducts Heywood business in the area.