Eastland County, TX - History - Boyce House Day ************************************************************************************* This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Dorman Holub Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ************************************************************************************* "Roaring Ranger" Honors Chronicles of Big Boom by Hamilton Wright Reporter-News Staff Writere RANGER, April 6 - Ranger honored Boyce House, noted Texas author and humorist, today at "Boyce House Day". At the same time his newest book - "Roaring Ranger, the World's Biggest Boom" - was introduced to the reading public. Boyce House was a newspaperman here during the big rush. In the afternoon at the Arcadia Theatre, House spoke on "the world's greatest boom," in which he related how Ranger sparked the greatest oil development in the Southwest. The new Jackson oil pool was toured by the group. Welcoming party included: Allen Full, president of the Ranger Jaycees; C.E. May, past president; W.G. Pounds, Ranger chief of police; Price Crawley, mayor; Brann Graner "Ranger's Barnum"; Lt. H.L. Bunkley with members of the 49th Armored Service Battery; Rip Galloway, CC manager; Hall Walker, banker; J.E. Temple Peters, Cisco; Gilvie Hubbard and W.J. Barnes, both of Houston, here during the 1918-1919 boom and Bascom Giles, Texas Land commissioner. The 36 piece Ranger high school band directed by R.R. Gans played. Rev. Jack Dunlap, Baptist minister delivered the invocation for the noon meal in the Gholson. Ralph Wagner, hotel man, gave a review of House's new book. Boyce said, "by almost any standard of measurement, Ranger was the biggest boom the world ever saw. This or that rush may have surpassed Ranger in a single particular, but, taken at a consideration the number of people drawn here - 500,000. As for crime, drama, "color," it would take a five foot shelf of books to set down the full romance of Ranger... for heroism, there was the driller who was lowered head - first to resuce a baby who had fallen into a well." "Second milestone in the history of Texas oil was the discovery of Ranger. The first was Spindletop." "Rupert Ricker back from overseas duty in Worl War I was suffered by stories of sudden riches in Ranger. He leased several hundred thousand acres of land belonging to the University of Texas. The leases were taken over by Frank Pickrell; a derrick man was obtained at Ranger and a driller at Cisco, and the Big Lake Oil Field was discovered. This and other development has enriched the University of Texas by $80,000. Ranger was the inspiration. Among those who attended were: Mrs. John Gholson, widow of the second mayeor during boom days; Barnes and Hubbard, the former county attorney and the latter his assistant, during the hectic days; Peters, the justice of the peace, during the "rough and tumble times." He also was former instructor in Hardin-Simmons University and CC manager at Ranger. he now lives at Cisco. In 1920 we had $65,000 in the treasury to cary on CC work in Ranger. Hall Walker worked on the Nanny Walker No. 1, the first gasser, also was here. His mother owned the land. He is now vice-president of the Commercial State Bank of Ranger. The man who brought in the McCleskey No. 1 that set the whole world agog was here. He is Frank Champion, 71, still active in the oil business and living at the Gholson Hotel. The well came in on October 21, 1917, after being drilled with standard tools since June 1917. It first came in with 450 barrels. Thirty days later I drilled another seven feet and she made 1,750 barrels and eight or nine million feet of gas. That started the big drilling campaign. The well was put down by the Texas Pacific Coal & Oil Co." Champion is well preserved, looks less than 60. He's drilled wells all over the country and the Pacific Coast and knew the celebrated Spindletop Field. In fact, he came as a boy from Corsicana, the first oil field in Texas. Abilene Reporter-News Saturday, 7 April 1951