The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 75, July 1971 - April, 1972 Page: 53
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The Texas Myth in Reality
to tenants until his death in 1928 and then reverted to creditors in
the early years of the Great Depression."8
Thus, like their expectations in agriculture, the Seefelds' expecta-
tions in oil were just premature and just optimistic enough to be
ruinous. Petroleum and gas in abundant quantities were struck in
Jim Wells County in 1928, between 3,000 and 3,500 feet, and within
sight of the Diamond S derrick which had been abandoned three years
before."
These details should make several points clear: the Seefelds were
naive and they were gullible, but they were not dishonest. They
were overly optimistic and they were inexperienced, but they were
not absentee speculators or fly-by-night promoters. For twenty years
they sweated and slaved on a most inhospitable prairie to make their
dreams come true for themselves and for their investors. And they
came ever so close. Water and oil were, indeed, the key pieces in
the puzzle but the Seefelds were never able to lock them into their
proper place. For them, the Texas dream proved a nightmare in
reality. Their story is representative of the story of thousands like
them who wholeheartedly believed the Lone Star to be a Pole Star,
but who were destroyed in the process of the state's most rapid period
of economic growth and development.
aSeefeld Papers, passim.
S"Miscellaneous newspaper clippings, 1925-1935, ibid. See also Altha Black to Sophia
Seefeld, June 16, 1930, March 25, 29, 31, April 3, 4, 6, 1931; Raymond Seefeld to
Walter Seefeld, August 5, 9, 1930, May 17, 1946; Raymond Seefeld to Herbert Seefeld,
April 1I, 1931, ibid.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 75, July 1971 - April, 1972, periodical, 1972; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101201/m1/65/?rotate=270: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Texas State Historical Association.