by Bruce Wells | Jun 6, 2026 | Petroleum Companies
Exploration company meets its fate during North Texas drilling boom.
Established soon after World War I, the Ajax Oil Company was among hundreds that rushed into Texas and Oklahoma oilfields seeking petroleum riches,
Joining hundreds of new and established exploration ventures, Ajax Oil Company was organized by members of the Sowell family in Dallas as a joint stock association on July 25, 1919. It was capitalized at $4,950,000 and offered both Class A and Class B shares. Class A shares “had preference as to assets as well as dividends.”
Beginning in September 1919 shareholders were paid dividends of one percent per month for seven consecutive months. Company’s stock sold for about $5 per share.
Ajax Oil acquired leases in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, including leases in the booming, increasing crowded Ranger and the Burkburnett oilfields. Production from these North Texas fields were making headlines worldwide — and causing oil prices to drop as costs for drilling equipment soared.Black Gold Rush
In 1917, a wildcat well in North Texas struck oil near the small town of Ranger. The J.H. McCleskey No. 1 well erupted a geyser of oil on October 17, 1917 (see Roaring Ranger wins WWI).
The Ranger well alone reached a daily production of 1,700 barrels. Its gained international fame for Ranger as the town whose oil wiped out critical oil shortages during World War I, allowing the Allies to “float to victory on a wave of oil.”
About one year later, 135 miles due north at Burkburnett, a July 1918 wildcat well on S.L. Fowler’s farm launched a another North Texas drilling boom along the Red River. It would make the town near Wichita Falls famous (see “Boom Town” Burkburnett).
The Burkburnett oilfield inspired a 1940 motion picture featuring Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy. Gable had been a teenager working as a roustabout in nearby Oklahoma oilfields when the discovery was made.
Investment capital and aspiring millionaires overwhelmed Burkburnett and Ranger as well as nearby Cisco, where a young war veteran saw crowds of roughnecks and bought his first motel (see Oil Boom Brings First Hilton Hotel).
The 1918 Burkburnett oilfield discovery was featured in the popular 1940 MGM movie “Boom Town.”
Ajax Oil Company
Ajax Oil Company’s properties reportedly included 11 producing wells and the equipment to drill more. The company reported completed the wells, often in association with the Hercules Petroleum Company and Halleck-Whales Company, but production figures cannot be found.
Dividends abruptly ended in March 1920 and shareholders were advised that the company was investing in new equipment to expand operations. Typical of a petroleum boom, notes one historian, as the region’s increased production lowered oil prices, drilling costs rose.
In August, a B.A. Butterworth sued Ajax Oil Company for debts. It is unclear what happened next, but by December of the following year, Ajax Oil Company was bankrupt and in receivership.
The petroleum booms in Ranger and Burkburnett resulted in many newly formed companies rushing to North Texas. But as local historian Bernadette Pruitt has noted, much of the land already had been leased. Inevitably, almost all companies arrived too late. Many of the new ventures departed — or failed.
Learn more about the era’s Intense competition throughout the Mid-Continent discoveries in Pump Jack Capital of Texas.
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Recommended Reading: Trek of the Oil Finders: A History of Exploration for Petroleum (1975); History of Oil Well Drilling
(2007). Your Amazon purchase benefits the American Oil & Gas Historical Society. As an Amazon Associate, AOGHS earns a commission from qualifying purchases.
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The American Oil & Gas Historical Society (AOGHS) preserves U.S. petroleum history. Support this energy education website, subscribe to our monthly email newsletter, and help expand historical research. Contact bawells@aoghs.org. Copyright © 2026 Bruce A. Wells.
Citation Information – Article Title: “Ajax Oil Company.” Authors: B.A. Wells and K.L. Wells. Website Name: American Oil & Gas Historical Society. URL: https://aoghs.org. Last Updated: June 11, 2026. Original Published Date: June 24, 2013.
by Bruce Wells | Aug 28, 2013 | Petroleum Companies
A geyser of oil from a wildcat well in Eastland County, Texas, in 1917 made headlines worldwide. “Roaring Ranger” erupted in revealed a North Texas oilfield that would help win World War I.
Although many oil exploration companies prospered in the Ranger, Texas, oilfield, a serpent doomed one in June 1920.
According to the Engineering and Mining Journal, Southwestern Oil Development Company was established in June 1919 by prominent mining men from New Mexico, Arizona and Texas.
Capitalized at $2 million, the company offered 600,000 shares to the public at $1 par value. “Proceeds from the sale of same will be used in the purchase of properties and their development,” the founders proclaimed.
Their new company would soon begin drilling several miles northwest of Ranger on the border of Eastland County, where an boom had been underway since October 17, 1917, when the McCleskey No. 1 Well struck oil at a depth of 3,432 feet and roared in with a daily flow of 1,600 barrels.
That discovery gained international fame for Ranger as the town whose oil wiped out critical oil shortages during World War I, allowing the Allies to “float to victory on a wave of oil.”
Visiting after the war, a young Conrad Hilton saw long lines of roughnecks seeking a place to stay. He bought the two-story red brick motel in Cisco. Learn more in Oil Boom Brings First Hilton Hotel.
Conrad Hilton visited Cisco, Texas, intending to buy a bank, not a hotel. When the bank deal fell through, he went to the train station. Across the street was a two-story red brick building called the Mobley Hotel. Hilton noticed the large number of roughnecks from the Ranger oilfield waiting in line for a room. The rest is history.
Meanwhile, with “Roaring Ranger” still in the headlines, Southwestern Oil Development Company assured potential investors that it would avoid risky wildcat prospects – and drill only near areas of proven potential, including a well producing 9,000 barrels of oil a day.
Shareholders were encouraged by telegrams: “The Southwestern properties are right in the center of the Ranger district with producing wells on all sides which gives it every indication of a good gamble.”
By June 2, 1920, the year-old company’s exploratory well in the Ranger oilfield had reached 3,000 feet with eight-inch casing at a cost of $75,000.
Simply pouring nitroglycerin was risky enough in the late 19th century oil patch. Doing it at night for an illegal well “shooting” led to the term “moonlighting.”
The well, in Stephens County’s Gunsight district, penetrated a limestone formation about 450 feet above the more prolific Ranger limestone.
To begin production from the newly completed well, an expert “shooter” was brought in – see Shooters – A “Fracking” History.
Disaster ensued as the “heavy charge of nitroglycerin” was lowered into the well. “Enter the serpent,” explained the Bisbee Daily Review.
“The shooter had lowered the charge to something over 200 feet. At that point a huge snake slid silently from under the derrick platform and onto the platform close to the shooter,” the newspaper reported. “The man naturally became nervous. He unconsciously pressed the trigger and the charge was exploded when it was little more than half way down.”
With the $75,000 well wrecked and an effort to drill another nearby abandoned, Southwestern Oil Development Company disappears from records. Scripophily collectors today offer this snake-bit company’s obsolete stock certificates for about $25.
Learn more North Texas petroleum history (and other big oil and natural gas discoveries in Electra and Burkburnett) in Pump Jack Capital of Texas.
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The stories of exploration and production companies joining petroleum booms (and avoiding busts) can be found updated in Is my Old Oil Stock worth Anything? The American Oil & Gas Historical Society preserves U.S. petroleum history. Please support this AOGHS.ORG energy education website. For membership information, contact bawells@aoghs.org. © 2018 Bruce A. Wells.
