Gladewater, TX celebrates the 1930’s oil boom that occurred in East Texas. They are celebrating with food and craft vendors, live bands, food vendors, chili cook-off and a bass tournament.
“The World’s Richest Acre” moniker was given to Kilgore, TX (just a few miles from Gladewater) as by 1940 24 wells were pumping in one city block. Oil companies and prospectors drilled everywhere, including the Presbyterian church, where members tore down their sanctuary to drill in its place, and the Kilgore National Bank, where oilmen drilled a well right through the floor. There were 1000+ oil derricks in Kilgore during the 1930’s boom. As of 2017 5,379,780,304 barrels of oil have been produced from East Texas. Kilgore’s population ballooned from a few hundred to more than 10,000 in the early 30’s as the railroad brought an influx of characters fleeing the Great Depression. By the 1960’s all but one derrick had been removed from that block, as production declined. There is a new movie out called “The Miracle in East Texas” that depicts some things about this history.
This last weekend was the weekend for the Gusher Day celebration, but the festivities were dampened as the rain fell most of the weekend. The farmer and I have enjoyed the rain. We had eight inches of rain and we had maybe 2 inches of rain this weekend. We love to hear the sound of rain on the roof of this camper. Ponds and lakes are full in this area. Being from dry Western Kansas, this rain is phenomenal.
All of us SOWER couples went to Gladewater Museum and had a delightful two-hour tour of the Museum provided to us by a wonderful tour guide. She made the museum and the city’s history just come alive. Elvis Presley used to stay in the Gladewater Hotel and so did other country music stars. Her name was Lois Reed and she is the Chamber of Commerce President. She had just finished the chili judging contest but was delighted to give us a tour of the museum.
Week two had us continuing with some of the same projects. The women continued pulling weeds and cleaning junk out of the old greenhouse so that it might be useful again. It will be delightful to see this facility useful to this camp again. At one time it was a thriving part of this community and hopefully it will be again. We are very thankful for leather gloves and knee pads as we crawl around pulling weeds. The men continued working on the miles of white fence around this campus. They also cleaned out a storage building and sorted trash piles and salvageable items.
Alert Academy feeds us two meals every day that we work. We have homemade bread and just delightful meals. A diet will be in the plan when we return home. The ladies are hungry at noon as we have worked and burned quite a few calories by then.
Of course, one evening we had to play “Sweep”. This is a well-known SOWER game. It seems every SOWER couple has a different set of rules. It is a good game as it is not too intense so that you can still visit while playing.
It was not all work as we traveled to Mineola, TX to visit the train museum. We also worked in a lunch at East Texas Burger, a visit to the Nut House, and we came away with delicious pieces of cheesecake from the local cheesecake business. It was not a low-calorie kind of day but it was fun.
Ps. 18:7 Show your marvelous loving kindness by your right hand. O you who save those who trust in you!
Where the Dutch Ovens Roam 