With a mother-lode hit on June 5, 1932, George Strake birthed the Great Conroe Oil Field.
Mind boggling were repercussions for Conroe and Montgomery County, a city at the time bent low under Depression woes. For example, a major bank had failed, schools were in need. George Strake, however, through trials and victory along the way in such sites as Cuba and Mexico, finally proved his thesis correct that the route to oil was to the east of town, not to the west as common experience suggested. The city of Conroe, thus bent low at the time under the impact of the Great Depression, became transformed to the point of assuming the title of “The Miracle City.”
However, initially served negatively were many residents living in the midst of this, the third largest oil field in the nation. A sampling of these early impressions found reflection in an Allison Sanders column in the Houston Press in March of 1933. Let’s review a sampling of his responses.
Sanders quoted one of the interviewees thusly: “Doggone it, anyway … how come these fellers want to come in here and mess up Montgomery County this way? It was good country. The land would grow anything, after the trees had been cleared away. Now look at it, spoiled!”
Another respondent to the Sanders Interview observed: “They have ruined this country for farming.” He then added, “I’ve got two producing wells, one drilling and another located on my land.” Still, he waxed disgusted on elaborating, “But I’m figuring on moving on somewhere else.”
Another complainer revealed that, “They’ve trampled over all my fields, broke down all my fences. Why, ‘fore these oil men came I had 300 head o’ hogs runnin’ through these woods. Then he engaged supposition on the fate of the hogs: “They’ve mostly probably been eatin’ by now. As to how he arrived at that conclusion, he surmised, “I reckon this is so, for I sure didn’t eat ‘um.”
For many of the early settlers, then, the oil boom broke the happy rhythm of their existence. It limited their access to deer and bear and the freedom to roam and raise their families in peace. However, the pioneers of the pre-oil boom days were a “hardy lot.” Their legacy is a thriving area characterized by visionaries who, while celebrating their colorful past, are creating a future the envy of the rest of the state and country.
Meanwhile, George Strake went on to gain national and international notoriety, all the way to representing the state of Texas at the second inauguration of Franklin Roosevelt while garnering two of the highest awards of the Catholic Faith. Along with then Governor Price Daniel, on June 5, 1957, the city of Conroe paid George Strake its highest honors while two structures from the golden days of the Strake Field grace the grounds of the Heritage Museum of Montgomery County in Conroe.
Robin Montgomery is a native of Montgomery County, a retired professor, author, historian and columnist for The Courier.
