Wildcatters, oilmen, and confidence artists are all welcome at the East Texas Oil Museum in Kilgore, Texas. Inside this unassuming building located on the Kilgore College Campus is “Boomtown U.S.A.,” an intricate reenactment of life in an oil town amidst the largest oil reservoir in the world. The story of the East Texas Oil Field begins with Columbus Marion “Dad” Joiner, a speculator, wildcatter, and flim-flam man. Ignoring claims that there was no oil to be found in Texas, he bought leases in East Texas beginning in 1919. By 1930,…
