The caption reads, "Roswell Towers, Inc., Directors — Directors of Roswell Towers, Inc., corporation owning the Roswell Petroleum building available the day the photo was taken ... left to right: Benjamin B. Ginsberg, president; Bill Armstrong, director; Ernest A. Hanson, director; Reed Mulkey, director; Louis M. Prager, secretary-treasurer; and Robert O. Anderson, director. Ross L. Malone, vice president was out of Roswell the day the picture was taken." — Roswell Daily Record, April 8, 1956.
The caption reads, "Roswell Towers, Inc., Directors — Directors of Roswell Towers, Inc., corporation owning the Roswell Petroleum building available the day the photo was taken ... left to right: Benjamin B. Ginsberg, president; Bill Armstrong, director; Ernest A. Hanson, director; Reed Mulkey, director; Louis M. Prager, secretary-treasurer; and Robert O. Anderson, director. Ross L. Malone, vice president was out of Roswell the day the picture was taken." — Roswell Daily Record, April 8, 1956.
History of the Roswell Petroleum Building and memories of oilman Lee Harvard
Following are a couple of articles from 1956 about the oil industry coming into Roswell and the new Petroleum Building being completed here. These articles, “Petroleum Building Is Completed” and “Oil Fields Lingo May Be Confusing,” are from the Roswell Daily Record, dated April 8, 1956.
I recently had a dinner conversation with Lee Harvard of Harvard Petroleum Company. Lee's memories of the oil industry and his life are enough to write a book, and visiting with him about it all is very interesting and entertaining. Lee began working in the new Petroleum Building when he moved to Roswell in 1956. The “Memories of Lee Harvard” I wrote as he told them to me. I hope you enjoy them.
“Completion of the eight story Roswell Petroleum Building at First Street and Richardson Avenue was announced today by B.B. Ginsburg, president of Roswell Towers, Inc., owner, according to Louis B. Prager, secretary-treasurer.
“Major oil companies, independent oil operators, attorneys and firms or associations allied with the oil industry lease most of the office space presently rented in the Roswell Petroleum Building.
“The Roswell Petroleum Building is not only the tallest office building in Roswell but it forms the hub of the oil activity, which has become increasingly important to the economy of the Roswell area.
“In a recent survey conducted by Truman Sanders, attorney, it was found that 529 employees make up an annual payroll of $2,880,000 in the 29 major oil companies with district or area offices in Roswell.
“Other facts gleaned by Sanders and reported before numerous civic clubs follow:
“Among the number of employees named, 455 are married and 74 are single. Geologists number 190 and 73 are landmen among the companies surveyed. Most of the other employees in these companies are draughtsmen, secretaries or clerks.
“Average size of the petroleum employee families was found to be 3 1/2 people, which brings about 500 children into the picture.
“About 60% of these families have bought homes in Roswell and the other 40% pay a total annual rental of about $168,000.
“Companies pay annual rental for office space in buildings including the Petroleum Building estimated well in excess of $250,000.
“Other significant items obtained show that there are over 225 company owned cars, with an average maintenance cost of $100 each or about $275,000 per year spent with service stations in garages here.
“The phone bills for these companies run in excess of $13,000 per month, or over $130,000 per year.
"Additional geophysical crews hired by these companies have annual payrolls amounting to over $200,000 per year plus the supplies and equipment needed to keep these crews going.
“There are approximately 31 independent well operators in Roswell, swelling the activity of the search for oil and gas in Southeastern New Mexico.”
Oil Fields Lingo May Be Puzzling
“Lingo used in the oil business often sounds like so much Gobbledygook to a layman who is unaccustomed to the terminology. To a stranger, many of the terms used among oil workers are downright puzzling.
“For example: ‘We took the kelly and rammed it into a rathole,’ or ‘we jerked those double stalks out of the hole in a hurry until Mike dropped a slip on his toe.’
“Production crews not only have the rathole, a piece of pipe set an angle in the floor of the rig for holding the kelly, but they also have a mousehole. This is another piece of pipe set so that its end is almost flush with the rig floor for a receptacle to hold a joint of drill stream while the kelly is being attached.
“Do you know what a cheater is according to oilfield hands?
“It’s a short section of pipe which is slipped on the end of a pipe wrench to make the handle longer and increase the leverage of the tool.
“Briefly, here are some other common terms;
“Headache post — a framework of pipe over a truck on which pipe and other equipment rests while in transit. If it weren’t there, it would let the load fall on the driver and give him a headache.
“Cat head — a revolving drum over which a half hitch in a line is thrown and pulled tight until friction causes the drum to pull the line and heavy loads which may be fastened to the end of the rope.
“Doghouse — a small building near the rig used as a lounging place and dressing room by the crew.
“Knowledge box — a small box on the rig in which are kept drilling reports, the well log and other paperwork.”
Lee Harvard and his wife Joann came to Roswell in 1956 when he was offered a job with Sinclair Oil's district office. He started work at the new Petroleum Building. The names of the oil companies that Lee remembers being in the Petroleum Building when he moved here were Humble, Gulf, Texaco, Arco and Skelly. There were more, he said.
Among some of his memories of the oil business were the earlier ways of drilling, such as a chisel on the end of the cable called a cable tool lifted up and down by a walking beam. This particular tool picked up samples not contaminated by other drilling fluids. Lee put together and sold a combination rig powered by gasoline engines to a Roswell oil operator who contracted with a drilling rig company.
He said, when he first started in the early days, they used a steam-powered drilling rig powered by natural gas that they pulled from the ground.
“A rotary rig is what they use now, a rotary type combination of a drilling rig that would drill the hole to just above the 'pay zone,' then switch to a cable tool to drill into the 'pay zone,’” Lee said.
Lee remembers that when Walker Air Force Base was here, they would bring in big-name entertainers such as Harry James, Tommy Dorsey and Woody Herman. When these entertainers would come to town, the Roswell Geological Society asked if they could pay for the entertainers to stay an extra day, and they would give an additional concert here in town.
Lee is undoubtedly “a man among men,” as he started from humble beginnings living with his parents, two older and one younger sibling in a small country town called Pinehurst, Georgia, and later on in Florida during the Great Depression. He said they moved wherever the work was.
His uncles, Onis Sheffield and Murray Sheffield, encouraged them to move to Corpus Christi, Texas, and even helped financially in getting them moved. He said his dad was very proud and resisted the help, but finally gave in to move his family there.
Here, Lee and one of his brothers went to work at his uncle's restaurant, washing dishes. Lee was six years old and had to stand on a wooden milk crate to reach the sink. His brother was eight years old. From there, he worked as a paperboy, in cotton gins, in the mess hall at Texas A&M, campus police, and he sold candy at baseball games.
He said he made five lifelong friends who were a good influence on him through their friendship and encouragement of each other. All of these friends turned out to be successful. Later on, his uncle Onis helped him get a job on drilling rigs in the South Texas area. He learned all phases of the oil business, including digging ditches for pipelines and true grit.
Lee attended school at the University of Texas, majoring in geology. His soon-to-be wife, Joann, went to school here too. Lee found out about a company out of Birmingham, Alabama, looking for drilling contractors in the Permian Basin, and he worked for them until he graduated in 1955.
Lee said if he ever had any advice for young people concerning their future, he would tell them to do what he tried to do, which was: setting goals, having a sense of responsibility, a strong work ethic, perseverance, being willing to take calculated risks, take care of your mind and body, be yourself and trust in the Lord.
Historian Janice Dunnahoo can be reached at jdunna@hotmail.com.
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