DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Pure Oil Company Camp in Van Zandt County. Now settle in, because this one starts with geologists poking around East Texas with a hunch — and ends with a town that barely blinked when the rest of America fell apart. Late in the nineteen-twenties, geologists from the Pure Oil Company came to the Van area and made up their minds: oil was likely down there.
The company had already leased seventeen thousand acres, just waiting on the proof. And the proof came. On October 14, 1929 — and you might recognize that date as sitting right on the doorstep of the Great Depression — oil was discovered on the farm of W.T.
Jarman. Now, while the rest of the country was about to find out what rock bottom looked like, Van, Texas had other plans. Pure Oil held eighty percent of the oil leases in the area and administered field operations on behalf of four other companies holding small leases under what was called the Van joint account.
They weren't just drilling — they were running a whole operation. Pure Oil immediately began construction of a headquarters complex, and when they were done, that camp sat on a hundred and seven acres, one mile southwest of the Jarman Well. We're talking an office building, seventeen residential houses, a geological laboratory, three bunk houses, a mess hall, a dormitory, a machine shop, a warehouse, a filling station, a water tower, and a swimming pool.
A whole town within a town. Then in July of 1930, the Texas Short Line Railway Company completed a spur line from Grand Saline to Van — fifteen miles of rail — and that, according to the marker, erased the only remaining barrier to Van's explosive growth. While soup lines stretched around city blocks elsewhere, Van was building swimming pools and laying railroad track.
In 1965, the Pure Oil Company merged with and became a division of Union Oil Company of California, and the residential housing and related structures at the Van camp were closed. The camp itself no longer operates. But here's the thing — the field is still producing oil today.
W.T. Jarman's farm gave up something in 1929 that just keeps on giving.
What the marker says
During the late 1920s, geologists from the Pure Oil Company determined that the presence of oil in the Van area was likely. The company had previously leased 17,000 acres in order to harvest the commodity, and oil was discovered on October 14, 1929 on the farm of W.T. Jarman. The Pure Oil Company held 80 percent of the oil leases in the area and administered the oil field operations on behalf of four other companies that had small leases in the area under the Van joint account. Although the Great Depression would soon grip the rest of the country, Van’s economy thrived. Pure Oil immediately began construction of a headquarters complex to manage the activities of the site and to house and support the many workers needed in the operation of the oil field. The Pure Oil Company camp was located on 107 acres one mile southwest of the Jarman Well, and when completed, the complex consisted of multiple structures, including an office building, seventeen residential houses, a geological laboratory, three bunk houses, a mess hall, a dormitory, a machine shop, a warehouse, a filling station, a water tower and a swimming pool. In July 1930 the Texas Short Line Railway Co. Completed a spur line from Grand Saline to Van (a distance of fifteen miles), erasing the only remaining barrier to Van’s explosive growth. The Pure Oil Company merged with and became a division of Union Oil Company of California in 1965, and the residential housing and related structures at the Van camp were closed. Although the camp no longer operates, the field is still producing oil today.