Black diamonds! Black gold!

by Don Woodard

In a West Texas town called Thurber the Texas Pacific Coal and Oil Company grew rich digging coal, drilling oil and making bricks from the clay soil. The Texas Pacific Company as it was known at its beginning, was born in 1888 just seventy-five miles west of Fort Worth. Employing mostly immigrant workers in the coal mines, the company prospered and created a town eventually called Thurber. The company added a brick works in 1894. For several years Thurber rivaled Fort Worth as the largest population and cultural center for the region. The discovery of the famous Ranger oil fields in 1917 by the company's general manager, W. K. Gordon, began not only a whole new chapter in the development and expansion of the company, but also in the growth of Texas. The company survived by both anticipating and adapting to the changing economy until its eventual sale in 1963. The latter part of the book offers an insider's look into the post-World War II development of Fort Worth, including the politic