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Life from the Oil Patch: "The Acadiana Story"

The Early Years, 1900-1940

This period of time constitutes the foundation of oil exploration and extraction in Louisiana. The first commercially producing oil well in Louisiana, the Heywood Well, was established near Jennings in 1901 and one year later the Anse la Butte field, between Lafayette and Breaux Bridge attracted attention from numerous oil companies. After some initial successes, the focus of the Louisiana oil industry shifted away of South Louisiana. In 1932, Superior Oil made a major discovery at Bosco in Acadia Parish and the oil titans returned to Acadiana. Lafayette successfully positioned itself to become a town catering to the oil industry. After a well was drilled 1 mile off the coast of Cameron, the beginnings of the offshore industry soon followed, forever changing Lafayette into an oil town.

NEW OPPORTUNITIES: THE OIL FIELD South Louisiana had relied almost exclusively on agricultural products as the base of its economy before the discovery of oil in this region. Following the discovery of oil, other career options became available. This represents a dramatic change in the working culture of this region.
	Alfred Lamson: At the time, Alfred Lamson worked for his father at the Farm Loan Association as a secretary and did typing for oilmen on the side. "I told my dad, I said, 'Papa, I'm gonna leave you. I'm gonna get a job a job in the oil business. I'm in the wrong business. You don't pay enough. I can make more in fifteen minutes than I can make all day long working here. So, I'm gonna get a job in the oil business.' His comment was, 'It's a good game, son.' He didn't regard it, people didn't regard it as a business, as an industry in those days. It's a gamble, it was a game."
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ACADIAN CULTURE Acadiana's Francophone culture posed unique situations for oil companies and the landmen they hired. Speaking French could sometimes be helpful or even a necessity. Similarly, this region's distinctive ethnic background and the relatively closed culture presented new and unique challenges for newly arrived oil companies and the people who came here to work. With all the new opportunities, Acadiana experienced a massive influx of people. This dramatically altered the social and cultural dynamics in a region known for its close-knit families and shared heritage.
	"I spoke French, and there were many many farmers who either didn't or wouldn't speak English to you if you were trading with them, because that's their second language. And you therefore had the advantage (if you spoke French). I remember several times, I'd be in somebody's home, and they would be talking French. Usually the wife would ask me, 'Vous etes an Americain,' 'Are you an American?' I'd say, 'Qui moi, oh no, no, no, Je rest la Opelousas' And that was it. Now my French was as broken and poor as their English. But they knew I was trying, we got along fine, because I'm talking to them in their language as I'm trading with them. So I could out-buy anybody else that came down here from Oklahoma or Texas. And I was worth more." "We had a very bad reputation in those days (1937). The exploration people were hard working, hard playing, hard drinking, gambling type people. And you don't pay your bills...But that was the way people in the oil business were perceived. That we might skip out on the rent, give bad checks, and take after their daughters, or their wives, or whatever." "In 1940, we had begun to get more oil people in here by then. They were still looked at, some skeptically, but we were being a little more readily accepted."
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	In 1937, Yount-Lee's (a now defunct oil company) were beginning to run out, so, I had this long French name, and nobody at Anse la Butte spoke English, very few, so they decided to send me here." "The oil people gave this town a shot in the arm, in my opinion. And, the reason is that the local people accepted them immediately and took them in. You could belong, anybody that came in here that hadn't been convicted of a felony could belong to any club that there was: Petroleum Club. And so there was really an influx of people that came in as a result of that."
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