source
1930's oil derrick
Me and Gib Morgan
I hope you boys are having a great camping trip. I
sure
am having a grand time telling y'all my stories. I have another
good
one for you tonight. I don't believe I've told this one before,
it's
about a fellow I used to work with named Gib Morgan. We worked
together
in the oil business and that Gib Morgan was the best driller
around.
He was sharp as a tack too. I'd bet that he was the smartest man
in
all of Texas, and most of Oklahoma too. He could always find oil.
There was a tough job down in east Texas and the team that was working
on it just couldn't find oil. So old Gib Morgan went out and took
over
the operation. He had bits made of every size. He then set
out
building the biggest oil derrick I'd ever seen. Why, it stretched
up
all the way to the top of the Texas sky. It was so big, Gib
needed
a whole crew of men to work it. You see, it would take one man
fourteen
days to climb to the top. This is where I entered the
picture.
I was a tool dresser back then, and I was hired to go up to the top and
grease
the crown pulleys. It was awful high but it could've been
worse.
I could've been hired to fold over the top of the derrick every night
so
the moon could pass by, we all felt sorry for that fellow.
We all worked very hard trying to get at that oil. Gib Morgan
just
knew it was down there. He started with a drill bit one hundred
feet
in diameter. He drilled and the ground started to crumble.
He
put an empty oil tank in to support the whole and switched to a
slightly
smaller bit. Each time he drilled, the ground would start to
crumble
and the process would be repeated. Gib went through this process
for
weeks. One day I was up on my post working when I saw something
coming
toward us from a distance. The man finally made it up to the site
and
asked Gib Morgan if he could use another tool dresser. Gib said
he
could always use another, and then he turned around and saw the man
that
was asking. He was the largest man any of us had ever seen.
He said his name was Big Toolie and that he would be honored to be part
of our team. Why, I said hello and that man reached up and shook
my hand.
Now remember, boys, I worked at the top of that derrick all the way in
the
Texas sky. He was hired on the spot, and my services were no
longer
needed. Since I was such a good friend of Gib's he let me stay
along
and I just helped him out a little. It was awful nice of him, and
it
allowed me to watch everything that went on. Once Big Toolie
started
working, everything went smooth as clockwork. Gib Morgan was
working
faster than ever.
At this time Gib Morgan was still trying to find the oil using smaller
and
smaller bits. He got down to his smallest bit and Old Toolie
asked
him what he was going to do next. Why, Gib told him it was a job
for
Strickie. Now Strickie was an old friend of Gib's. He was
the
longest, smartest boa constrictor in the world. Gib Morgan had
found
him while he was drilling in the jungles of Brazil. Gib sent
Strickie
a telegram and some money for the long trip from New York and he was on
his
way. Gib Morgan introduced all of us to Strickie, we sure were
glad
to see him. Gib told Strickie that he would like to catch up on
old
times, but they had work to do. Gib Morgan took Strickie's tail
and
tied it to the end of the drilling cable and Strickie slithered down to
the
bottom of the whole. That boa constrictor started eating his way
through the ground.
Strickie ate and ate, but eventually gave Gib a signal that he needed
to
come up. He was stretched to the limit, and still no oil.
Gib
Morgan knew the oil was there, somewhere under the five thousand foot
well
he'd drilled. I just stood there pacing back and forth, wishing
there
was something I could do to help. Gib had an idea. He
reached
into his tool kit and got out a needle, thread, and a straw. He
threaded
the needle, tied one end of the thread to Strickie's jaw and put the
straw
in his mouth. I shouldn't have to tell y'all that at this point I
thought
old Gib had gone completely mad, but he knew his plan would work.
Strickie was lowered back down to the bottom of the well and put the
straw into the
sand. He sucked the hole clean, then dropped the needle and
thread.
All of the sudden the oil came gushing out. It was the biggest in
Texas
history and old Gib Morgan brought it in with a needle and
thread.
There was hootin and hollerin and a big party that night. We were
all
so happy that we did it, well, Gib had done it.
Intro
Frametale
Me and Pecos Bill
Me and that Steel Driving Man
The North Woods
My Pal Johnny Appleseed
Pecos Bill and Slue-Foot Sue
e-mail me!
Jennifer
Kirkwood
Bibliography:
Walker, Paul Robert
1993 Big Men, Big
Country:
A collection of American tall tales. New York: Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich,
Publishers.
I used parts of the Gib Morgan story in this book. I focused on a
few
parts of the story. I changed the narrator to Slim and added
things
that he said and his point of view. I also changed the dialect
used
to tell the story to fit with Slim's style of speech.
Images: 1930's Oil Derrick. Websource: http://lucernevalley.org/area/welcome2.htm