Yount-Manion Films - Beaumont Oil Fields in the 1920s

Duration: 0:11:11

Year Published: 1920s

Sound: silent

Description: This very early industrial film from the late 1920s features footage of Beaumont oil fields alongside informative title cards. The first clip includes scenes from the Refinery of the Magnolia Petroleum Company, the second clip includes scenes of the South Texas State Fair Grounds, and the third clip includes scenes of the Spindletop Oil Field. Miles Frank Yount, “the Godfather of Beaumont,” founded the Yount Oil Company (which would later become the Yount-Lee Oil Company) in 1913, and among other discoveries, was responsible for the oil booms of Sour Lake, High Island, Barbers Hill, Hull, and a second boom at Spindletop. The Yount-Manion Films were given to Lamar University by Greg Riley and Fred McKinley. The pair discovered the films while researching their 2005 book, Black Gold to Bluegrass: From the Oil Fields of Texas to Spindletop Farm of Kentucky, which chronicles the legacy of Frank and Pansy Yount.