I'm from Orange County, Texas, which is very close to Spindletop and when I was a college student, I used to drive by Spindletop Hill every day. So I was very aware of the story from the time I was a young man.
That particular oil well changed the history of oil production in the United States and later the history of oil production around the world. People from all over the world learned the lessons gained from Beaumont at Spindletop and in other East Texas oil fields. My grandfather had been a wildcatter, as had some of his older brothers. They had wildcatted not only in East Texas, but also in West Texas as well, and were some of the first people out in the western part of the state to do so.
I have a photograph of my grandfather wearing these laced-up boots that you see depicted on one of the figures in Gib's sculpture. That immediately caught my attention and I said, 'This is reality? Gib must have researched the accouterments of the trade. The wildcatters gravitated to those tall lace-up boots, because they were working in the muddy oilfields.
Wildcatters were victims of the so-called 'hot bed' trade, where one man would get out of his bed early in the morning, and another oilfield worker would come in from his shift, slathered in dirt and oil, and crawl right into the previous worker's hot, sweaty, unmade bed. The process was continuous. There were few bathtubs, showers or other amenities for the workers. They prized their boots, however, and Gib's depiction of the men in rumpled clothes and boots struck me as realistic
Even though you don't see an oil derrick in this piece, you see an oilfield worker leaning on a shovel like the ones they used every day. You see the drilling pipe in the background. You see the rope.
My grandfather talked about going up into the wooden derricks, as he loved being up high where he could look over the treetops. He remembered pulling up the sections of derrick timbers and drilling pipe with rope, like you see depicted in Gib's work.
It just was a great piece that appealed to me. I knew I had to have it, and thankfully I do.
- MONTE MONROE