If There Is So Much Oil, How Are People So Poor?

1. If There Is So Much Oil, How Are People So Poor? Boom and Bust in Oklahoma Oil, Boomtowns, Causes of the Depression, Dust Bowl

2. Too Many Had Too Little • Much of the former Indian Territory was extremely poor • A very small number of people had VERY large portions of land • Many people did not own any land at all; they had to rent it • Many of these tenants had to grow whatever the landlord said—that was usually cotton

3. Oil Boom • Many of the largest oil fields were in the former Indian Territory and did much to help the poor people there • As each pool opened, thousands left the fields and headed for town

4. Oil! Oil! My God, Bob. We Got An Oil Well! • November 1905 in Glenpool (12 miles from Tulsa) • 75 barrels a day—it was cheap enough to turn into gasoline and kerosene • Tulsa became the oil capital of the world

5. Roustabouts • These men were semi-skilled and worked the drilling rigs • They averaged $130 a month—more than most sharecroppers would make in three years!

6. Boomtowns • Small communities near the newest oil discoveries exploded almost overnight forming boomtowns

7. Violence and Adventure • Oil transformed Seminole, Glenpool, Kiefer, Cushing and dozens of other rural communities into busy oil towns • The population soared in a very short amount of time • Construction was needed for houses, businesses, makeshift roads and telephone and electric lines had to be put in very quickly to meet the demand • With more people came crime—which made more law officers necessary too

8. No Equality in the Oil Fields Either • Many African Americans thought that the oil boom could help them with better, higher paying jobs • That wasn’t the case • Many left Oklahoma in search of jobs in neighboring states and even Canada (eh!)

9. Tulsa • Other African Americans left the fields in Oklahoma for the multiracial cities, including Tulsa • The state’s newest “Promised Land” • But there was racial division in Tulsa too • Riot in 1921 did millions of dollars of damage

10. Hoover Wins—So what does that mean?

11. (Hindsight is always 20/20) • “We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land. The poorhouse is vanishing among us.” 1928 • OOPS!

12. Farm Crisis • Farm incomes dropped in the 1920s because of surpluses • Price of farm land fell from $69/acre in 1920 to $31 in 1930 • In 1929 average annual income for an American family was $750 but was only $273 for farm families • 30% of Americans still lived on farms

13. Hoover is Hands Off! “I do not believe that the power and duty of the General Government ought to be extended to the relief of individual…though the people support the Government the Government should not support the people.” 1930 • When he does step in, he asks people to do what’s best for the country and not necessarily for themselves • Yeah, people don’t do that… • Trickle-down economics is good in theory but not in practice • The money doesn’t get passed down the line

14. What do you mean: Too Much Oil? • Crude oil gushed in Texas, California, Kansas, Louisiana and abroad—it was everywhere • It flooded the market—it drowned out the demand • Black gold became the black death • As long as other companies kept pumping oil, every oil company kept pumping it out as fast as they could too • That makes the prices drop • It also heavily works the fields

15. The rest of America catches up • The fields begin to run dry • By the time America recognizes a full on depression, Oklahoma’s oil industry had been trapped in one for years

16. To Make Matters Worse… • Dryland farming- farming without irrigation • Everything that might compete with the soil for water is destroyed—including roots—and the field is covered with dust mulch • Native grasses were killed off during periods of abundant rainfall • Then the droughts came…and then the wind

20. And There Go The Banks • The stock market crashed on Black Thursday, October 24, 1929 but the bottom really fell out in July 1932 • Banks began closing all over the United States and Oklahoma was no different • With banks closing, there was less money being lent, with less money being lent people could not buy homes or open (or keep open) businesses • Fewer businesses mean fewer jobs • It becomes harder to pay rent, mortgages, bills, etc. • Many people are forced out of their homes and off their farms • Farmers then had little or no money to purchase equipment to maintain their farms and many could not pay their mortgages and lost their farms

21. Foreclosures • A foreclosure happens when an owner cannot pay for their mortgage and the bank repossesses the property to sell it • Some are able to buy farms very cheaply during this time and profit from others’ losses