King of the Wildcatters

Tom Slick was a legend among the independents - those who hunted for oil the way mountain men hunted for furs. Ray Miles traces the growth of Slick''s career and the modern petroleum industry including the oil conservation movement of which Slick was an early proponent. He examines the first generation of oilmen who sought fortunes in Oklahoma Kansas and Texas and looks at Slick''s unique hands-on business style of brokering on street corners and eschewing stockholders and board members. In 1929 Slick sold his Oklahoma holdings in the Prairie Oil and Gas Company - the largest sale of oil properties by an individual to that date.