Carl G. Cromwell was a Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 Oil Driller

Driller (oil)

The driller is a team leader in charge during the process of well drilling. The term is commonly used in the context of an oil well drilling rig....

 and Aviation

Aviation

Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...

 Pioneer.

Background

Carl G. Cromwell was born the oldest of six children to Swedish immigrants John Nels Cromwell and Hannah Anderson, in Saybrook, Pennsylvania. Cromwell took an oilfield job at age sixteen. He worked in oil fields in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, and Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

, developing into a knowledgeable driller. After service with the 358th Infantry at Camp Travis in San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...

, during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, he married Luella Lundsford in 1919. They moved to Texas, where Cromwell drilled around Burkburnett and other Texas oilfields.

Career

In 1921, Texon Oil and Land Company contracted with Cromwell to drill in Reagan County on land owned by the University of Texas. On May 28, 1923, the Santa Rita No. 1 came in and produced great wealth for the University of Texas. Cromwell became drilling superintendent of the Texon Company's expanding field around the camp of Santa Rita. In December 1928, the Reagan County discovery well came in at 8,525 feet. At that time the Santa Rita University 1-B was the world's deepest well.

Cromwell was also an aviation pioneer. On November 1, 1929, he inaugurated Cromwell Airlines, an airline service between San Angelo and Dallas, Fort Worth, and San Antonio. While on a business trip in 1931, he was killed in an automobile accident near Sheffield, Pennsylvania

Sheffield, Pennsylvania

Sheffield is a census-designated place in Warren County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,268 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Sheffield is located at ....

.

Other sources

• Carlson, Erik Carl Cromwell, Cromwell Airlines, and the Dawn of Commercial Aviation in West Texas, 1928-1930 (West Texas Historical Association Yearbook. 2003)
• Presley, James Saga of Wealth; The Rise of the Texas Oilmen (Texas Monthly Press, Austin, 1983 (orig. pub. by Putnam, New York, 1978)
• Myres, Samuel D. The Permian Basin: Petroleum Empire of the Southwest (2 vols., El Paso: Permian, 1973)
• Schwettmann, Martin W. Santa Rita: The University of Texas Oil Discovery (Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1943)