Table of Contents

Introduction

The Railroads Come to Texas

Land Transportation in Early Texas
Water Transportation in Early Texas
The Impact of the Transportation Problem
Texas Railroads Before the Civil War
Early Railroad Regulation
The Civil War and Texas Railroads
Texas Railroads After the Civil War

The Fight for the Commission

The Grange
The Farmers vs. the Railroads
Legislative Efforts
The Farmers' Alliance
The Texas Traffic Association
"Arrogant Capitalists and Powerful Corporations"
Enter Jim Hogg
The Legislative Session of 1889
The Election of 1890
An Idea Whose Time Had Come

John H. Reagan and Early Regulation

John H. Reagan
The Commission Under Attack
The Election of 1892
The Supreme Court Upholds the Commission
Progressive Regulation
An Agency Matures
Decline of Railroad Power

The Oil Wars

Early Days
Spindletop: Present at the Creation
Boom, Boom, Boom
Common Carriers
Blood of War, Blood of Peace
The Growing Crisis
"A Nostrum Worthy of a Blatter Skite Politician"
"God Still Rules the Universe"
The Largest Oil Field in the World
The Railroad Commission at Bay
The MacMillan Case
Sterling Sends in the Troops
Hot Oil: East Texas Under Martial Law
The Turning of the Tide
No Quick Fix
Enter the Feds
The Era of State and Federal Cooperation Begins
The Connally Hot Oil Act

The Power Years

The Aftermath of the Storm
The Duties of the Railroad Commission
Ernest O. Thompson
World War II and Texas Oil
Post-War Glory
The Rising Tide of Foreign Oil
The Railroad Commission Reacts
Regulatory Issues of the 1960s
The End of an Era

Other Responsibilities

Natural Gas
Liquified Petroleum Gas
Motor Carriers and Buses
Surface Mining
Jim Crow

The Railroad Commission Today

Glossary

Online Finding Aids

Suggested Reading and Links

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