"Magnolia Slim"
a.k.a. Travis Nevels
My grandfather, Travis Nevels was born in 1908 in Union Church, Mississippi which is just outside of Natchez. He was raised on the family farm, and when he was of age he traveled out West. He gave a man his watch as payment to cross the Mississippi River on a ferry. This was during the depression years.
He went to work for the Magnolia Oil Company as a driller during the Texas Oil Boom of the 1930's, and worked all over Texas drilling oil wells. One of the first big producing wells of East Texas was the Daisy Bradford, and Travis is credited with drilling the second (or third) Daisy Bradford well. Later the company sent him and his family to West Texas, and they moved from town to town as the oil fields grew. Once he drilled all the wells in an area, he loaded up the family and drove to the next town. Everything he couldn't pack in the car, he piled up an burnt.
He lived and worked in towns like Monahan's, Seminole, Midland, Odessa, and other Texas oil towns. He lived in what were called "shotgun" houses provided by the oil company, or in a tent. One time Travis built a wooden wall around his tent, as well as a wooden floor. This was a step up for an oil field family.
Then one weekend he took everybody back to the farm in Mississippi, and when they returned, someone had stolen they're house.
My father, Travis Lloyd Nevels was born in 1935 in Longview, Texas; and remembers driving into Dallas as a boy. The tallest building in Dallas at that time was the Magnolia Petroleum Building. On the top of the building was a red neon Pegasus (winged horse). He was always thrilled to look at it knowing his Dad worked for that company.
In 2003, my father wrote a poem entitled, "Magnolia Slim". The poem is about my grandfather, who was called "Slim" or "Magnolia Slim" by his crew of roughnecks. Slim's job was that of a driller, and he lead a crew of men to raise and lower pipe while drilling deeper and deeper into the earth.
As I read over the poem I could tell it was worthy of being a song. I worked with it for a time but couldn't quite make it fly. I tried again in 2004, and tweaked the words around a little to make it work. The lyrics are presented below.
I was born and raised in Dallas!
"Magnolia Slim"
Written by: Travis Lloyd Nevels and Travis Steele Nevels - 2004
Underneath the blue Texas skies
A Magnolia red horse banner flies
As men aspire to do great deeds
A leader rises up to meet their need
Magnolia Slim has a daily toil
And it’s to lead his men to the Texas oil
His men are a rough and ready crew
And it’s a hard and dirty job they do
As Slim commands his able team
A section of pipe goes down the stream
The noise is loud as the engine howls
The derrick shakes while the Driller scowls
The pipe is spin’n but the drill hits rock
A new bit is needed – but that’ll eat up the clock
Slim backs off trying to break it through
He’s gonna bounce that pipe at least a foot or two
He pushes in the throttle - and he lets out the clutch
The pipe bounces – but not that much
The derrick man from up above gives yell
He says the cables jumped the wheel - but Slim can already tell
He grabs his cigar and begins to chew
He says we gotta get to pumping this Texas crude
As calm as he can - he sets the slip
We ain't loosen pipe not on this trip
He climbs up the derrick - up to the crown
Realigns the cable – they won’t shut down
He revs up the engine and he tries it again
And drives through the rock and into the sand
A new shift of men – arrive on the floor
They say how has it been going on your twelve hour tour
A piece of cake - is all he said to them
The crew gave a smile to Magnolia Slim
Underneath the blue Texas skies
A Magnolia red horse banner flies
As men aspire to do great deeds
A leader rises up to meet their need
Magnolia Slim has a daily toil
And it’s to lead his men to the Texas oil
Texas oil is as thick as mud
And Texas oil is in my blood
