Signed, Limited Biography of Ernest O. Thompson

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AUTHOR: James A. Clark.

TITLE: Three Stars for the Colonel: The Biography of Ernest O. Thompson, Father of Petroleum Conservation.

PUBLICATION DATA: 1954. Random House. #174 of 300 copies. Inscribed by Thompson on special limitation page to Ralph O. Rhoades, longtime geologist for Gulf Oil who served as Gulf's board chair and whose descendants are presently still in the oil business out in West Texas..

This book would be more aptly called Three Stars for the General, since Ernest Thompson was promoted to commanding general two years before the book's publication. That aside (it has always bugged me), Thompson was the quintessential Texas overachiever. If you've ever heard the adage about the Allies floating to victory in WWII on a river of East Texas oil...Thompson had a hand in that. As a Texas Railroad Commissioner, he ushered in proration practices in the 1930s that stopped the East Texas field from spilling all its treasure on the ground. He was a controversial mayor of Amarillo and a big patron of Harold Bugbee's artwork. He owned two hotels in Amarillo and built the first mid-rise office building there. He was considered the world's leading expert on oil production and conservation for much of his career. This is the remarkable story of this Wise County native's life..

Condition report:

Binding is quarter leather and paper over boards. The leather has worn in nicely, with some visible spots of surface wear and rubbing to extremities. Corners are rubbed, as well. 265 pages + index. Binding is sound.