MAP, Louisiana, Oil, Shaw Oil Corp.

Louisiana, Oil. Shaw Oil Corporation, [Lot of 3] Plan Showing Tola P & Rco’s Refinery Location & Pipeline [and] Certificate for 100 Shares of the Capital Stock [and] [Letter to Stockholders], 1919 (circa). Black & White. This map was issued on yellow paper and shows the Tola wells near Homer, LA with a pipeline connecting to its refinery in Sibley. Includes a large inset map showing the “Heart of the Homer Field.” Included with the map is a mimeographed letter from Shaw as President explaining that the company was sold to the Shaw Oil Corporation, which planned to make the company a fully integrated producer, pipeline operator and refinery. With a stock certificate for the Shaw Oil Corp signed by James Shaw.

Shaw was a colorful dentist and oil promoter who became a major figure in the Louisiana oil industry. He was an associate (and sometime adversary) of the legendary Huey Long. Shaw eventually testified against some of Long’s associates and suffered a “violent death,” that was ruled a suicide according to the Alexandria Daily Town Talk of August 21, 1939. The article called Shaw the “titular ‘czar’ of the state’s oil industry” and “key government witness and keeper of Louisiana’s oil industry secrets for a decade.” There is no record of the map in OCLC or elsewhere.
Dimensions: 8.8 x 13 in
Condition Report: Condition code is for the map, which is very good with pencil notations and a few tiny fold separations. Stock certificate is also very good with a few minor spots. Letter is tattered and torn (D). Grade: B+