BETA
Chapter 1
The river that fooled everyone
Chapter 2
The great railroad heist
Chapter 3
Financing the oil boom
Chapter 4
The airport built on a truce
YOUR GOAL
Master of The city built on nothing
Ch 3 · Financing the oil boom
gertrude Tap to drill oil and make deals to learn how Dallas grew without natural resources.
gertrude Dallas Oil Financing
No harbor, no oil of our own to see, but Dallas banks lent millions on the crude still sleeping deep in the ground!
gertrude Oil money built Dallas's iconic skyscrapers, even though no oil was ever drilled in the city limits.
gertrude Dallas banks pioneered a risky new type of loan that secured the city's financial dominance.
Fun Fact
The flying red horse: The Pegasus sign atop Dallas's Magnolia Building in 1934 became a symbol of the city's oil-wealth-funded skyline.
Glossary
collateral (noun)
Something pledged as security for repayment of a loan, to be forfeited in the event of a default. In 1930, Dallas banker Nathan Adams pioneered lending money backed by subterranean oil reserves.
Something pledged as security for repayment of a loan, to be forfeited in the event of a default. In 1930, Dallas banker Nathan Adams pioneered lending money backed by subterranean oil reserves.
Quiz
Which Dallas bank was the first to accept unproven underground oil as loan collateral?
Quiz
What revolutionary financial practice did Dallas banks pioneer during the 1930s oil boom?
Quiz
Which iconic symbol was placed atop the Magnolia Petroleum Building in Dallas in 1934?
Quiz
What famous technology company was originally founded in Dallas to find oil using seismic tech?
Quiz
What was the name of the historic well that first struck oil in East Texas in 1930?