On August 15, 1931, Texas governor Ross Sterling ordered the East Texas oilfield shut down to stop illegal oil production and to prevent waste.  Along with the Texas Rangers, 1200 Texas National Guard troops patrolled the East Texas oil fields.  Well-known oilfield photographer Jack Nolan (1889-1972) produced real photo postcards (RPPCs) of at least eight different views associated with the troops; four are shown here.  Nolan produced many other RPPCs of oilfield views from both East and West Texas oilfields.

For more on Nolan:

SPENCER, J.A., 2009, Jack Nolan – East Texas oilfield photographer, Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions, v. 59, p. 723-728.

SPENCER, Jeff A., 2011, Oilfield photographers – three who captured North American oil booms, Frank Robbins, Frank Trost, and Jack Nolan, Oil-Industry History, v. 12, p. 45-57.

SPENCER, Jeff A., 2013, Texas Oil and Gas, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, SC, 128 pp.