There are many legends about Texas in the United States, most of which are about how the wealthy oil tycoons turned the oil wells that spewed oil into energy for political activities. They live a luxurious and comfortable life, flying around Rhode Island on private jets and tasting specially blended bourbon on their own private island.
In Texas, which was once barren and barren, people of all kinds flocked to the discovery of amazing oil reserves, and some people became billionaires overnight. They own giant mansions, championship football teams, and even compete with the president of the United States for power in an attempt to manipulate international markets.
In the 1920s, many people heard about the myth of oil, so they converted their farms into some cash and headed west alone. They dream of making huge fortunes and a new life in Texas, but this is a gamble, and more people fail to realize their honey-like wishes.
In the summer of 1930, in Eldorado, a "wildcat exploration team" drilled three wells in succession, but failed to press out a drop of oil. However, a large number of people still poured into the city. Among them was a muscular man, 6 feet tall, wearing a shirt, tie and a hard straw hat. His name was Haroldson Lafayette Hunt, who later became the founder of Hunt Oil, the second largest oil company in the United States. Before coming to El Dorado, he lived in a small town in the South of the United States, making a living by betting on poker games and doing exciting cotton futures.
As Hunter recalled many years later, thousands of people were flocking to Eldorado, hoping to find more oil. This thing sounded exciting, so he asked himself, "You What do you want to do? Do you want to bury yourself here for the rest of your life?"
The most famous transaction in the 20th century
When he arrived at El Dorado, Hunter decided I started small. I rented half an acre of land outside the city with a few friends. After buying an abandoned old drilling rig, I started digging the first well.
Fortunately, his first well detected oil and the production was quite good, but after a few weeks there was no oil. Hunter attempted to sell the well to an independent prospector, but failed. The experience was demoralizing for Hunter, but as he said years later, "it served the purpose of getting me started in the oil industry."
After thinking about it, Hunter realized that in order to establish a profitable oil company, he needed to find potential land and have the right to use the land, so he raised $200 from friends. Convinced a local farmer to lease 40 acres of farmland to him. Starting in 1922, Hunter's oil wells began to produce oil, and the output was considerable.
In 1926, Hunter formally established his own company in Eldorado, which is now the famous Hunter Oil. He quickly became a wealthy man with more than 100 oil wells in the El Dorado and Shreveport areas.
At this time, he set his sights on Texas. With one negotiation, he became one of the richest and most legendary businessmen in the United States.
In fact, Hunter did not have any funds in hand when he met Joyner from Texas, but when Joiner said he needed funds, Hunter immediately said he could invest. Hunter was always able to raise money, but before the fundraising even started, Joyner was forced to go into hiding.
In order to raise funds, Joyner sold investment certificates to dozens of locals. As long as they paid $100, they could obtain the 4 acres of land income conferred on each certificate. Joyner's first 320 acres were prepared, meaning that only the first 80 certificates were valid, resulting in multiple buyers for each parcel.
At the same time, Hunter studied the land north and west of Joyner and became confident about it. He believes the key issue is no longer drilling near Joyner's leased land, but buying out Joyner's lease. The legal predicament Joyner faced at this point was Hunter's best chance.
Joiner wanted an upfront payment of $50,000, with more to come. They started chatting about life, family, East Texas, and the much-publicized Daisy Bradford No. 3 oil well.
Until midnight, they were still negotiating. Hunter concealed the news that Shenzhen Company's new oil well was producing oil, forcing Joiner into a position of constant compromise. At dawn the next day, they tentatively agreed on an outline of the agreement. After Hunter's lawyer and stenographer compiled the two people's oral statements into terms, the final signing ceremony began.
Hunter agreed to pay an upfront payment of US$30,000 and follow-up payments of US$1.305 million. At this time, Hunter only had $109, and the advance payment of $30,000 was borrowed from a friend of his.
This is historic news, and people in Texas are stunned. In the months that followed, people began to discover just how vast the East Texas oil fields were, and the Hunter-Joiner deal became one of the most influential of the 20th century.
Hunter, a former professional gambler, controlled the core of the greatest oil field in American history, which produced nearly 4 billion barrels of oil in the next 50 years.
Silver War
The founder of the Hunt family, Haroldson Lafayette Hunt, passed away in 1974, but the legendary history of the Hunt family has just begun.
In the 1970s, silver, as a circulation tool, was highly liquid in the international market. However, with their strong financial resources and political and business connections, the Hunter family almost monopolized the silver market, causing silver prices to skyrocket. Some people say that if it were not for the intervention of the US government, the Hunter family would have drained short-selling traders around the world.
Nelson, who planned this shocking deal, is one of the smartest sons of Hunter Sr., who is in charge of Hunter Drilling and Mining Company and is responsible for oil exploration around the world. He has a rich "inheritance" and "New money".
He and his brother William persuaded the wealthy Saudi prince to invest in it, and within a few years they accumulated hundreds of millions of ounces of silver, an amount that would make any country's central bank tremble.
In the summer of 1979, Nelson's duel with silver traders around the world began. He issued a total of 40 million ounces of buy orders to the New York and Chicago futures exchanges through the International Metals Investment Corporation. The price of silver immediately went crazy, soaring from US$11 to US$30, and by the end of 1979, it simply exceeded US$40.
The Hunter family controls 53% of the silver futures contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange and 69% of the silver futures contracts on the Chicago Board of Trade. In total, it controls 120 million ounces of spot and 50 million ounces of futures. --This does not include silver held by Saudi Arabian investors in their personal names. At that time, the global silver trading volume was only about 20 million ounces per year, and the Hunter family had cut off the circulation channels of silver.
These actions angered the U.S. government and many exchanges. The Chicago Stock Exchange took the lead and increased the margin requirement from US$1,000 to US$6,000, which meant that the Hunter family had to quickly replenish a large amount of capital. In order to curb inflation, the newly appointed Federal Reserve Chairman Volcker decided to tighten monetary policy. Increase the difficulty of getting a loan. In the next two months, the Hunter family borrowed $80 million from bankers, which was equivalent to 10% of new loans in the United States during the same period.
Seeing that the Hunter family refused to give in and insisted on being the banker, the New York Mercantile Exchange finally lost patience. Shortly after the price of silver reached $50, the New York Mercantile Exchange issued a temporary rule: from now on, it is prohibited to establish new silver futures contracts and only allow the closing of old contracts. This means that the Hunter family can no longer buy any silver from the futures market, and the total number of silver futures contracts will only continue to decrease, and no one can manipulate the price by buying or selling in large quantities.
In this way, the Hunter family collapsed. Nelson later sold his beloved racehorse and filed for bankruptcy protection.
There are still some properties that have survived under the names of Hunter Sr.’s other children, including Hunter Petroleum headquarters, hotels, and rugby businesses. But after being severely damaged, the Hunter family is no longer the pivotal business role it once was.