2004-03-23

Center for Public History, University of Houston; University of Houston Libraries, University of Houston

This is an oral history interview with Eldridge "Tot" Williams conducted as part of the Houston History Project. Eldridge "Tot" Williams was born in Morgan City, Louisiana in 1927.  His father, George Williams, was a shrimper /trapper turned crew boat owner who grew up on Bateman Island (across the Bayou Shaffer from Morgan City).  His father had a second-grade education and became one of Morgan City's wealthiest citizens because of the oil fields.  Eldridge worked as a deckhand on his father's crew boats and then went into the family business as a crew boat captain.  He also took out seismograph crews and invested in tug boats and moving rigs.  He worked for large companies like Shell, Texaco, Mobil, and Exxon, but also for smaller companies like Mallard and General Geophysical.  Eldridge remembers gas explosions in the bayous and while he admits that the oil companies did some damage, he says that they did not pollute and / or harm the environment as much as people think they did. Interviewer: Jamie Christy.

interviews

Energy development; Petroleum industry and trade; Williams, Eldridge

Morgan City, Louisiana

Oral Histories from the Houston History Project

University of Houston Libraries Special Collections

English

Collection
University of Houston Libraries Special Collections
Houston History Archives
Oral Histories from the Houston History Project

Preservation Location: ark:/84475/pm9829b8552