February 26, 2007

In 1929, the struggling Lion Oil Company purchased several leases in the Smackover (Union County) oil field. Less than ten years later, the company exploited the development of an oil field that ranked second only to the Smackover discovery of the early twentieth century. By 1955, Lion employed over 3,000 people, with its products being sold in approximately 2,000 outlets. Shown here in this 1940s photograph is one of the company’s many southeast Arkansas drilling rigs.