James Marion West Sr.

499: 507: 267:, owned by Peter Josserand Jr. West saved money from this position, using the funds to later buy a drug store in Groveton where he would work after spending the day at the lumber mill. The store would later burn to the ground, but the experience left in him the desire to run his own company. He eventually went into business with Josserand and subsequently bought the mill outright. Shortly thereafter he began raising longhorn cattle on the side, a business he would also later grow into a veritable empire. From this beginning, West Lumber would grow to more than a two dozen mills across Texas and Louisiana including sites in 370:. Additional land was leased by his company West Securities as part of the ranching business. All of these fell under the management of The West Cattle Company, later renamed the West-Pyle Cattle Company after West’s death when sons James Jr. and Wesley took over the company and ran it with noted cowman Forest Barnett “Buck” Pyle. He was as successful in the cattle business as he was in the lumber industry and increased his wealth with these operations greatly. West was elected to a two-year term as 16th President of the 49: 1571: 572: 240:, named Jessie Gertrude (née Dudley). A quiet individual who enjoyed the outdoors, ranching, and his privacy, West was a tall man of over six feet with trademark West blue eyes and dark black hair that turned gray in his later years. Shrewd, but not callous, he was modest despite his vast wealth. West was a conservative both in his business dealings and in his politics, where he was a noted 429:. Feeling the failure to be motivated by politics rather than his ability to do the job, West entered the world of publishing to leverage his political beliefs and might. He bought the Dallas Dispatch-Journal newspaper in 1939, subsequently renaming it the Dallas Journal. He later bought the Austin Tribune newspaper and the KBTC radio station in Austin (later sold by son 229: 534:, the house was the centerpiece of the 30,000 acre ranch. The home was listed as a Texas Historic Landmark in 1993. West stipulated in his will that it not be used as a residence after his death; subsequently, the mansion has been used by both NASA and the University of Houston. West sold most of the ranch after oil was found on the property to 389:

West ventured into the oil business in the 1920s. He acquired large holdings in the Pierce Junction Field in present-day Houston (which produced nearly 89 million barrels of oil through 1984) and the Thompson Field (part of the Frio Deep-Seated Salt Dome Fields which produced over 2.4 billion barrels

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and began a life of subsistence farming. Times were not easy and the family struggled financially through his early years. West would leave school early at the age of 13 due to the financial stress his family endured. He would subsequently begin a career that would lead him to become a millionaire

200:. He was heavily involved in politics both in Houston and at the state level. He served as an officer and board member for various banks, universities, and other business interests. He later became a publisher of the 327:

in 1910. Shortly after World War I, West Lumber sawed over 400,000 feet of lumber daily in some 24 mills, while employing over 1,500 people (some 6% of the lumber workforce in Texas at the time).

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West remarked frequently that he was a cattleman at heart and he built a fortune in ranching across Texas. He owned multiple ranches in the state including the 48,000 acre Fort Terrett Ranch in

530:. His home there, an Italian Renaissance Revival style mansion of some 17,000 square feet, was one of the largest mansions in the Houston area. Designed by noted Houston architect 319:. His interests in these mills led him to become a millionaire many times over. A notable business acquisition saw West acquire the competing William Carlisle & Company of 883: 460: 861: 685: 751: 1824: 394:

in the late 1920s. He would also develop and run an independent oil company, West Production Company. After oil was discovered on his ranch in present-day

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which included over one billion feet of stumpage, a number of associated saw mills, and a railroad. He acquired the South Texas Lumber Company from

386:, by then governor of the state, appointed West's daughter-in-law Neva to the Texas Commission on the Arts for a four-year term beginning in 1975. 263:

Financial stress on his family forced West to leave school in 1884 at the age of 13 to work as a water boy at the Trinity County Lumber Company in

560:, originally centered around the sawmill he established with Peter Josserand, was named for him and the West Lumber Company he established there. 220:, on May 2, 1871 to Silas Wesley and Mattie (née Clark) West. He moved with his family to Texas at the age of nine. His family settled on land in 1472: 1559: 490:

In 1938 he established the West Foundation (now the West Endowment), a Houston-based charity which continues to donate to a variety of causes.

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Upon his death in 1941, his estate was valued at more than $ 70 million; a figure equivalent to over $ 1.1 billion in February 2013 dollars.

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McKean, David. (2005). Peddling Influence: Thomas "Tommy the Cork" Corcoran and the Birth of Modern Lobbying. Steerforth Press, Hanover, NH

1775: 417:(now the Texas Department of Transportation). However, as a Republican, a vocal supporter of failed Republican Presidential candidate 441:

Johnson). He used these outlets in part to lobby against what he viewed as the socialist tendencies of the Roosevelt administration.

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in 1937 for $ 8.5 million cash (worth some $ 139,400,607 in February, 2013 dollars) and a substantial amount of stock.

1780: 468: 374:, but resigned after one year in office. He actively campaigned to have Dolph Briscoe Sr. (father of future Governor 1719: 1619: 241: 1614: 1042: 539: 498: 1839: 1396: 506: 445: 1345:

Burrough, Bryan (2009). The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes. Penguin Press: NY.

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