Wallace Pratt

In Guadalupe Mountains National Park, they had constructed the Wallace E. Pratt House, the Ship on the Desert, which resembled an oil tanker.

Among the most notable early contributions made by Pratt and his staff were geological studies that led to the correct interpretation of the structure of the huge Mexia Field, discovered in October 1920 in East Texas.

This work and leasing of large amounts of land that proved productive in Powell, Texas, in 1923 firmly established Humble as an oil producer.

In 1937, he joined Standard Oil Co. (Humble's parent firm in New Jersey), once again rising to director, executive committee member, and finally, vice president, a position he held until he retired from the company in 1945.

[7] After retirement, Pratt served on the National Security Resources Board for two years and began a long career as a consultant geologist.

Pratt wrote more than 100 geological papers during his lifetime, including Oil in the Earth, one of the most widely read books in his profession.