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20 went Doheny and Canfield by foot and on horseback. They located the oil seepages. They sought out the owners of the lands. First they bought 450,000 acres thirty-five miles west of Tampico and later 170,000 acres in various tracts south toward Tuxpan. They paid from sixty cents per acre upward and astonished the Mexican people by the prices paid for such unproductive lands. They were advised against such large prices by the Mexican lawyers, landowners, and statesmen

But the Americans retorted that the price was immaterial if they found what they were after; they would not hesitate or haggle. The Mexicans named their own terms, took the cash and delivered title deeds running back through generations, some titles making a heavy volume.

The Americans cleared the jungle and made it a ranch. They built blacksmith shops, warehouses, water lines, and hospitals. They bored for oil, developed the Mexican Petroleum Company, and brought forth the biggest oil gushers in the world. Pipe lines and railways preceded and followed the gushers. British, Dutch, Waters-Pierce, and some Standard Oil and Southern Pacific interests came in, but the American interests stand at the head.