Hiram Dow Collections Offers Glimpse of Early History of Southeastern New Mexico Oil Development

Hiram M. Dow at 79 years old from the William A. Kele­her Col­lec­tion at the Cen­ter for South­west Research and Spe­cial Collections

A glimpse into South­east­ern New Mexico’s oil and gas indus­try dur­ing the first part of the 20th cen­tury is now avail­able at the Cen­ter for South­west Research. The Hiram Dow Papers have been inven­to­ried at the Cen­ter for South­west Research and Spe­cial Col­lec­tions at UNM Libraries and are avail­able in the Rocky Moun­tain Online Archive.

The col­lec­tion con­tains mate­r­ial related to his work as New Mexico’s rep­re­sen­ta­tive on the Inter­state Oil Com­pact Com­mis­sion and is also related to his involve­ment with Hum­ble Oil and Refin­ing Com­pany legal cases and the New Mex­ico Oil Con­ser­va­tion Com­mis­sion; Inter­state Oil Com­pact Com­mis­sion Pub­li­ca­tions; Hum­ble Oil and Refin­ing Com­pany Legal Case Files: and the Oil Industry.

Hiram Mil­let Dow was born in Cotulla, Texas on April 21, 1885. When he was six weeks old his fam­ily moved to Seven Rivers (near Arte­sia), in south­east­ern New Mex­ico. He grad­u­ated from New Mex­ico Mil­i­tary Insti­tute at Roswell, New Mexico’s first grad­u­at­ing class in 1905. He received a law degree from Wash­ing­ton and Lee Uni­ver­sity in 1908 and then returned to New Mex­ico to prac­tice law.

He was Pres­i­dent of the New Mex­ico Bar Asso­ci­a­tion and of the New Mex­ico Board of Bar Com­mis­sion­ers and was a mem­ber of the State Board of Bar Exam­in­ers. He was also Lieu­tenant Gov­er­nor of New Mex­ico from 1937–1939.

From the Hiram M. Dow Col­lec­tion at the Cen­ter for South­west Research and Spe­cial Collections

Dow mar­ried Ella Lea, daugh­ter of Joseph C. Lea who was an early res­i­dent of Roswell and founder of the New Mex­ico Mil­i­tary Insti­tute. Lea County was named after Joseph C. Lea. Dow was a res­i­dent of Roswell, New Mex­ico where he died in March 1969.

Dow’s asso­ci­a­tion with the oil indus­try began as an attor­ney exam­in­ing titles. He later acquired three widely sep­a­rated 2,560 acre tracts of oil pro­duc­ing prop­erty. Dow served as the state’s first rep­re­sen­ta­tive to the Inter­state Oil Com­pact Com­mis­sion, report­ing to the Oil Con­ser­va­tion Com­mis­sion of the State of New Mex­ico. New Mex­ico was the first state to enact a com­plete oil con­ser­va­tion law largely through Dow’s pio­neer­ing work with the Com­pact Commission.

Dow also was instru­men­tal in draft­ing leg­is­la­tion that per­mit­ted the Com­mis­sioner of Pub­lic Lands to approve pro­ra­tioning and well spac­ing agree­ments, approved by the New Mex­ico Leg­is­la­ture in 1929 and 1930. He was a part­ner in the Dow, Her­vey and Hin­kle law firm in Roswell, New Mex­ico and died in March 1969.

Any­one with ques­tions about the col­lec­tion can con­tact Samuel Sis­neros, archivist assis­tant at the Cen­ter for South­west Research and Spe­cial Col­lec­tions at (505) 277‑0487 or ssisne01@unm.edu.

Media con­tact: Karen Went­worth (505) 277‑5627; email: kwent2@unm.edu