A former service sign for W.C. Dub & Sons in Oil City, Louisiana (pop. 1,219), around the corner from my hometown of Mooringsport on the eastern end of Caddo Lake. Originally known as Ananias, the flag stop along the Kansas City Railroad became a boom town after oil was discovered in 1905. It was near Oil City that the first over-water oil well was created, pulling 450 barrels a day from 2,000 feet below the lake, and serving as a model for the platforms now used in the Gulf of Mexico.

A weathered petroleum service sign greets drivers passing through Oil City, Louisiana