Interviewer(s): E. Bernier. Houma, LA

Affiliation: University of Arizona

Doughty Dominique learned that we were collecting oral histories from the librarians at the Terrebonne Parish Library. He worked in the industry for 48 years and volunteered to tell his story. In addition, his father had worked in the industry, beginning in Texas, so his interview discusses both his and his father's experiences.

Doughty was raised in Raceland, Louisiana. His family moved there when he was about six years old when his father bought an old sugarcane farm. His father was born in 1893 and went to work for Gulf Oil Company in the mid-1920s. He worked as a driller in the oilfield, first in east Texas and then in south Louisiana. At times before he had a family, he lived in a boarding house with members of his rig crew. Doughty entered the oilfield for Gold Medal Well Service in 1951, after returning from the Korean War. He was then able to get a job with Gulf Oil in 1952 where he started off in production and then moved to the drilling department. He went to work for Grant Oil Tool Company in 1957 when Gulf sold its drilling rigs. He worked for several years for Grant Oil and for Noble Drilling and then took a job with Kerr McGee and worked his way up to production supervisor. After 14 years with Kerr-McGee, Doughty left and went to work for McMoRan Oil and Gas Company in New Orleans.