Rosewood Resources, Inc. is a subsidiary of The Rosewood Corporation, which is wholly-owned by the Caroline Hunt Trust Estate. The Caroline Hunt Trust Estate was established in 1935 for Caroline Rose Hunt by her father, legendary oil man Haroldson Lafayette “H. L.” Hunt and his wife, Lyda.
Rosewood Resources, Inc. was established in 1983 through the merger and transfer of several oil and gas interests owned by Mrs. Hunt and the Caroline Hunt Trust Estate. Together with its subsidiaries and affiliated companies, Rosewood Resources, Inc. continues to manage these assets under one management team. Based in Dallas, Texas, the company focuses on maintaining a balanced portfolio of oil and gas investments.
Mrs. Hunt has been the guiding spirit behind The Rosewood Corporation since its formation in 1976 as a multi-generational, family-owned and operated company with diverse worldwide interests in energy, property, and private equity investments.
Based on Mrs. Hunt’s leadership, The Rosewood Corporation has a proud history and tradition of excellence. During a Rosewood Corporation President’s Meeting in 1985, Mrs. Hunt was asked what she felt should exemplify all Rosewood companies. She answered without hesitation, “High morals and good ethics. I’d like to know that each company is based on the highest of personal and business ethics.”
Preserving and enhancing the environment has also been a priority for Mrs. Hunt and The Rosewood Corporation. A unique private/public partnership between an affiliate of The Rosewood Corporation and the North Texas Municipal Water District resulted in the formation of the John Bunker Sands Wetland Center, a nonprofit, charitable organization. The Wetland Center was created with the mission of providing clean water through new innovative methodologies to municipalities in North Texas, educating the public, providing research opportunities, wildlife management, and wetland systems. www.wetlandcenter.com
The Caroline Hunt Trust Estate owns two ranches in Texas where the responsible breeding of cattle and a holistic approach to ranching is practiced. Rosewood Ranches and the late Bunker Sands, Mrs. Hunt’s son, have won numerous environmental awards including the 1996 National Wetlands Award, the Lone Star Land Steward Award given by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and awards from the Nature Conservancy of Texas, The Dallas Morning News, and the Greater Dallas Chamber in recognition of outstanding commitment to protecting our natural heritage.
Mrs. Hunt wore many hats in her lifetime including businesswoman, real estate entrepreneur, philanthropist, author, traveler, mother of five, grandmother of nineteen, and great-grandmother of twenty-four. Of all her worldwide accomplishments and honors, she was most proud of her children and her family.
The roots of Rosewood Resources, Inc. run deep in the oil and gas industry, beginning with Caroline Rose Hunt’s father, iconic oilman Haroldson Lafayette “H. L.” Hunt. At the early age of 15, H. L. Hunt set out from his home in Illinois and worked many jobs including farm laborer, lumberjack, and cowboy, before purchasing a small Arkansas cotton plantation in 1911.
In 1921, H. L. Hunt began his legendary oil and gas career during the “black gold rush” in El Dorado, Arkansas. H. L. Hunt mastered the art of negotiating, buying, and selling leases, and then went on to drill his first of many successful wells. An astute businessman, H. L. Hunt also proved to be an innovator by developing his own gathering systems, marketing agreements, and promoting alternative uses of petroleum products. As a conservationist, H. L. Hunt also pioneered well spacing programs to maintain reservoir pressure, extend the life of a field, and reduce the drilling of unnecessary wells.
In 1930, H. L. Hunt solidified his position as one of the most noted oilmen in history when he met with the East Texas wildcatter, Columbus Marion “Dad” Joiner, at the site of the Daisy Bradford No. 3 well. Despite great skepticism of the area, H. L. Hunt purchased the well and nearby leases from Joiner. The area became known as the “Black Giant” and proved to be the largest oil field discovered in the United States at that time. Production from the East Texas Oil Field continues today and has produced over 5 billion barrels of oil. With H. L. Hunt’s control of the East Texas Oil Field and his other acquisitions, he accrued a fortune that was among the world’s largest. At the time of H. L. Hunt’s death in 1974, he was reputed to have the highest net worth of any individual in the world.
My father said to me when I was young – “Never be ashamed of being in business. Business is good because it provides jobs and this is why this country is so economically successful.”
— Caroline Rose Hunt
