 Lee provided the funds and allowed Yount the freedom to drill where and when he wanted.With the formation of the Yount-Lee Oil Company on December 22, 1914, Yount made his mark in the area of deep drilling, much of that on the flanks of old oil fields thought to be depleted.In 1923, he moved his company from Sour Lake to Beaumont, where he and wife Pansy, bought and renovated “El Ocaso,” a magnificent mansion located on Calder Avenue, known once as “Millionaires’ Row.”

In Beaumont, Yount formed a working relationship with Marrs McLean, “The Second Prophet of Spindletop.” McLean held most of the leases at Spindletop Oil Field which by 1923, according to a majority of oil experts, had run its course.