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Lewis, who Forbes estimates has a net worth of $1.1 billion, struck it rich in the 1980s as a wildcatter drilling for natural gas near his home in Laredo, Texas.

Endeavor, founded by the billionaire wildcatter Autry Stephens, had become the subject of takeover speculation in oil circles over the past several months.

I eyed the warning warily, but the veteran miner leading our group explained that it was a fiction of his own design, one meant to keep out vandals and wildcatters.

Big Oil is hanging back, watching while wildcatters take on the risky exploratory work.

But Tennessee is trying to tap into our greatness like a wildcatter drilling into someone else’s oil field.