Boom Town (1940) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Desperate and broke, the two wildcatters had no money to start drilling but saw the equipment as their only chance at fortune. The theft was a reckless gamble to jumpstart their dream, knowing full well they could lose their reputations if caught. This impulsive act establishes their reckless, risk-taking personalities that drive the entire story.

Foreshadowing: Their willingness to take desperate risks early on foreshadows both their eventual massive success and catastrophic downfall.

• oil wildcatters
• drilling equipment
• Luther Aldrich
• theft
• fortune

Betsy was swept off her feet by McMasters' bold, charismatic personality. While Sand had genuine feelings for her, he accepted the marriage because he genuinely wanted Betsy to be happy, even if it meant sharing his friend's good fortune. Sand's selfless acceptance sets up the love triangle that creates lasting tension between the two men.

Foreshadowing: This choice plants the seeds for years of unspoken resentment and the triangle that will later threaten both the business partnership and Betsy's mental state.

• Betsy Bartlett
• marriage
• McMasters
• Sand
• love triangle

On their first anniversary, Betsy mistakenly caught Sand dancing with a barroom woman, triggering a heated quarrel between the two partners. To settle both their personal dispute and decide control of the entire oilfield operation, they flipped a coin. The winner would take complete control of the business, making this a pivotal moment that determined the balance of power between them for years to come.

• coin toss
• oilfield
• partnership
• control
• power

Betsy left her husband after discovering him dancing with another woman on their anniversary, unable to trust him again. However, she returned when she learned that Sand had taken nearly everything from McMasters in business. Seeing her husband stripped of his fortune triggered her protective instinct, though the marriage remained strained by the events that followed.

Foreshadowing: Betsy's pattern of leaving and returning mirrors the boom-and-bust cycle of the oil business itself, setting up her emotional instability.

• Betsy leaves
• return
• marriage
• trust
• Sand

To gain a competitive edge in New York's cutthroat oil market, McMasters recruited Karen Vanmeer, who had been advising his rival Harry Compton. Karen used her social connections and charm to gather valuable inside information about industry moves and market strategies. This gave McMasters the intelligence advantage he needed to anticipate Compton's decisions and refine his own business approach.

• Karen Vanmeer
• Harry Compton
• hired
• information
• business strategy

Sand built considerable investments and wealth in South America during his separate ventures from McMasters. However, a sudden political revolution swept through the region and wiped out everything he had accumulated there. He literally woke up to find his entire foreign fortune vanished, forcing him to return to the oil world and eventually reconcile with McMasters.

• Sand
• South America
• revolution
• lost fortune
• investments

Sand grew suspicious when he noticed Karen's close relationship with McMasters and the secretive nature of her work gathering intelligence for the business. His own complicated feelings about loyalty and Betrayal made him question whether their professional relationship had become personal. This suspicion adds another layer of tension to the already strained relationships among all parties.

• Sand
• Karen Vanmeer
• affair suspicion
• McMasters
• trust

Betsy was overwhelmed by the constant strain of her troubled marriage and the emotional turmoil of watching McMasters' ambitions tear the group apart. The insecurity, suspicion, and lack of peace in her life became unbearable, leading her to take sleeping pills in a desperate attempt to escape her pain. Her suicide attempt becomes the catalyst for Sand's most drastic action in the story.

• Betsy
• suicide attempt
• marriage strain
• emotional breakdown
• pills

Sand believed the only way to free Betsy from a life of constant emotional strain and possible infidelity was to destroy McMasters' business empire. By bankrupting him, Sand thought McMasters would lose everything and be forced to confront what truly mattered. It was a ruthless but desperate act of love meant to break McMasters' stubborn pride and save Betsy from further suffering.

• Sand
• bankrupt McMasters
• save Betsy
• destroy empire
• drastic action

McMasters' aggressive expansion into refineries and distribution networks in New York crossed into illegal monopolistic territory. The government prosecuted him for violating the Sherman Antitrust Act, which prohibits anti-competitive business practices. McMasters lost his entire business as a result, bringing his years of hard work crashing down in a final legal defeat.

• Sherman Antitrust Act
• prosecution
• monopoly
• government
• business loss

When Sand asked McMasters to divorce Betsy, it forced the stubborn industrialist to confront the damage his ambition had caused to everyone around him. The request came at a moment when McMasters was already facing the collapse of his business empire and personal relationships. It was the first time he was forced to prioritize his marriage over his business pursuits.

Foreshadowing: This moment of clarity marks the turning point that allows both men to eventually rebuild their partnership on healthier terms.

• divorce
• Betsy
• Sand request
• McMasters
• realization

After both men lose everything through their rivalry and government prosecution, they recognize that their personal bond matters more than wealth. McMasters loses his business but gains perspective, while Sand returns broke from both his South American losses and his attempt to bankrupt his friend. They reunite their partnership with Aldrich providing equipment, choosing to rebuild together and start the cycle anew.

• reunion
• partnership
• rebuild
• Aldrich
• new beginning

Through twenty years of booms and busts, both men discover that wealth is fleeting and can be lost as quickly as it is gained. Their repeated rises and falls demonstrate that material success is temporary, while genuine friendship and personal bonds are what truly matter. The film concludes with them choosing to rebuild together, suggesting that perseverance and loyalty outlast any fortune.

• wealth
• fleeting
• lesson
• friendship
• oil boom