 Marland moved back to Pittsburgh and set up private practice.As an attorney representing local coal and oil interests of Pittsburgher James M. Guffey, the nation’s largest oil and gas producer and the principal investor in Beaumont Texas’ Spindletop discovery, Marland became interested in geology and by the age of 33, the young lawyer had become involved in a series of local coal and oil promotions which soon made him a small fortune.Unfortunately for Marland, the millions he had amassed were lost following the panic of 1907.