THE OIL INDUSTRY IN TEXAS

Patillo Higgins of Texas believed that the salt dome three miles south of Beaumont known as Spindletop would be a good site to drill for petroleum. Captain A.F. Lucas, a mining engineer, deduced from his work in Louisiana that Higgins was probably correct and decided to join him. Patillo Higgins Anthony Lucas

Before 20 th Century - Lubrication of machine parts - Greasing wagon axles - Kerosene for lighting lamps During 20 th Century - Fuel for - Automobiles - Planes, - Tanks - Ships - Farm Equipment - Engine Lubricant

 Spindletop Hill near Beaumont was located on a Salt Dome  Pattillo Higgins and Anthony Lucas struck oil on Spindletop Hill on January 10, 1901  500,000 barrels of oil spewed for six days before the well was capped.

By 1903 more than 400 wells were drilling on the Salt Dome.

 After the Spindletop Gusher, people competed for land to drill for oil.  Leases – contracts to hold land to drill on  Companies – Oil operator organized 100 companies and operated 200 wells within months of the strike.

 Boomtowns –  Boomtowns – A town that has rapid population and economic growth due to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil.  Beaumont grew from a lumber town of 9,000 to 50,000  Oil Workers, speculators, gamblers, adventurers all flocked to the oil boom towns like Beaumont

Percentage of Texans living in metropolitan areas: 1900: 17.1% 1939: 41%

 Spindletop led to the rise of a whole new economy and new future for Texas  Huge oil Companies were forming  Refineries were built to refine oil to gasoline Pipelines and tankers were built to carry oil Storage Facilities were built to store oil Lumber was used to build oil derricks

Oil Created many Spin-off Industries Refineries, pipelines, asphalt, tank cars, ocean-going tankers, harbors, machine shops, oil and gas lawyers, petroleum engineering, petroleum geology, oil leasing, automobiles, roads paved, natural gas, petrochemicals

 Houston – “Where 17 railroads meet the sea”  Houston provided banking, insurance, transportation, and legal services for oil companies  Gradually Houston became the center of the oil industry  Houston Ship Channel opened the city as a modern port

Nineteenth-century Texans never dreamed that oil and the state would become permanently intertwined in myth and economics. They had considered themselves as cotton farmers and cattle ranchers, but Spindletop changed that, ushering Texas into the twentieth century with a bang and making the state ultimately different from its southern neighbors. The History of Texas, pp Texas Oil Production: 1896: 1,000 barrels1896: 1,000 barrels 1902: 21 million barrels1902: 21 million barrels 1929: 293 million barrels1929: 293 million barrels