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Spindletop oilfield discovered
On this day in 1901, the Spindletop oilfield was discovered on a salt
dome south of Beaumont, marking the birth of the modern petroleum
industry. Pattillo Higgins, the "prophet of Spindletop," and others had
tried for years to find oil on Spindletop Hill, but with no success. In
1899, however, Higgins hooked up with Anthony F. Lucas. Despite negative
reports from contemporary geologists, Lucas remained convinced that oil
was in the salt domes of the Gulf Coast. On January 10 mud began
bubbling from a well that Lucas had spudded in the previous October. The
startled roughnecks fled as six tons of four-inch drilling pipe came
shooting up out of the ground. After several minutes of quiet, mud, then
gas, then oil spurted out. The Lucas geyser, found at a depth of 1,139
feet, blew a stream of oil over 100 feet high until it was capped nine
days later. The discovery of the Spindletop oilfield had an almost
incalculable effect on world and Texas history. Investors spent billions
of dollars throughout the Lone Star State in search of oil and natural
gas. The cheap fuel they found helped to revolutionize American
transportation and industry. Many of the major oil companies were born
at Spindletop or grew to major corporate size as a result of their
involvement at Spindletop, including Texaco, Gulf Oil Corporation,
Magnolia Petroleum Company, and Exxon Company, U.S.A.
- Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
- SPINDLETOP OILFIELD
- HIGGINS, PATTILLO
- LUCAS, ANTHONY FRANCIS
- BEAUMONT, TX
- OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY
- PROGRESSIVE ERA
- URBANIZATION
- Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
- Houston honors philanthropist (1964)
- Texas aviation leaders die in plane crash (1954)
- Black physician and civil rights leader born in Waskom (1894)
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