Ch. 20: A New Century

1. Ch. 20: A New Century • Sec. 1: The Modern Era Begins

2. Dawn of a New Era • 1543- Oil first found in Texas in by survivors of the de Soto Expedition • 1866 - First Oil Well Drilled in Oil Springs, Texas by Lyne Barret. • 1890 - Oil Springs has 40 wells, refinery and pipeline to Railroads in Nacogdoches, TX.

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

4. Spindletop –The First Gusher • Spindletop Hill in 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.

5. Salt Dome Trap

6. The Oil Boom • 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.

7. The Oil Boom • 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

8. The Lucas Gusher – 1901 ‘Black Gold’ ‘Texas Tea’

9. Economic Development • Spindletop led to the rise of a whole new economy and new future for Texas • Huge oil Companies were forming • Refineries built to refine oil to gasoline

10. Economic Development • Pipelines and tankers built to carry oil • Storage Facilities built to store oil • Lumber used to build oil derricks

11. ‘Boiler Avenue’ – Spindletop - 1903 By 1903 more than 400 wells were drilling on the Salt Dome.

12. Oil in Southeast Texas • After Spindletop, Oil operators spread their searches throughout Southeast Texas where salt domes were found • Oil Fields opened all throughout this region • Saratoga • Sour Lake • Balston

13. Humble Oil Company -1904 • 1904 – Drillers discover a salt dome about 20 miles North of Houston, in Humble • This was the beginning of the Humble Oil Company, which later became Exxon Company, U.S.A, part of Exxon Corporation • Refineries were first located in Humble, then moved to the community of Goose Creek.

14. Goose Creek Field - 1916 • Located Southeast of Houston close to Galveston • Much of the drilling took place in Galveston Bay - offshore • Made it easy for ocean shipping • A large refinery was built here and the town was later renamed Baytown

15. Oil in North Texas • 1901 – Petrolia-19 miles from Wichita Falls • Electra – discovered by cattle rancher W.T. Waggoner had the first big boom in North Texas • Burkburnett – 1918– well named ‘Fowler’s Folly’ – gusher that produced thousands of barrels a day

16. Other Oil Discoveries • Oil in North Central Texas in 1917 • Breckenridege, Mexia, Corsicana, Luling • Geologists believed fault zone contained oil in Central Texas. • 1922 – Oil workers drilled into a fault near Luling and struck oil

17. Fault Trap

18. Houston and the Oil Industry • 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

19. Dallas Dominates Central Texas • By 1900 Dallas is the major city in Central Texas • Railroad Companies/Central Location made the city a natural distribution center • Leading retail center for TX, OK, NM • Dallas becomes a “White Collar” city • Neiman-Marcus Stores were begun in Dallas