Texas Almanac, 1945-1946 Page: 239
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MINERAL RESOURCES. 239
Value Texas Annual Mineral
Production, 1900-1944
$1,100,000,000
VALUES BY YEARS
$1 .0,00,000
900.000,000
800,000,000
700.000.0o
I
1
600,000.000
500,000.000
1I300,000,000
200,000.000
100.000,000
1900 1910 1920
and other oilmen. Texas did not really come
into the international oil spotlight, however,
until the Spindletop discovery in 1901.
Spindletop.
For years the presence of petroleum in the
Texas coastal area had been suspected. In
1892 Beaumont men had formed a company
to drill on Spindletop Hill, and a well was
started in the following year. Difficulties
with quicksand at 418 feet forced abandon-
ment, however. Similar attempts made by
other drillers in 1895 and 1896 also resulted
in failure.
In 1899 Capt. Anthony F. Lucas, a mining
engineer who had been prospecting the salt
domes on the Louisiana coast was interested
by an advertisement of Pattillo Higgins, who
had formed the Beaumont company and later
had withdrawn from it. Captain Lucas con-1900............ 5,316,222
1905............ 13,752,346
1910............ 18,383,451
1915............ 29,220,951
1920............371,250,979
1925............ 351,212,000
1929............ 416,355,540
1930............ 382,676,504
1931............ 302,201,046
1932............ 390,141,325
1933............ 365,674,433
1934............ 509,521,286
1935............ 528,069,238
1936............ 638,732,530
1937............ 813,290,605
1938............ 740,147.465
1939............ 701,838,696
1940............ 714,905,731
1941............ 954,211,150
1942............ 895,775,540
1943............ 960,295,986
1944 (est.) 1,160,000,000
I 1S 1940 1944
tracted with the company for lease rights and
began drilling his first well. A strong show
of gas was encountered at 575 feet, with a
trace of oil. Lack of financial resources led
to the abandonment of this well, but a second
was started in 1900. In January, 1901, this
wele reached 1,160 feet, and oil was showing
on the ditch. Neither Lucas nor the crew
took the show seriously, however,
While drilling was stopped to change the
bit and while a four-inch pipe was being run
into the hole, the Lucas gusher blew in. So
strong was the pressure that it blew several
tons of pipe 700 feet up the hole and through
the derrick, following this with an eruption
of mud, sand and rocks. The gas made a
deafening roar as it rushed to the surface as
prelude to a column of oil which spouted
nearly 200 feet over the top of the derrick.r ., I I --
TOTAL VALUE
400.000,000
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Texas Almanac, 1945-1946, book, 1945; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117166/m1/241/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.