Texas Almanac, 2000-2001 Page: 29
672 p. : col. ill., ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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History 29
Oil and Texas:
A Cultural History
By Mary G. Ramos, editor, Texas AlmanacFor Texans, the 20th century
did not begin on January 1,
1901, as it did for everyone else.
It began nine days later, on Jan.
10, when, spurting drilling pipe,
mud, gas and oil, the Lucas No.
1 well blew in at Spindletop
near Beaumont. The gusher
spewed oil more than 100 feet
into the air until it was capped
nine days later. With that dra-
matic fanfare, Texas' economy
was wrenched from its rural,
agricultural roots and flung
headlong into the petroleum and
industrial age.
In the last two decades of the
19th century, railroads had made
sweeping changes in the lives of
many of Texas' mostly rural,
mostly agrarian citizens and for-
ever altered the face of the state.
Settlements formed around tem-
porary railroad-workers'
camps. Speculators created
brand-new towns out of virgin
prairie beside the gleaming rails.
And existing communities that
were bypassed by the tracks
often curled up their municipal
toes and died unless they were
willing to pick up businesses,
homes and churches and move
to the rails.
The arrival of railroad trans- Spindletop blew in on Ja
portation expanded Texas farm- almost all Texans'lives i
ers' and ranchers' markets by Morning News file photo
providing faster and cheaper shipping of products. Cat-
tle raisers were no longer forced to trail their herds long
miles to railheads in the Midwest. In their classic Texas
history text, "Texas, the Lone Star State," Rupert Rich-
ardson, Ernest Wallace and Adrian Anderson summa-
rized it this way: " ... railroads were the key to progress
and prosperity at the end of the 19th century."
When oil came gushing into Texas early in the 20th
century, the changes were even more profound. Petro-
leum began to displace agriculture as the principal fuel
driving the economy of the state, and Texans' lives were
even more drastically affected than they had been by
railroads.
The impact of oil on Texas and Texans is often ana-
lyzed in terms of corporate development, personal or
corporate wealth, or the overall economy of the state
and politics. Oil also dramatically affected the lives of
those who owned the land from which oil was produced,
or who were directly involved in oil exploration, extrac-
tion and processing. The discoveries of oil fields led to
the founding and flourishing of numerous Texas towns,
to the establishment of companies that have becomen.
n thmultinational conglomerates,
and to the amassing of vast per-
sonal fortunes.
Conversely, the playing out of
pumped-out oil fields led to the
death of any number of those
once-flourishing towns. Betting
fortunes on what turned out to be
dusters resulted in the bankrupt-
cies of companies and individu-
als.
However, Texas oil has
affected the lives of millions of
Texans not directly involved in
the oil business - Texans who
receive neither a paycheck nor a
royalty check based on petro-
leum. Oil has profoundly
changed the culture of the state,
and it continues to affect most
Texans' lives in ways that may
not be obvious to the casual
observer.
Early Oil Discoveries
The presence of natural oil
seeps in Texas had been known
-i for hundreds of years before
Europeans arrived in the area.
Indians in Texas are said to have
told European explorers that the
substance had medicinal uses. In
July 1543, the remnants of Span-
ish explorer Hernando de Soto's
10, 1901, changing expedition, led by Luis de
he process. Dallas Moscoso Alvarado, were forced
ashore along the Texas coast
between Sabine Pass and High Island. Moscoso reported
that the group found oil floating on the surface of the
water and used it to caulk their boats.
Texas' first producing oil well was drilled by Lyne T.
Barret at Melrose in Nacogdoches County in 1866. The
following year, a well was brought in at nearby Oil
Springs by Amory Reily Starr and Peyton F. Edwards.
Other wells followed, making Nacogdoches County the
site of Texas' first commercial oil field, first pipeline and
first effort to refine crude. Several thousand barrels of oil
were produced, but the price of oil was not high enough
to justify further efforts at development.
While drilling for water in 1886, Bexar County
rancher George Dullnig found a small quantity of oil,
but he did not attempt commercial production.
City crews in Corsicana were also drilling for water
in 1894, when they made the first economically signifi-
cant oil discovery in Texas. That well was abandoned
because the drillers needed to find water, not oil. But
several producing oil wells were drilled in 1895 by
Joseph S. Cullinan, who later helped found the Texas
Company, which became Texaco. The first well-
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Ramos, Mary G. Texas Almanac, 2000-2001, book, 1999; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth162509/m1/29/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.