Texas Almanac, 1949-1950 Page: 282
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282 TEXAS ALMANAC.-1949-1950.
fourth of the total domestic production was
exported in 1948.
An average of 2.41 pounds of carbon black
was produced from a thousand cubic feet of
ias in 1948. in the United States as a whole.
The average in Texas is about 1.5 pounds.
(See table, p. 269.)
HELIUM
Production of helium in Texas in 1947 was
63.198.650 cubic feet, according to the U.S.
Bureau of Mines, valued at $541,307. Produc-
tion was maintained at a comparable rate
through 1948 and the first seven months of
1949.
The world's sole producer of helium is the
U.S. Department of Interior. For many years
its only plant was at the Cliffside gas field
near Amarillo. Natural gas In this area, where
the L S. Government owns large natural gas
reserves, contains the mysterious light gas.
Because ot the great demand for helium ur-
ing World War II, three other plants were
built by the government in Kansas and New
Mexico.
Helium, which is noninflammable and al-
most as light as hydrogen, came into use pri-
marily as an inflation gas for lighter-than-
air flying craft. After the war demand de-
clined sharply. but many uses for the gas
ha e been round. It is used in welding mag-
nesium aluminum and stainless steel. In re-
cent years it has also come into consider-
able use in hospitals where it is employed as
an oxygen carrier in the treatment of res-
piratory cases and for admixture with anes-
thetic gases to minimize explosion hazards in
operating rooms.
Helium is found in small amounts, relative-
l, in association with natural gas in a few
fields. It is isolated by reduction to a tem-
erature at which the natural gas (methane)
quefies, leaving the helium in a gaseous
state. (See table, p. 269.)
A Oil Discoveries, 1867-1949
The commercial discovery of oil in Texas
came about 1867. eight years after the Drake
well in Pennsylvania and is credited to Amory
Starr and Peytone F. Edwards. While on a
hunting trip in Nacogdoches County. the two
men dug some shallow holes at the edge of
Oil Springs Branch. about fifteen miles south-
east o Nacogdoches and let them fill during
the night. In the morning they skimmed off
the oil and took it to Nacogdoches. where it
was used as harness oil and for other domes-
tic purposes. Later. John F. Carll dug a well
four miles northeast of Oil Springs on Caney
Creek. finaing a little oil.
A company that was soon formed drilled an
eight-inch hole to seventy feet. where oil was
found in sand. The first day's test made 250
to 300 barrels, which the operators were un-
able Tre nandle and let waste. The well stopped
flowing the next day and had to be pumped.
This company continued drilling until 1889.
Other petroleum men were also at work near
Oil Springs. From 1887 to 1890 ninety wells
were drilled and about 4.000 barrels were
marketed at Chireno. Nacogdoches County.
One company alone drilled forty wells and of
these twenty were still in operation In 1890.
The producing wells were from 185 to 254 feet
deep and yielded from two to six barrels
daily. The first oil pipeline in Texas was built
In the Nacogdoches area in 1887.
Other Early Exploration.
Meanwhile. oil exploration was -.oing on at
Greenville in southwestern Washington Coun-
ty. There in 1879 an eleven-inch hole was
drilled to 150 or 160 feet and a good flow of
gas was obtained from sandstone. The gas
was burned in a nearby house but was not
jut to commercial use. Several other wellswere drilled in this section between 1879 and
1883, but caving holes made production im-
possible. In 1888. after operations had been
suspended five years, three other wells were
put down. The three produced about 1,500,000
cubic feet of gas daily.
Field Near San Antonio.
The first commercial production of oil in
Texas was reported in statistical tables in
1889. when the twelve-month total listed for
the state was forty-eight barrels. The oil was
from two wells seven miles southeast of San
Antonif and came from a depth of 300 feet.
In the fall of 1890 oil was produced from a
well in McLennan County at a depth of 265
feet This discovery is credited by some his-
torians is giving impetus to the search for oil
at Corsicana. Other early oil strikes include
those in Anderson County in 1887. in Coryell
County In 1888 and in Hardin County in 1895.
There was a1so some early exploration and
small production near Brownwood.
Oil at Corsicana.
It was not until the Corsicana discovery
however, that oil was produced in Texas in
amounts large enough to give the industry
commercial importance. Indications of oil had
been found at Corsicana prior to 1894. but it
was not untli that year that the presence of
oil was brought to general attention.
The first oil well at Corsicana was acci-
dental When the city drilled a deep artesian
well, oil appeared at 1,035 feet and persisted
until the well was completed at 2.480 feet.
Three derricks were burned down by the care-
lessness o curious spectators and the drilling
contractors became almost bankrupt. Instead
of hailing the oil discovery with oy. city offi-
cials were much disappointed. Eventually the
well was cased and the oil got rid of.
Several Corsicana citizens, however, formed
a partnership in 1895 and drilled a well lust
Sfees from the city's water well. This well
produced oil at the rate 3f two and a half
barrels i day. Other wells were drilled in the
following year and the state's production for
the twelve months of 1896 was 1.450 barrels.
In 1897, production reached 66.975 barrels.
First Texas Refinery.
As there was no appreciable market for
crude oil. Corsicana civic and business leaders
took stps t, have a refinery built. A contract
with Eastern oil capitalists was made in 1897
and the first Texas oil refinery was built in
the following year.
The next important oil development was the
discovery of the Powell field, near Corsicana,
in 1900. Various areas of Texas were by this
time being explored by Pennsylvania 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
Texa 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 a t 418 feet forced abandonment,
however. Similar attempts made by other
drillers in 1895 and 1896 also resulted in
failure.
In 189Ji Capt. Anthony F. Lucas, a mining
engineer who had been prospecting the salt
domes cn the Louisiana coast. was interested
by an advertisement of Pattillo Higgins. who
had formed the Beaumont company and later
had withdwn from it. Captain Lucas con-
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 well
reached 1,160 feet and oil was showing on the
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Texas Almanac, 1949-1950, book, 1949; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117167/m1/284/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.