Kaushik Patowary
Jan 25, 2021
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Although the modern oil industry is said to have begun with the drilling of the first oil well by Edwin Drake in Pennsylvania, it was the discovery of oil at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas, that pushed the world into the age of crude oil. The exact date when this happened is January 10, 1901.
That day, an enormous geyser of oil exploded from a drilling site at Spindletop Hill coating the landscape with a thick slimy mess for hundreds of feet. Nobody had seen a gusher so powerful and so plentiful before. Soon a booming oil industry grew around Beaumont, and America’s oil production tripled overnight. Petroleum that was previously used only as a lubricant and in place of kerosene in lamps became the main fuel source for trains and ship, and new inventions such as automobiles and airplanes.
Spindletop, ship channel fueled Texas as energy capital
Danny King, Correspondent
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A street of oil derricks at Spindletop, three miles from Beaumont, Texas, on Dec. 23, 1941. The modern petroleum industry was born on January 10, 1901 when the Lucas Gusher, Spindletop No. 1, made the world oil-conscious and started exploration on a grand scale.AP / APShow MoreShow Less
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Derricks in landscape view Spindletop Oil Field.TEXAS ENERGY MUSEUM, SPECIAL TO THE EXPRESS-NEWSShow MoreShow Less
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Port of Houston dedication, Nov. 10, 1914 Sue Campbell, daughter of Mayor Ben Campbell, christened the Ship Channel with a floral wreath and said, “Hither shall come the ships of all nations and find a hearty welcome.”Port of HoustonShow MoreShow Less